ReACT: Real-time algorithm configuration through tournaments

The success or failure of a solver is oftentimes closely tied to the proper configuration of the solver’s parameters. However, tuning such parameters by hand requires expert knowledge, is time consuming, and is error-prone. In recent years, automatic algorithm configuration tools have made significant advances and can nearly always find better parameters than those found through hand tuning. However, current approaches require significant offline computational resources, and follow a train-once methodology that is unable to later adapt to changes in the type of problem solved. To this end, this paper presents Real-time Algorithm Configuration through Tournaments (ReACT), a method that does not require any offline training to perform algorithm configuration. ReACT exploits the multi-core infrastructure available on most modern machines to create a system that continuously searches for improving parameterizations, while guaranteeing a particular level of performance. The experimental results show that, despite the simplicity of the approach, ReACT quickly finds a set of parameters that is better than the default parameters and is competitive with state-of-the-art algorithm configurators.