Configuring the Design Variables

You can select the parameters that will be used as design variables during execution. The Approximation Loop and Pointer-2 strategies have the same design variable attributes. In addition, because both strategies have the same general intent as the Optimization component, their design parameters have the same attributes as the Optimization component.

  1. Double-click the Exploration component icon .

    The Exploration Component Editor appears.

  2. From the Exploration Component Editor, click the Design Variables tab.

  3. Right-click in the table to access various options for working with design variables.

    For more information, see Setting Table Options.

  4. Perform the following actions, which may vary based on your model design:

    1. Determine which parameters you want to use as variables by selecting the corresponding check boxes in the first column. Alternatively, you can click Check to add all the selected parameters (including array elements) as design variables. To clear all the parameters, click Uncheck.

      If no parameters are selected, you will be prompted to add all parameters as design variables.

      Selecting a subflow parameter as a variable will create a corresponding parameter in the Exploration component when you click OK or Apply on the Exploration Component Editor. You can only select real, integer, and string parameters.

      Note: If you select discrete values for the Pointer-2 strategy, the combination of design variables is repeated.

    2. Specify the Lower Bound for the variables in the corresponding column. The Pointer-2 strategy requires that all design variables have both lower and upper bounds or a list of allowed values. For more information, see Setting Optimization Component Preferences.
    3. Change the initial value in the Value column.

      Warning: The initial values of the variables are overridden at execution time if the Exploration component is a child component of another process component (e.g., the Task component). Therefore, to change the initial values of variables, you must change the corresponding parameter values in the parent (Task) component.

      Changing the initial values of variables changes their values on the main Design Gateway window. These changes are immediate and cannot be reversed by clicking Cancel on the Exploration Component Editor.

    4. Specify the Upper Bound for the variables in the corresponding column. The Pointer-2 strategy requires that all design variables have both lower and upper bounds or a list of allowed values.
    5. Type a list of allowed values in the Allowed Values column, separated by a semicolon. If you enter allowed values, the lower and upper bounds are erased, and vice versa. Entering a list of allowed values creates a discrete variable, and the Pointer-2 strategy will use only these values during optimization. The optimization algorithms used by the Pointer-2 strategy will view this variable as an integer parameter with the range of values 0, 1, 2, …, N−1, where N is the length of the allowed values list.
    6. Set the Scale Factor for the variable in the corresponding column. Scale factors are used to bring variable values to the same order of magnitude to improve the efficiency of the optimizers.

  5. If desired, click Edit at the bottom of the editor to set attribute values for multiple design variables.

    For more information, see Editing Attributes for Multiple Parameters.

  6. If desired, map any of these variable attributes to parameters.

    For more information, see Mapping Options and Attributes to Parameters.

  7. Click OK to save your changes and to close the Exploration Component Editor.