INFO-H-413 : Heuristic optimization

Lecturers

Prerequisites

  • Computer science basics, programming

Objective

The main objective is to give students theoretical and practical knowledge of how to tackle effectively difficult optimization problems with heuristic techniques, in particular, stochastic local search methods. In more detail, the goals are

  • Learn about heuristic optimization techniques
  • Learn how these can be used to tackle combinatorial optimization problems
  • Learn how to analyze heuristic algorithms empirically.
  • Obtain hands-on experience with the implementation and the application of heuristic techniques.

Contents

Computationally hard problems arise in many relevant application areas of computational intelligence such as computer science, operations research, bioinformatics, and engineering. For many such problems, heuristic search techniques have been established as the most successful methods. In this course I will introduce and discuss heuristic optimization techniques with a main focus on stochastic local search techniques, which are the most relevant heuristic techniques. The course will illustrate the application principles of these algorithms using a number of example applications ranging from rather simple problems of more academic interest to more complex problems from real applications. A significant focus in the course will be also on relevant techniques for the empirical evaluation of heuristic optimization algorithms and the issues that arise in their development. Hands-on experience with these algorithmic techniques will be gained in accompanying practical exercises.

Bibliography

The course is mainly based on the book

  • Holger Hoos and Thomas Stuetzle. Stochastic Local Search-Foundations and Applications, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San Francisco, California, 2004.

Other relevant literature for the lecture is:

  • Emile H. L. Aarts und Jan Karel Lenstra (editors), Local Search in Combinatorial Optimization. John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
  • Marco Dorigo und Thomas Stuetzle, Ant Colony Optimization. MIT Press, 2004.
  • Zbigniew Michalewicz and David Fogel, How to Solve it: Modern Heuristics. Springer Verlag, 2000.

Teaching methods

The course consists of lectures, exercise sessions, where students deepen some topics covered in the lectures, and implementation tasks, course taught in English

Assessment

Oral examination

ECTS

total: 5 ECTS (theory: 2, exercices: 1, practical work: 2)

 
teaching/infoh413.txt · Last modified: 2011/01/31 00:10 by stuetzle