Traffic Flow Optimization using a Chaotic Boltzmann Machine Annealer on an FPGA

Abstract

We demonstrate a chaotic Boltzmann machine annealer, which is a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based high-performance annealing machine, and a control system powered by two open-source software packages. The annealer is employed in solving a large-scale real-world optimization problem, the traffic flow optimization. This involves distributing 500 car routes between the Haneda Airport area to the Pacifico Yokohama area, the venue of the International Conference on Field Programmable Technology 2023, while minimizing the total driving distance and preventing traffic jams. We obtain solutions that are comparable in accuracy to solutions of simulated annealing running on a graphics processing unit (GPU-SA) and a central processing unit (CPU-SA). The annealing machine on an FPGA is approximately 571 and 97600 times as fast as the GPU-SA and the CPU-SA, respectively. We will demonstrate solving traffic flow optimization in the towns familiar to the visitors.