New Theory and Algorithms for Nonsmooth Optimisation with Application to Integer Programming. Mathematical optimisation plays a key role in a wide variety of applications in business, industry, engineering and science. For example, airlines cannot fly and radiation treatment for cancer cannot be delivered without solving (a series of) optimisation problems. Some classes of optimisation problem are very well solved, with clear mathematical foundations, efficient algorithms, and reliable software ....New Theory and Algorithms for Nonsmooth Optimisation with Application to Integer Programming. Mathematical optimisation plays a key role in a wide variety of applications in business, industry, engineering and science. For example, airlines cannot fly and radiation treatment for cancer cannot be delivered without solving (a series of) optimisation problems. Some classes of optimisation problem are very well solved, with clear mathematical foundations, efficient algorithms, and reliable software implementations. Both nonsmooth and integer optimisation problems have a good mathematical basis, but there are "gaps"; existing methods cannot always solve real industrial problems. This project will deliver better methods, built on better theory, and so will yield better solutions for important applications.Read moreRead less
Improving train flows with connected driver advice systems. The project aims to develop new train control theory to determine the efficient movement of multiple trains, and to demonstrate a practical system for coordinating trains, on busy intercity rail corridors. Railways around the world are now deploying driver advice systems developed by the research team and the partner organisation, TTG Transportation Technology. The project is designed to enable these systems to coordinate the movements ....Improving train flows with connected driver advice systems. The project aims to develop new train control theory to determine the efficient movement of multiple trains, and to demonstrate a practical system for coordinating trains, on busy intercity rail corridors. Railways around the world are now deploying driver advice systems developed by the research team and the partner organisation, TTG Transportation Technology. The project is designed to enable these systems to coordinate the movements of many trains on a congested rail network to improve timekeeping, smooth the flow of traffic, increase capacity and reduce energy use.Read moreRead less
Real-time scheduling of trains to control peak electricity demand. This project aims to develop new scheduling and control methods that will enable railways to reduce their demand for electricity during peak demand periods, without undue disruption to the timetable.
These new methods and systems will integrate with—and expand the capabilities of—an Australian train control system that is used by railways around the world. This will enable better management of electricity within a region and be ....Real-time scheduling of trains to control peak electricity demand. This project aims to develop new scheduling and control methods that will enable railways to reduce their demand for electricity during peak demand periods, without undue disruption to the timetable.
These new methods and systems will integrate with—and expand the capabilities of—an Australian train control system that is used by railways around the world. This will enable better management of electricity within a region and better use of renewable energy sources, with significant cost savings for railways and the wider community.Read moreRead less
Stochastic Scheduling for Production and Delivery of Perishable Products with Imperfect Information. Australia has a wide range of industries producing perishable goods such as wheat, fruit, vegetables, meat, milk, seafood and health products, as well as fashion and entertainment goods. These industries play a critical role in the Australian economy, as well as impacting on national health and the environment. This project will provide new strategies, models and techniques to increase efficiency ....Stochastic Scheduling for Production and Delivery of Perishable Products with Imperfect Information. Australia has a wide range of industries producing perishable goods such as wheat, fruit, vegetables, meat, milk, seafood and health products, as well as fashion and entertainment goods. These industries play a critical role in the Australian economy, as well as impacting on national health and the environment. This project will provide new strategies, models and techniques to increase efficiency in both the production and delivery of perishable products. The outcomes of the project will enable decision makers in industries handling perishable products to optimise the use of resources, reduce costs and waste, raise productivity and improve services. The nation will benefit with higher export income and better quality of consumer products.Read moreRead less
Generalizing Multi-level Decision Support Handling Multi-objectives, Multi-followers and Uncertainty for Critical Resource Planning. The proposed multi-level optimisation techniques and fuzzy multi-objective multi-follower multi-level decision support system can be used widely in government and industries of Australia to reduce decision blindness, improve decision effectiveness, and therefore has the potential to increase the competitiveness of organizations. Many organizations in Australia are ....Generalizing Multi-level Decision Support Handling Multi-objectives, Multi-followers and Uncertainty for Critical Resource Planning. The proposed multi-level optimisation techniques and fuzzy multi-objective multi-follower multi-level decision support system can be used widely in government and industries of Australia to reduce decision blindness, improve decision effectiveness, and therefore has the potential to increase the competitiveness of organizations. Many organizations in Australia are decentralized and have a hierarchical structure. The proposed techniques are extremely effective for such kinds of organizations in critical planning, management and policy making, including tourism resource planning, water resource management, financial planning, healthcare planning, land-use planning, production planning, transportation planning, and power market planning.Read moreRead less
Group Decision Support Systems for Fuzzy Multi-objective Decision Problems. Most real-world decisions in organisations are made by groups addressing multi-objectives. Further, the decision objectives are frequently characterized by fuzzy parameters and decision makers often utilise fuzzy judgments in attempting to reach optimal solutions. The project is the first to address all these issues: fuzzy objectives, fuzzy judgements, multi-objectives and groups in decision-making. The project will deve ....Group Decision Support Systems for Fuzzy Multi-objective Decision Problems. Most real-world decisions in organisations are made by groups addressing multi-objectives. Further, the decision objectives are frequently characterized by fuzzy parameters and decision makers often utilise fuzzy judgments in attempting to reach optimal solutions. The project is the first to address all these issues: fuzzy objectives, fuzzy judgements, multi-objectives and groups in decision-making. The project will develop a set of interactive decision-making methods to be used by groups solving fuzzy multi-objective decision problems with the allowance of fuzzy judgements, then develop a group decision support system to implement the methods. These outcomes can be immediately used by suitable Australian organisations.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC200100009
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,861,236.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA). OPTIMA addresses industry’s urgent need for decision-making tools for global competitiveness: reducing lead times, and financial and environmental costs, while improving efficiency, quality, and agility. Despite strong expertise in academia, industry is yet to fully benefit from optimisation technology due to its high barrier to entry. Connecting industry partners with world-leading interdiscip ....ARC Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA). OPTIMA addresses industry’s urgent need for decision-making tools for global competitiveness: reducing lead times, and financial and environmental costs, while improving efficiency, quality, and agility. Despite strong expertise in academia, industry is yet to fully benefit from optimisation technology due to its high barrier to entry. Connecting industry partners with world-leading interdisciplinary researchers and talented students, OPTIMA will advance an industry-ready optimisation toolkit, while training a new generation of industry practitioners and over 120 young researchers, vanguarding a highly skilled workforce of change agents for transformation of the advanced manufacturing, energy resources, and critical infrastructure sectors.Read moreRead less
New mathematics for multi-extremal optimization and diffusion tensor imaging. This project aims to establish numerically certifiable mathematical theory and methods for semi-algebraic optimisation problems. Numerically certifiable optimisation principles and techniques are vital for the practical use of optimisation technologies because they can be readily implemented by common computer models and algorithms. Yet no such methodologies exist for multi-extremal, semi-algebraic optimisation problem ....New mathematics for multi-extremal optimization and diffusion tensor imaging. This project aims to establish numerically certifiable mathematical theory and methods for semi-algebraic optimisation problems. Numerically certifiable optimisation principles and techniques are vital for the practical use of optimisation technologies because they can be readily implemented by common computer models and algorithms. Yet no such methodologies exist for multi-extremal, semi-algebraic optimisation problems which are common in modern science and medicine. The expected outcomes of this project include enhanced optimisation methods for diffusion tensor imaging, an emerging technology in brain sciences.Read moreRead less
Decomposition and Duality: New Approaches to Integer and Stochastic Integer Programming. Because of their rich modelling capabilities, integer programs are widely used in industry for decision making and planning. However their solution algorithms do not have the maturity of their cousins in convex optimisation, where the theory of strong duality is ubiquitous. Efficient methods for convex optimisation under uncertainty do not apply to the integer case, which is highly non-convex. Furthermore, i ....Decomposition and Duality: New Approaches to Integer and Stochastic Integer Programming. Because of their rich modelling capabilities, integer programs are widely used in industry for decision making and planning. However their solution algorithms do not have the maturity of their cousins in convex optimisation, where the theory of strong duality is ubiquitous. Efficient methods for convex optimisation under uncertainty do not apply to the integer case, which is highly non-convex. Furthermore, integer models usually assume the data is known with certainty, which is often not the case in the real world. This project will develop new theory and algorithms to enhance the analysis of integer models, including those that incorporating uncertainty, while also enabling the use of parallel computing paradigms. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100049
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
New integer programming based theory, formulations and decomposition techniques with applications to integrated problems. Optimisation problems permeate science and industry. By developing new techniques to solve larger and harder problems than is currently possible, more complex questions can be answered, and more accurate solutions obtained. Industries can use such tools to make better financial, resource management, operational, and/or strategic planning decisions.