Heuristic Algorithms for Combinatorial Optimization Problems




Goals:

To give an introduction to the combinatorial optimization problems and heuristic techniques which can be used to solve them. A set of heuristic algorithms, including simulated annealing, tabu search, and genetic algorithms, together with their practical applications to design automation and software engineering, will be discussed.

Contents:

· Introduction to combinatorial optimization problems.
· Basic principles of heuristic techniques.
· Simulated annealing.
· Tabu search.
· Genetic algorithms.
· Lagrangean relaxation.
· Application of heuristic techniques.
· Case studies or project work.

Organization:

The course consists of two parts. Part I will introduce the area and the basic concepts of heuristics. It will then presents several meta-heuristic techniques including simulated annealing, tabu search, and genetic algorithms. This part will give 3 credit points. The second part will be a set of seminars dealing with the application of the heuristics in practical design problems, which will give also 3 credit points. A student can choose to participate in only one part of the course.

Teachers:

Petru Eles and Zebo Peng
Last modified: Wed May 17 08:34:39 CEST 2006