frontier_knee: Identify knee solutions on an observed Pareto frontier

In multiscape: Multi-Action, Multi-Objective Spatial Planning

Identify knee solutions on an observed Pareto frontier

Description

Identify empirical knee, or compromise, solutions from the objective values stored in a solutionset-class object.

Usage

frontier_knee(
  x,
  objectives = NULL,
  method = c("distance", "ideal", "angle"),
  metric = c("euclidean", "manhattan", "chebyshev"),
  nondominated = TRUE,
  ties = c("first", "all"),
  return_all = FALSE
)

Arguments

x	A solutionset-class object returned by solve.
objectives	Optional character vector of objective names to use. If NULL, all available objective-value columns are used.
method	Character. Method used to score knee solutions. One of "distance", "ideal", or "angle".
metric	Character. Distance metric used when method = "ideal". One of "euclidean", "manhattan", or "chebyshev".
nondominated	Logical. If TRUE, the knee is computed after filtering to feasible non-dominated solutions. Defaults to TRUE.
ties	Character. How to handle ties when return_all = FALSE. If "all", all equally ranked knee solutions are returned. If "first", only the first one is returned.
return_all	Logical. If TRUE, return all scored solutions. If FALSE, return only the highest-ranked knee solution or solutions.

Details

A knee solution is a solution located in a region of the observed frontier where small improvements in one objective tend to require relatively large losses in another objective. Because this concept can be defined in several ways, frontier_knee() provides multiple scoring methods.

Objective values are first transformed to a common minimization space using the optimization sense registered in the original problem. Objectives with sense = "min" are kept unchanged, whereas objectives with sense = "max" are multiplied by -1. Values are then normalized to the observed [0, 1] range, where 0 represents the best observed value and 1 represents the worst observed value for each objective.

The available methods are:

• "distance": identifies the solution with the largest perpendicular distance to the line connecting the two observed objective-wise extreme solutions. This method requires exactly two objectives and is the default geometric knee definition.

• "ideal": identifies the solution closest to the observed ideal point in normalized objective space. This method can be used with two or more objectives and is best interpreted as a compromise solution.

• "angle": identifies the solution with the largest change in direction along the observed bi-objective frontier. This method requires exactly two objectives and at least three complete solutions.

By default, frontier_knee() first filters the supplied SolutionSet to feasible non-dominated solutions using solution_filter. Set nondominated = FALSE to compute the knee over all stored solutions with complete objective values.

The returned knee is empirical and depends on the supplied SolutionSet. It should not be interpreted as the unique knee of the full feasible objective space unless the supplied solutions adequately represent the frontier.

Value

A data.frame. If return_all = FALSE, the table contains the selected knee solution or solutions. If return_all = TRUE, the table contains all candidate solutions ranked by knee score.

The returned table includes:

• solution_id: integer solution id;

• the original objective values;

• normalized objective values prefixed with norm_;

• method-specific diagnostic columns;

• knee_score: score used to rank knee solutions, where larger values indicate stronger knee candidates;

• knee_rank: rank of each solution according to knee_score;

• method: knee scoring method used.

The returned table also contains the following attributes:

• "ideal": observed ideal point in the original objective scales;

• "nadir": observed nadir point in the original objective scales;

• "ranges": observed absolute ranges in the original objective scales;

• "objectives": objective names used;

• "sense": optimization sense of each objective;

• "method": knee method used;

• "nondominated": whether non-dominated filtering was applied;

• "space": objective space used for scoring.

See Also

frontier_distances, frontier_extremes, get_objectives, solution_filter

Examples

# Load a complete simulated planning problem.
example_data <- load_sim_multiaction()

problem <- create_problem(
  pu = example_data$planning_units,
  features = example_data$features,
  dist_features = example_data$dist_features,
  cost = "cost"
) |>
  add_actions(
    example_data$actions,
    cost = example_data$action_costs
  ) |>
  add_effects(
    example_data$effect_assumptions
  ) |>
  add_constraint_targets_relative(0.05) |>
  add_objective_min_cost(alias = "cost", include_pu_cost = FALSE) |>
  add_objective_max_effect(alias = "benefit") |>
  set_method_weighted_sum(
    aliases = c("cost", "benefit"),
    runs = set_runs_grid(n = 3),
    normalize_weights = TRUE
  )

if (requireNamespace("rcbc", quietly = TRUE)) {
  problem <- set_solver_cbc(
    problem,
    verbose = FALSE
  )

  solutions <- solve(problem)

  # Default geometric knee
  frontier_knee(solutions)

  # Return all solutions ranked by knee score
  frontier_knee(
    solutions,
    return_all = TRUE
  )

  # Closest solution to the observed ideal point
  frontier_knee(
    solutions,
    method = "ideal"
  )

  # Largest change in direction along the bi-objective frontier
  frontier_knee(
    solutions,
    method = "angle"
  )
}

multiscape documentation built on Oct. 12, 2026, 5:08 p.m.