An Overview of the Simultaneous Perturbation Method for Efficient Optimization

This article is an introduction to the simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA) algorithm for stochastic optimization of multivariate systems. Optimization algorithms play a critical role in the design, analysis, and control of most engineering systems and are in widespread use in the work of APL and other organizations: The future, in fact, will be full of optimization algorithms. They are becoming part of almost everything. They are moving up the complexity chain to make entire companies more efficient. They also are moving down the chain as computers spread. (USA Today, 31 Dec 1997) Before presenting the SPSA algorithm, we provide some general background on the stochastic optimization context of interest here