HardCore Generation: Generating Hard UNSAT Problems for Data Augmentation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a fast, neural network-based method for generating challenging SAT problems that can be used to augment datasets, thereby improving deep learning models for SAT solving.

Contribution

We propose a novel, efficient core detection technique using graph neural networks to generate hard SAT problems for data augmentation.

Findings

Generated problems remain computationally hard.

Synthetic problems improve solver runtime prediction.

Method is scalable and preserves problem attributes.

Abstract

Efficiently determining the satisfiability of a boolean equation -- known as the SAT problem for brevity -- is crucial in various industrial problems. Recently, the advent of deep learning methods has introduced significant potential for enhancing SAT solving. However, a major barrier to the advancement of this field has been the scarcity of large, realistic datasets. The majority of current public datasets are either randomly generated or extremely limited, containing only a few examples from unrelated problem families. These datasets are inadequate for meaningful training of deep learning methods. In light of this, researchers have started exploring generative techniques to create data that more accurately reflect SAT problems encountered in practical situations. These methods have so far suffered from either the inability to produce challenging SAT problems or time-scalability obstacles. In this paper we address both by identifying and manipulating the key contributors to a problem's ``hardness'', known as cores. Although some previous work has addressed cores, the time costs are unacceptably high due to the expense of traditional heuristic core detection techniques. We introduce a fast core detection procedure that uses a graph neural network. Our empirical results demonstrate that we can efficiently generate problems that remain hard to solve and retain key attributes of the original example problems. We show via experiment that the generated synthetic SAT problems can be used in a data augmentation setting to provide improved prediction of solver runtimes.