1. Introduction
Optimization can arrive at the most suitable solution from among various solutions by finding the parameters that maximize or minimize the value of the function in an objective function [
1]. Constraint optimization is a branch of optimization which deals with problems where the objective function is subject to certain constraints [
2]. Another type of optimization problem is based on the specific definition of the objective function, such as quadratic programming (QP), which optimizes a quadratic objective function [
3]. These different types of optimization problems find applications in solving engineering problems, including optimizing space vehicle trajectories, designing cost effective civil engineering structures such as frames, foundations, bridges, towers, chimneys, and dams, and addressing various forms of random loading [
4].
However, accurately representing the objective function in non-ideal scenarios influenced by diverse environmental factors poses challenges in optimization problems. To address these challenges, we introduce a novel optimization problem called trained Deep Neural Network (DNN) objective optimization. This approach utilizes a trained DNN as the objective function.
Since the DNN reflects environmental constraints as inputs to the model in [
5], environment parameters (E) and control parameters (C) have been defined. The term E refers to the diverse set of measured values associated with the environment, such as temperature and humidity. On the other hand, C refer to the factors that enable manipulation and control over the system. Additionally, parameters C and E exhibit an independent relationship.
Figure 1 illustrates the relationship between the defined parameters and input parameters. A trained DNN Controllable Local optimal Solution (CLS) is defined as the solution of the trained DNN objective optimization and represents an optimal control parameter when a specific environment parameter is used.
One of the key advantages of defining the objective function as a trained DNN is its flexibility. Not only can functions be modeled-based on data through deep learning-based regression [
6,
7,
8,
9,
10], but they can also incorporate non-ideal cases influenced by various environments [
5]. Data-driven approaches can accurately capture the effects of diverse environments on both input and output data [
11]. Moreover, objective function modeling is adaptable and can be applied to control problems, within the definition of regression. The function value of the objective function can be defined by the user. In
Figure 2, the current input is represented by a red dot. In such a situation, the user can identify a position (blue dot) where the function value can be optimized and adjust the input parameter accordingly. This allows the user to acquire data aligned with their desired purpose and then model the objective function for control purposes.
To obtain the solution for optimizing the Trained Deep Neural Network (DNN) objective, we propose the Environment Parameter Fixed Algorithm with Controllable Local Optimal Solution (EPFA-CLS).
The EPFA-CLS algorithm reduces the original optimization problem to an optimization problem for control parameters by fixing the environment parameters in the DNN defined objective function [
12]. Subsequently, the CLS is obtained through the application of Gradient Descent (or Gradient Ascent) optimization techniques. By incorporating environmental constraints and leveraging deep learning-based regression analysis, our proposed EPFA-CLS algorithm offers a promising approach to obtaining controllable local optimal solutions for complex engineering problems.
EPFA-CLS is a useful approach for determining the optimal course of a ship when evading infrared guided missiles [
13]. To evade these missiles, the first step is to change the missile’s locked-on target [
14]. Flares are commonly used as a deceptive measure, emitting a higher temperature than the ship and diverting the missile’s attention [
15]. As shown in
Figure 3, the ship fires the flare to change the locked-on object from the ship to the flare.
After deploying a flare, the ship needs to navigate an optimal course, considering its direction, velocity, and specific conditions. The course must be reachable based on the ship’s top speed, such as the FFG-2 large class ship with a maximum speed of 15.4 m/s [
16]. Additionally, the miss distance, which represents the distance between the ship and the missile when the missile hits the flare, should be increased [
17]. This miss distance is influenced by wind conditions, and an optimization problem needs to be formulated to determine the ship’s course. The objective function takes inputs such as ship direction, velocity, wind direction, and wind velocity, with the output being the miss distance (MD).
Figure 3 illustrates miss distance.
In summary, EPFA-CLS provides advantages for modeling the problem, including non-ideal factors such as wind information, and enables precise control over the ship’s direction and velocity to navigate the optimal path.
A similar approach is presented in several prior works [
18,
19,
20,
21]. The work by [
18] addresses the problem of finding the global optimum by employing a convex approach to transform the ICNN problem. However, our focus is on solving the problem of CLS derivation, which is distinct from their work. On the other hand, [
19] does not adequately reflect the current point as it only considers a uniform initial condition and lacks the incorporation of control concepts. A structured prediction is achieved by leveraging the concept of an energy function commonly used for training neural networks. Furthermore, both [
20] and [
21] introduce the notion of a control variable and an uncontrollable variable. However, they establish a dependent relationship between these variables, where the past control variable becomes the present uncontrollable variable due to the inclusion of time conditions. In contrast, our method employs a different optimization approach by defining a new loss function as the objective function.
Our contributions in this paper can be summarized from three aspects:
First, we raise another problem of constraint optimization, named trained DNN objective optimization, and we define terms that fit the context of the problem.
Second, we propose the EPFA-CLS method, which enables the representation of a trained DNN under a specific environment parameter, effectively capturing the desired constraints. By fixing the environment parameter, we transform the original optimization problem into a problem of optimizing control parameters in the DNN defined objective function. Subsequently, well-established optimization algorithms such as Gradient Descent are employed to solve this problem. Once the environment parameter is fixed, the CLS can be obtained by capturing the current state of the trained DNN under the specific environment.
Third, the EPFA-CLS algorithm verifies feasibility with the optimal course dataset and with the Boston housing dataset.
This paper is structured as follows.
Section 2 provides background on the optimization; the problem covered in this paper is explained in detail and the terms and concepts are organized. In
Section 3, the proposed method is explained in detail with a flow chart of the algorithm.
Section 4 shows whether the EPFA-CLS is valid by experimenting with the datasets. We verify that the CLS can be derived with the EPFA-CLS by using the Boston Housing Dataset and the optimal course dataset.
Section 5 summarizes the results.
4. Experiments
In this section, the datasets and working environment for the experiment are described, and the three experiments (C, D and E) we conducted are discussed. First, the experiment to verify the feasibility of the EPFA-CLS described in Experiment C is shown. Second, the reason for the fixed environment parameter as described in Experiment D is shown as an experiment comparing data with non-fixed optimization. Finally, an experiment using the Boston Housing Dataset shows that the EPFA-CLS can derive the CLS from other datasets.
The Boston Housing Dataset is one with 13 independent variables and one dependent variable, which satisfies the multiple regression condition. In addition, since parameters and can be clearly divided, they were adopted as experimental data.
While performing these three experiments, comparisons of several optimizers were conducted at the same time. During DNN training, the experimental environment used a GTX 1080 Ti 11GB 4way GPU. In addition, when optimizing the trained DNN, CPU operations used a 16-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X.
Experiments were conducted using the optimal course dataset in experiments C, D, and E. In Experiment E, the Boston Housing Dataset was used in addition to the optimal course dataset. Introducing the experimental conditions, the initial values of and are assumed as follows:
Scenario 1: SD = 150 deg, SV = 10 m/s, WD = 315 deg, WV = 10 m/s
Scenario 2: SD = 150 deg, SV = 10 m/s, WD = 90 deg, WV = 5 m/s
In addition, the optimizer with the first derivative was used for local optimization. In this experiment, four optimizers were used: Gradient Ascent, Adagrad, Momentum, and RmsProp [
37].
4.1. The Prepared Dataset
The optimal course model dataset was constructed for this study by using a simulator based on an infrared synthetic image generation study [
41]. First, it is necessary to accurately model the influence of wind when deploying a deception device such as a flare. The wind parameters indicate the strength of the wind in meters per second and its direction in degrees, as shown in
Figure 6. For wind direction, in particular, blowing along the
X-axis is 0 degrees.
When modeling the wind vector in this way, the velocity of the flare is expressed as a relative velocity by subtracting the wind vector from the original velocity vector of the flare, as shown in Equation (
28) [
42]:
Based on this, the influence of the wind is reflected in the infrared composite image generation simulator. Then, since the infrared guided missile follows the locked-on object in the simulator, a process for linking the tracker to the simulator is required [
43]. After creating every frame in the simulator, the binary centroid tracker was immediately driven so that the missile followed the locked-on target, and the tracked target came to the center of the image. For this purpose, three items have been added: (1) missile dynamics modeling and reflection, (2) aim-point update through tracking, and (3) measuring the miss distance in 3D space through the tracking result [
41].
Figure 7 shows a flow chart for generating the integrated composite image and processing the tracker model produced through this process. Synthesis tracking is performed every frame based on user-set parameters; the tracking process is shown on a 2D plot, and miss distance is provided. So far, wind modeling and tracker linkage have been described in the simulator. Based on this, the miss distance can be derived according to the input variables for ship direction, ship speed, and wind direction. The direction of the ship is a polar plot, and the speed of the ship is displayed in different colors. The closer the graph coordinates are to the center, the smaller the miss distance and the lower the survival probability of the ship; conversely, the farther from the center, the greater the miss distance, and the higher the survival probability.
Table 3 shows the results created by using a CSV file for deep learning. In particular, in this result, the miss distance according to the direction of the ship was measured. The number of input parameters
was 4, and ground truth
y was 1. Each parameter has a range: WD and SD range from 0 deg to 360 deg, while WV and SV range from 0 m/s to 15 m/s.
After building the dataset, we need to define and . In the optimal course dataset, is defined as WD and WV, and is defined as SD and SV; to are defined as , and to are defined as .
4.2. Training
In the previous section, 2407 training data points were prepared with CSV files through the simulator, with 85% used for training and 15% for testing. We used the model architecture in
Figure 5. Parameters during training with the dataset included
,
,
,
, with the ReLU as an activation function, and SGD as an optimizer. The training was conducted across 1000 epochs.
Figure 8 shows a training set graph after training the DNN with the optimal course dataset. The result for
was 0.978, and
from the test set was 0.849. A value closer to 1 means the input has a stronger relationship with the output. This means the DNN has high prediction accuracy and can be used as a mapping function.
4.3. The Robustness of the Trained DNN
Local optimization derives the CLS using the EPFA-CLS under the experimental conditions described above. In this experiment, we compared the predicted result (MD) of the trained DNN with the output (MD) of the real simulator in the derived CLS.
Table 4 and
Table 5 show the results for scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. Local optimization was performed with the initial value (
), and the result derived. Four local optimizers were used; the input to the simulator was the mode of the derived CLS. Using the results of the simulator as ground truth, we proved the robustness of the trained DNN.
Table 4 shows the CLS derived using the local optimizer. Among the four optimizers, the most frequently derived CLS was from 182.67 deg for SD and 15 m/s for SV. So, each value was the simulator’s input. Naturally, the environment parameter was the same value as in scenario 1. The predicted MD through the trained DNN was 268 m. In addition, MD (the output of the simulator) was 271.3 m. We can see that the value of
is predicting the correct value, as demonstrated by 0.97.
Table 5 shows the most frequently obtained results from the CLS were SD at 169.7 deg and SV at 15 m/s. So, each value was the simulator’s input. The predicted MD through the trained DNN was 379.9 m, and the MD through simulator was 381.4 m. The trained DNN predicted exact values.
The results from the simulator were more accurate than the values predicted by the trained DNN. However, these results take quite a long time, as shown in
Table 4 and
Table 5. Additionally, it is not possible to find SD and SV in large MD values in one simulation. This is because the simulator outputs only the MD. In this experiment, we measured the accuracy and the reason for requiring the trained DNN objective optimization.
The following is a comparison between local optimizers in
Table 4 and
Table 5. In
Table 4, the CLS is the same, and the time is also similar.
Table 5 gives a similar CLS and time, but since the concept of the velocity of the gradient is reflected in Momentum, we can see that the result is a little bit more.
4.4. Fixed Environment Parameter
In this experiment, the CLS is induced by using the EPFA-CLS, and the effect of parameter fixation on the CLS is understood through the experiment with the conditions described above. This experiment shows the results of the CLS depending on whether or not it is fixed in the algorithm, which is the third step of the EPFA-CLS. Experimental conditions were all the same except for being fixed or not. Not fixing the CLS is all about finding the optimal environment and both control parameters. In some cases, this can also be a good result, but we are solving the constraint optimization problem in a specific environment.
Table 6 and
Table 7 show the results for scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. Experiment D compared the results of the EPFA-CLS and an unfixed Equation (
5) with the optimal course dataset. In the EPFA-CLS,
was fixed for
and
, and optimal
was derived using the local optimizer. In Equation (
5), the optimal solution for all parameters of
and
is derived without being fixed.
First,
Table 6 shows the results for scenario 1. From using the EPFA-CLS, the CLS is 182 deg for SD and 15 m/s for SV. Since the environment parameter was fixed here, WD and WV have the same values as the environment parameter in scenario 1. In the unfixed result excluding Momentum, SD is 168.17 deg, SV is 15 m/s, WD is 282.8 deg, and WV is 15 m/s. From Momentum, SD is 194.17 deg, SV is 15 m/s, WD is 215.8 deg, and WV is 15 m/s. Comparing miss distance in the results for scenario 1, the EPFA-CLS was 268.01 m, but when unfixed was 461 m and 589 m. The unfixed miss distances came out higher. However, what is important to consider here is the value of the environment parameter, rather than the miss distance.
In
Table 6, the current environment parameter values are
= 315 deg and
= 10 m/s. The control parameter can be changed to the CLS to increase the miss distance, but the environment parameter cannot be changed for the ship. Therefore, even if the unfixed miss distance is higher than the EPFA-CLS, it is not a CLS because the environment parameter cannot be modified. In addition, since the miss distance is simultaneously affected by the environment parameter and the control parameter, it is necessary to derive the optimal control parameter from the current environment parameter value. Here, it was derived using the local optimizer. Therefore, it is not the CLS because environment parameters cannot be changed based on results derived from unfixed experiments. Therefore, we derived the CLS by fixing the environment parameter.
Table 7 shows the results for the second scenario. In these results, the same conclusion is reached as in scenario 1. However, the unique feature here is that the result of Momentum optimizer derived from unfixed values in scenario 1 and the result of Momentum optimizer derived from unfixed values in scenario 2 are the same. If you unfix and optimize based on this, you eventually find the same point. In addition, finding the same point without fixing it means finding the local maximum in the five-dimensional graph (four inputs, one output) of the DNN’s
f as trained with the optimal course dataset. It can be experimentally confirmed that this is the same characteristic obtained by using differentiation in the optimization algorithm, which can derive the optimal solution without high-dimensional plots.
In the end, it can be confirmed that the EPFA-CLS, which was unfixed and optimized in Experiment D, is the same as the result derived from Equation (
5) for optimization. The EPFA-CLS is an algorithm that optimizes by dividing solutions in Equation (
5). It optimizes by fixing a specific environment parameter.
Experiment D also confirmed the results for several local optimizers. Compared with other optimizers, Momentum can confirm that the effect of speed is reflected in the EPFA-CLS. Therefore, if you want to maximize the output value, it is better to use the Momentum optimizer. In general, similar results can be confirmed, but in Experiment D, there is a large difference in values. Based on this point, a selection of the EPFA-CLS’s optimizer is the user’s (similar to a hyperparameter).
4.5. Additional Validation of the CLS
In this experiment, we show whether the EPFA-CLS can derive the CLS through two datasets. The Boston Housing Dataset consists of 13 input parameters [
44] such as crime rate, number of rooms, and the local tax rate, and the output parameter is the house price in the suburbs of Boston in the mid-1970s. The other dataset is the optimal course dataset, which was prepared for this paper. The CLS is the local maximum reachable from the current location. Therefore, this experiment aims to validate the robustness of the DNN trained on the dataset, ensuring its ability to produce the CLS regardless of its position. With
,
,
,
, the ReLU activation function, and the SGD optimizer, the training procedure before the experiment used 90% of the Boston Housing Dataset while testing used 10%. With the training set,
showed accuracy of 0.971, and in testing,
showed accuracy of 0.849. In Experiment E, the optimizer used Gradient Ascent to show how robustly the CLS was derived from any location by using all the EPFA-CLS conditions as is, changing only the dataset.
(1) Boston Housing Dataset
This Boston house price dataset includes the following independent variables: crime rate per capita (CRIM), the proportion of residential area exceeding 25,000 square bits (ZN), the proportion of land occupied by non-retail commercial areas (INDUS), a dummy variable for the Charles River (CHAS), concentrated monoxide per 10 ppm nitrogen (NOX), the average number of rooms per household (RM), the proportion of owned homes built before 1940 (AGE), an index of accessibility to five Boston career centers (DIS), an index of accessibility to radial roads (RAD), the property tax rate per in assessed value (TAX), the student/teacher ratio by town (PTRATIO), where is the percentage of municipality (B), and a substratum of the population ratio (LSTAT).
This experiment focuses on examining how robustly a DNN trained on the Boston dataset can produce the CLS regardless of its position. The experimental procedure is as follows: firstly, the Boston dataset consists of 506 data points with a total of 13 independent variables. In this scenario, four random independent variables are defined as control parameters, and the entire dataset of 506 instances is utilized as initial values. Using EPFA-CLS, the optimization is performed from the initial values to obtain the CLS, resulting in a total of 4 ∗ 506 data points. The key points of interest are the distribution of control parameters at the initial values and after obtaining the CLS, as well as the distribution of housing prices at the initial control parameters and after obtaining the CLS.
We introduced the control parameters: nitric oxide concentration, average number of rooms per dwelling, weighted distances to five Boston employment centers, and full-value property tax rate per
. The results are intriguing. Upon examining the distributions in the left histograms and the distribution of housing prices on the right in
Figure 9, it can be observed that the majority of values have moved towards optimal values compared to the black region representing the initial values. For instance, it is evident that a higher average number of rooms per dwelling leads to a higher housing price, given the same environmental conditions. Additionally, when analyzing the distribution of CLS, it can be seen that the values have reached higher levels compared to the initial values, resulting in an increase in housing prices. However, from a global optimization point of view, some outliers were also observed. This phenomenon occurred due to the optimization based on gradient descent. Since gradient descent seeks local optima, it considers closer points as more optimal. In conclusion, it has been demonstrated that the DNN can produce Controllable Local Optimal Solutions (CLS) from any position, emphasizing its ability to find CLS regardless of the starting point.
(2) Optimal course dataset
Table 8 and
Figure 10 show the results when deriving the CLS from 12 random initial values that the trained DNN used in
Section 3 and
Section 4. It illustrates the scenario where instead of the one mentioned at the beginning of
Section 4, the initial values are defined at twelve randomly chosen points, and the resulting CLS is derived.
We will describe the subgraphs from a to d in
Figure 10. Starting from the initial red dot, it can be observed that EPFA-CLS reaches local optima. Graphs A, B, C, and D represent the graphs and CLS for scenarios 1, 2, 6, and 8, respectively, as shown in
Table 8. Particularly in Graph B, there are three local maximum points, but optimization is achieved by considering the gradient direction. Additionally, in Graph D, the initial values are updated through optimization, leading to the derivation of CLS. This demonstrates that the trained neural network can be optimized using the Gradient Descent method, allowing it to reach local optima.
If you check the output variable for miss distance, you can see that MD of the CLS increases. Compared to the initial MD especially, when the initial value for SD was 101 deg, we can see that MD is much higher, even if it moves only 20 deg. In
Figure 10, each heading displays its initial value. The size of the graph indicates the shape of the graph in which the initial value of the environment parameter is reflected. By conducting random tests for various scenarios, EPFA-CLS demonstrates its ability to be derived from initial values.