Trust Region Constrained Bayesian Optimization with Penalized Constraint Handling

arXiv stat.ML / 3/26/2026

💬 OpinionIdeas & Deep AnalysisModels & Research

Key Points

  • The paper introduces a Bayesian optimization approach for high-dimensional, expensive black-box constrained problems by transforming the constrained task into an unconstrained one via a penalty on constraint violations.
  • It combines this penalty-based formulation with a trust region strategy that limits candidate searches to a local neighborhood around the current best solution to improve stability and efficiency.
  • The method uses a surrogate model and the Expected Improvement acquisition function within the trust region to balance potential improvement against uncertainty.
  • Experiments on synthetic and real-world high-dimensional constrained optimization benchmarks show the approach can find high-quality feasible solutions using fewer evaluations while maintaining robust performance across scenarios.

Abstract

Constrained optimization in high-dimensional black-box settings is difficult due to expensive evaluations, the lack of gradient information, and complex feasibility regions. In this work, we propose a Bayesian optimization method that combines a penalty formulation, a surrogate model, and a trust region strategy. The constrained problem is converted to an unconstrained form by penalizing constraint violations, which provides a unified modeling framework. A trust region restricts the search to a local region around the current best solution, which improves stability and efficiency in high dimensions. Within this region, we use the Expected Improvement acquisition function to select evaluation points by balancing improvement and uncertainty. The proposed Trust Region method integrates penalty-based constraint handling with local surrogate modeling. This combination enables efficient exploration of feasible regions while maintaining sample efficiency. We compare the proposed method with state-of-the-art methods on synthetic and real-world high-dimensional constrained optimization problems. The results show that the method identifies high-quality feasible solutions with fewer evaluations and maintains stable performance across different settings.