Real-World Optimization Benchmark Suite

This repository is a curated collection of real-world optimization benchmark problems for ASP, CP, and general combinatorial optimization.

All benchmark problems include at least:

• problem description
• input instance files or generator files
• references to original sources

---

Included Problem Families

1. House Configuration Problem (HCP)

The House Configuration Problem (HCP) is an abstraction of the real-world optimization task of configuring electronic systems. This repository includes the adapted HCP, which extends the original HCP with an ordering constraint for things and cabinets, used in the paper:

Semmelrock, V.; Friedrich, G. (2025).
Investigating the Grounding Bottleneck for a Large-Scale Configuration Problem: Existing Tools and Constraint-Aware Guessing

Instance Generator

The generator hcp/HCP_instanceGeneration.lp produces valid HCP instances via gringo HCP_instanceGeneration.lp --const numberOfPersons=5 --const numberOfThingsPerPerson=10 --text > instance_5p_10t.lp

Change the constants to scale the instance.

Citations for HCP

If you use HCP data/encodings from this repository, please cite:

Original HCP sources:

• Friedrich, G.; Ryabokon, A.; Falkner, A. A.; Haselböck, A.; Schenner, G.; Schreiner, H. (2011).
  (Re)configuration using Answer Set Programming
  IJCAI Workshop on Configuration (ConfWS 2011).

• Ryabokon, A. (2015).
  Knowledge-Based (Re)Configuration of Complex Products and Services
  Dissertation, Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt.

Adapted HCP used here:

• Semmelrock, V.; Friedrich, G. (2025).
  Investigating the Grounding Bottleneck for a Large-Scale Configuration Problem: Existing Tools and Constraint-Aware Guessing

---

2. Partner Units Problem (PUP)

The Partner Units Problem (PUP) originates from configuration tasks in railway safety systems. The instances in this repository are a re-upload of the instances from the paper:

Teppan, E., Friedrich, G., & Falkner, A. (2012). QuickPup: A Heuristic Backtracking Algorithm for the Partner Units Configuration Problem Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 26(2), 2329-2334. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v26i2.18979

Citations for PUP

If you use PUP instances, please cite:

• Teppan, E., Friedrich, G., & Falkner, A. (2012). QuickPup: A Heuristic Backtracking Algorithm for the Partner Units Configuration Problem Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 26(2), 2329-2334. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v26i2.18979

---

Contact

For questions, suggestions, or contributions, please contact veronika.semmelrock@aau.at

Citation for This Repository

If you use benchmarks from this repository, please cite the corresponding original problem. For citing the benchmark suite, please use:

@misc{realworldbenchmarks2025,
  author       = {Veronika Semmelrock},
  title        = {Real-World Optimization Benchmark Suite},
  year         = {2025},
  url          = {https://github.com/VeronikaSemmelrock/realworld_optimization_benchmark_suite},
  note         = {Online real-world optimization benchmark suite},
}