MGDA II: A direct method for calculating a descent direction common to several criteria

This report is a sequel of the publications [1] [3] [2]. We consider the multiobjective optimization problem of the simultaneous minimization of n (n ≥ 2) criteria, {J_i(Y)}(i=1,...,n), assumed to be smooth real-valued functions of the design vector Y ∈ OMEGA ⊂ R^N (n ≤ N) where OMEGA is the (open) admissible domain of R^N over which these functions admit gradients. Given a design point Y^0 ∈ OMEGA that is not Pareto-stationary, we introduce the gradients {J_i'}(i=1,...,n) at Y = Y^0, and assume them to be linearly independent. We also consider the possible "scaling factors", {S_i} (i=1,...,n) (S_i > 0 , ∀i), as specified appropriate normalization constants for the gradients. Then we show that the Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization process, if conducted with a particular calibration of the normalization, yields a new set of orthogonal vectors {u_i} (i=1,..,n) spanning the same subspace as the original gradients; additionally, the minimum-norm element of the convex hull corresponding to this new family, omega, is calculated explicitly, and the Fréchet derivatives of the criteria in the direction of omega are all equal and positive. This direct process simplifies the implementation of the previously-defined Multiple-Gradient Descent Algorithm (MGDA).

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Source https://inria.hal.science/hal-00685762
Author Désidéri, Jean-Antoine
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 22, 2026, 13:26 (UTC)
Created May 22, 2026, 13:26 (UTC)
Identifier Report N°: RR-7922
Language en
Rights https://about.hal.science/hal-authorisation-v1/
contributor Optimization and control, numerical algorithms and integration of complex multidiscipline systems governed by PDE (OPALE) ; Centre Inria d'Université Côte d'Azur ; Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Laboratoire Jean Alexandre Dieudonné (LJAD) ; Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) (UNS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA)-Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) (UNS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA)
creator Désidéri, Jean-Antoine
date 2012-04-22T00:00:00
harvest_object_id 8e0ef1b5-d064-4bed-82ac-dcdff439ea03
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2026-04-07T00:00:00
set_spec type:REPORT