This project deals with the development of optimization tools based on metaheuristic procedures. Its objecive is the resolution of hard optimization problems and the development of a comuputer alded decision support system. Complex systems appear in different contexts, from the economy to the enginery and in most of the cases they combine optimization and simulation. In this project we will complete the sofware generated in the previous project for the optimization of different models with the objective of providing solutions to a wide range of theoretical and applied problems.
We target two families of hard optimization problems: (1) those based on structured models, and (2) those in which the model is not completely known. In the former, in which a whole description of the problem is known, we face some of the most applied models in practice, proposing efficient solution methods based on metaheuristic procedures. In the second case, in which the model is not completely defined, we will develop evolutionary methods that incorporate learning strategies for an efficient search of the solution space. In most of these problems, the evaluation of the objective function consist of a simulation procedure, resulting in an extremely time consuming operation. This project will face mainly two outputs: firstly a software program which will provide high quality solutions and secondly publications in the most prestigious journals of the area.
Design by Brandán José González García and Sergio Casatorres Hernández