add_cbc_solver: Add a _CBC_ solver

In prioritizr: Systematic Conservation Prioritization in R

Add a CBC solver

Description

Specify that the CBC (COIN-OR branch and cut) software should be used to solve a conservation planning problem (Forrest & Lougee-Heimer 2005). This function can also be used to customize the behavior of the solver. It requires the rcbc package to be installed (only available on GitHub, see below for installation instructions).

Usage

add_cbc_solver(
  x,
  gap = 0.1,
  time_limit = .Machine$integer.max,
  presolve = 2,
  threads = 1,
  first_feasible = FALSE,
  start_solution = NULL,
  verbose = TRUE,
  control = list()
)

Arguments

x	problem() or multi_problem() object.
gap	numeric value denoting the optimality gap. This gap is relative and expresses the acceptable deviance from optimality. For example, a value of 0.01 will result in the solver stopping when it has found a solution within 1% of optimality. Additionally, a value of 0 will result in the solver stopping when it has found an optimal solution. The default value is 0.1 (i.e., 10% from optimality).
time_limit	numeric value denoting the time limit (seconds) for generating solutions. The solver will return the current best solution when this time limit is exceeded. The default value is the largest integer value (i.e., .Machine$integer.max), effectively meaning that solver will keep running until a solution within the optimality gap is found.
presolve	integer value indicating how intensively the solver should try to simplify the problem before solving it. Available options include (0) disable pre-solving, (1) conservative level of pre-solving, and (2) very aggressive level of pre-solving . Defaults to 2.
threads	integer value denoting the number of threads to use during optimization. Broadly speaking, we recommend setting threads to be no higher than the number of computational cores minus one or two (e.g., threads = parallel::detectCores(TRUE) - 2). This is because setting threads to be equal to the number of computational cores means that the solver and is fighting for resources with other software (e.g., Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive, software updates, antivirus software, internet browsers) and, in turn, can result in computational bottlenecks that slow run times. Additionally, when setting threads to be a value greater than 1, we recommend checking memory (RAM) usage during the optimization process to ensure that the solver does not use up the majority of available memory. This is because solving optimization problems with multiple threads can involve creating multiple copies of the problem (e.g., threads = 5 may mean 5 copies) and exhausting most of the available memory will drastically slow run times. Defaults to 1.
first_feasible	logical value indicating if the first feasible solution should be returned? If first_feasible = TRUE, then the solver will return the first solution it encounters that meets all the constraints, regardless of solution quality. Note that the first feasible solution is not an arbitrary solution, rather it is derived from the relaxed problem, and is therefore often reasonably close to optimality. Defaults to FALSE.
start_solution	NULL or object containing the starting solution for the solver. This is can be useful because specifying a starting solution can speed up the optimization process. To specify a starting solution, start_solution should be in the same format as the planning units (i.e., a numeric, matrix, data.frame, terra::rast(), or sf::sf() object). See the Start solution format section for more information. Defaults to NULL such that no starting solution is used.
verbose	logical value indicating if information should be displayed during the optimization process. Defaults to TRUE.
control	list with additional parameters for tuning the optimization process. For example, control = list(strategy = 2) could be used to set the strategy parameter. See the online documentation for information on the parameters.

Details

CBC is an open-source mixed integer programming solver that is part of the Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research (COIN-OR) project. This solver seems to have much better performance than the other open-source solvers (i.e., add_highs_solver(), add_rsymphony_solver(), add_lpsymphony_solver()) (see the Solver benchmarks vignette for details). As such, it is strongly recommended to use this solver if the Gurobi and IBM CPLEX solvers are not available.

Value

An updated problem() or multi_problem() object with the solver added to it.

Installation

The rcbc package is required to use this solver. Since the rcbc package is not available on the the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN), it must be installed from its GitHub repository. To install the rcbc package, please use the following code:

if (!require(remotes)) install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("dirkschumacher/rcbc")

Note that you may also need to install several dependencies – such as the Rtools software or system libraries – prior to installing the rcbc package. For further details on installing this package, please consult the online package documentation.

Start solution format

Broadly speaking, start_solution must be in the same format as the planning unit data in x. Further details on the correct format are described below.

x has numeric planning units

Here start_solution must be a numeric vector with each element corresponding to a different planning unit. It should have the same number of planning units as those in x. Additionally, any planning units with missing cost (NA) values should also have missing (NA) values in the start_solution.

x has matrix planning units

Here start_solution must be a matrix vector with each row corresponding to a different planning unit, and each column correspond to a different management zone. It should have the same number of planning units and zones as those in x. Additionally, any planning units with missing cost (NA) values for a particular zone should also have a missing (NA) values in start_solution.

x has terra::rast() planning units

Here start_solution be a terra::rast() object where different cells correspond to different planning units and layers correspond to a different management zones. It should have the same dimensionality (rows, columns, layers), resolution, extent, and coordinate reference system as the planning units in x. Additionally, any planning units with missing cost (NA) values for a particular zone should also have missing (NA) values in start_solution.

x has data.frame planning units

Here start_solution must be a data.frame with each column corresponding to a different zone, each row corresponding to a different planning unit, and cell values corresponding to the solution value. This means that if a data.frame object containing the solution also contains additional columns, then these columns will need to be subsetted prior to using this function (see below for example with sf::sf() data). Additionally, any planning units with missing cost (NA) values for a particular zone should also have missing (NA) values in start_solution.

x has sf::sf() planning units

Here start_solution must be a sf::sf() object with each column corresponding to a different zone, each row corresponding to a different planning unit, and cell values corresponding to the solution value. This means that if the sf::sf() object containing the solution also contains additional columns, then these columns will need to be subsetted prior to using this function (see below for example). Additionally, start_solution must also have the same coordinate reference system as the planning unit data. Furthermore, any planning units with missing cost (NA) values for a particular zone should also have missing (NA) values in start_solution.

References

Forrest J and Lougee-Heimer R (2005) CBC User Guide. In Emerging theory, Methods, and Applications (pp. 257–277). INFORMS, Catonsville, MD. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1287/educ.1053.0020")}.

See Also

Other functions for adding solvers: add_cplex_solver(), add_default_solver(), add_gurobi_solver(), add_highs_solver(), add_lsymphony_solver, add_rsymphony_solver()

Examples

# load data
sim_pu_raster <- get_sim_pu_raster()
sim_features <- get_sim_features()

# create problem
p1 <-
  problem(sim_pu_raster, sim_features) %>%
  add_min_set_objective() %>%
  add_relative_targets(0.1) %>%
  add_binary_decisions() %>%
  add_cbc_solver(gap = 0, verbose = FALSE)

# generate solution %>%
s1 <- solve(p1)

# plot solution
plot(s1, main = "solution", axes = FALSE)

# create a similar problem with boundary length penalties and
# specify the solution from the previous run as a starting solution
p2 <-
  problem(sim_pu_raster, sim_features) %>%
  add_min_set_objective() %>%
  add_relative_targets(0.1) %>%
  add_boundary_penalties(10) %>%
  add_binary_decisions() %>%
  add_cbc_solver(gap = 0, start_solution = s1, verbose = FALSE)

# generate solution
s2 <- solve(p2)

# plot solution
plot(s2, main = "solution with boundary penalties", axes = FALSE)

prioritizr documentation built on Sept. 24, 2026, 5:07 p.m.