Next Seminar
Comparing Listeners' and Designers' Listening Experiences
04/06/2013 Aalborg University, Nordkraft, Teglgaards Torv, 9000 Aalborg
IIDI News
Dr Ahmed Al-Dubai is the Guest-Co-Editor of a special issue in a leading international journal:...
11/05/2013
Professor Bill Buchanan invited to present at 2013 Annual Computing, ICT and Digital Media...
09/05/2013
Optimisation
In our increasingly global economy, companies are under pressure to optimise their activities in order to gain a competitive edge or to even remain sustainable. our optimisation research specialises in developing state-of-the-art algorithms that are capable of obtaining solutions to complex real-world problems, saving time, money and even CO2 output.
The result is greener, more efficient solutions that are tailored to any constraints your company may face.
We have an international reputation in this field and are currently working with a leading supermarket and a major logistics consultant to investigate ways to reduce carbon emissions on their delivery routes.
Traditional optimisation techniques often can’t cope with the complexities and constraints of real world problems. We've turned to nature for inspiration, colonies of ants, for example, where complex behaviour at the global level emerges from the interaction of large numbers of simple components. This approach produces fast, robust solutions in complex situations.
In the field of logistics, for example, we can help you create routes which minimise carbon emissions and costs while adhering to delivery times. We use novel algorithms and sophisticated emissions models to take account of road gradients, pay-loads and vehicle types.
The result is greener, more efficient solutions that are tailored to any constraints your company may face.
We have an international reputation in this field and are currently working with a leading supermarket and a major logistics consultant to investigate ways to reduce carbon emissions on their delivery routes.
Optimising bin packing
This demo shows a visual representation of a bin packing algorithm. The challenge is to pack the items (shown here as coloured rectangles) into the smallest space.
Projects 
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For latest news and events, please see the project webpage here Awareness is a Coordination Action (CA), supporting research under the FP7: FET Proactive Intiative:Self-Awareness in Autonomic Systems (Awareness). Awareness provide a supportive environment for research into self-awareness in...
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Starting on 1/1/2013, this project aims to improve the current state of the art in developing optimisation tools which are relevant and acceptable to industry. This will be achieved by addressing industrial current concerns regarding the ability of academic optimisation techniques to deal...
Contact
n.urquhart@napier.ac.uk
+44 (0)131 455 2655
Room C59
Merchiston Campus
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh
EH10 5DT
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh
EH10 5DT
Selected Publications
Hart, E., Timmis, J. (2008). Application Areas of AIS: The Past, Present and Future. Applied Soft Computing, 8(1), 191-201.
McCollum, B., Schaerf, A., Paechter, B., McMulan, P., Lewis, R., Parkes, A.J., Gaspero, L., Qu, R., Burke, E. (2010). Setting the Research Agenda in Automated Timetabling: The Second International Timetabling Competition. INFORMS Journal of Computing, 22(1), 120-130.
McEwan, C., Hart, E. (2009). Representation in the (Artificial) Immune System. J Mathematical Modelling and Algorithms, 8, 149.
Timmis, J., Andrews, P., Hart, E. (2010). On Artificial Immune Systems and Swarm Intelligence. Swarm Intelligence, 4(4), 247-273.
Hart, E., Bersini, H., Santos, F. (2009). Structure versus function: a topological perspective on immune networks. Natural Computing, 9(3), 603-624.
McEwan, C., Hart, E. (2011). On Clonal Selection. Theoretical Computer Science, 412(6), 502-516.
