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Josh Tingey

Publications and source records attributed to Josh Tingey.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Meta-Reinforcement Learning via Evolution for Multi-Objective Combinatorial Supply Chain Optimisation

Meta-reinforcement learning is a promising approach to multi-objective optimisation because it enables rapid policy adaptation across changing environments and preference settings. However, conventional few-shot methods usually fine-tune from a single shared meta-policy, which can reduce solution diversity and limit exploration of the Pareto front, especially in high-dimensional combinatorial problems such as supply chain optimisation. We propose a population-based Meta-reinforcement learning framework that combines decomposition with evolutionary search in scalarisation weight space. The framework maintains a population of weight vectors, each associated with a distinct meta-policy trained through gradient-based meta-learning, and iteratively refines this population through elitist selection, crossover, and mutation guided by hypervolume and entropy contributions. We evaluate the method in a multi-objective supply chain setting with conflicting economic, environmental, and social goals, and further test its generality on standard reinforcement learning problems. The results show that the proposed approach yields more diverse, better distributed Pareto front approximations, improves cross-task adaptation, increases hypervolume by up to 32\% over Meta-multi-objective reinforcement learning in the complex case, and attains the lowest average Hausdorff distance among all compared methods.

cs.LG

MIRACL: A Diverse Meta-Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Objective Multi-Echelon Combinatorial Supply Chain Optimisation

Multi-objective reinforcement learning (MORL) is effective for multi-echelon combinatorial supply chain optimisation, where tasks involve high dimensionality, uncertainty, and competing objectives. However, its deployment in dynamic environments is hindered by the need for task-specific retraining and substantial computational cost. We introduce MIRACL (Meta multI-objective Reinforcement leArning with Composite Learning), a hierarchical Meta-MORL framework that allows for a few-shot generalisation across diverse tasks. MIRACL decomposes each task into structured subproblems for efficient policy adaptation and meta-learns a global policy across tasks using a Pareto-based adaptation strategy to encourage diversity in meta-training and fine-tuning. To our knowledge, this is the first integration of Meta-MORL with such mechanisms in combinatorial optimisation. Although validated in the supply chain domain, MIRACL is theoretically domain-agnostic and applicable to broader dynamic multi-objective decision-making problems. Empirical evaluations show that MIRACL outperforms conventional MORL baselines in simple to moderate tasks, achieving up to 10% higher hypervolume and 5% better expected utility. These results underscore the potential of MIRACL for robust, efficient adaptation in multi-objective problems.

cs.LG

Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Objective Multi-Echelon Supply Chain Optimisation

This study develops a generalised multi-objective, multi-echelon supply chain optimisation model with non-stationary markets based on a Markov decision process, incorporating economic, environmental, and social considerations. The model is evaluated using a multi-objective reinforcement learning (RL) method, benchmarked against an originally single-objective RL algorithm modified with weighted sum using predefined weights, and a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA)-based approach. We conduct experiments on varying network complexities, mimicking typical real-world challenges using a customisable simulator. The model determines production and delivery quantities across supply chain routes to achieve near-optimal trade-offs between competing objectives, approximating Pareto front sets. The results demonstrate that the primary approach provides the most balanced trade-off between optimality, diversity, and density, further enhanced with a shared experience buffer that allows knowledge transfer among policies. In complex settings, it achieves up to 75\% higher hypervolume than the MOEA-based method and generates solutions that are approximately eleven times denser, signifying better robustness, than those produced by the modified single-objective RL method. Moreover, it ensures stable production and inventory levels while minimising demand loss.

cs.AI

Scalable DAQ system operating the CHIPS-5 neutrino detector

The CHIPS R&D project focuses on development of low-cost water Cherenkov neutrino detectors through novel design strategies and resourceful engineering. This work presents an end-to-end DAQ solution intended for a recent 5 kt CHIPS prototype, which is largely based on affordable mass-produced components. Much like the detector itself, the presented instrumentation is composed of modular arrays that can be scaled up and easily serviced. A single such array can carry up to 30 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) accompanied by electronics that generate high voltage in-situ and deliver time resolution of up to 0.69 ns. In addition, the technology is compatible with the White Rabbit timing system, which can synchronize its elements to within 100 ps. While deployment issues did not permit the presented DAQ system to operate beyond initial evaluation, the presented hardware and software successfully passed numerous commissioning tests that demonstrated their viability for use in a large-scale neutrino detector, instrumented with thousands of PMTs.

physics.ins-det

Neutrino Characterisation using Convolutional Neural Networks in CHIPS water Cherenkov detectors

This work presents a novel approach to water Cherenkov neutrino detector event reconstruction and classification. Three forms of a Convolutional Neural Network have been trained to reject cosmic muon events, classify beam events, and estimate neutrino energies, using only a slightly modified version of the raw detector event as input. When evaluated on a realistic selection of simulated CHIPS-5kton prototype detector events, this new approach significantly increases performance over the standard likelihood-based reconstruction and simple neural network classification.

hep-ex

Low-latency NuMI Trigger for the CHIPS-5 Neutrino Detector

The CHIPS R&D project aims to develop affordable large-scale water Cherenkov neutrino detectors for underwater deployment. In 2019, a 5kt prototype detector CHIPS-5 was deployed in northern Minnesota to potentially study neutrinos generated by the NuMI beam. This paper presents the dedicated low-latency triggering system for CHIPS-5 that delivers notifications of neutrino spills from the Fermilab accelerator complex to the detector with sub-nanosecond precision. Building on existing NOvA infrastructure, the time distribution system achieves this using only open-source software and conventional computing and network elements. In a time-of-flight study, the system reliably provided advance notifications $610 \pm 330\text{ ms}$ prior to neutrino spills at 96% efficiency. This permits advanced analysis in real-time as well as hardware-assisted triggering that saves data bandwidth and reduces DAQ computing load outside time windows of interest.

physics.ins-det