The multiobjective multidimensional knapsack problem: a survey and a new approach

Abstract: The knapsack problem (KP) and its multidimensional version (MKP) are basic problems in combinatorial optimization. In this paper we consider their multiobjective extension (MOKP and MOMKP), for which the aim is to obtain or to approximate the set of efficient solutions. In a first step, we classify and describe briefly the existing works, that are essentially based on the use of metaheuristics. In a second step, we propose the adaptation of the two-phase Pareto local search (2PPLS) to the resolution of the MOMKP. With this aim, we use a very-large scale neighborhood (VLSN) in the second phase of the method, that is the Pareto local search. We compare our results to state-of-the-art results and we show that we obtain results never reached before by heuristics, for the biobjective instances. Finally we consider the extension to three-objective instances.