Optimisation

Research on Optimisation focuses on solving optimisation problems, which is about finding values for unknowns such that constraints are satisfied and a cost is (near-)minimal or a gain is (near-)maximal. Sometimes the goal is to satisfy the constraints without a specific function to be minimised or maximised.

Our research is on methods and tools for mathematical programming, constraint programming, and local search. Applications of optimisation arise in many real-world domains, such as communication networks, transportation and logistics for resource allocation, personnel rostering under work regulations and employee preferences, scheduling under precedence and resource allocation constraints, vehicle routing under time windows for deliveries or pick-ups, routing and scheduling of data flows in information networks, planning and performance engineering of mobile communications systems, etc.