A dominance-based stepwise approach for sensor placement optimization

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) usually consists of numerous wireless devices deployed in a region of interest, each of which is capable of collecting and processing environmental information and communicating with neighboring devices. The problem of sensor placement becomes non trivial when we consider environmental factors such as terrain elevations. In this paper, we differentiate a stepwise optimization approach from a generic optimization approach, and show that the former is better suited for sensor placement optimization. Following a stepwise optimization approach, we propose a Crowd-Out Dominance Search (CODS), which makes use of terrain information and intersensor relationship information to facilitate the optimization. Finally, we investigate the effect of terrain irregularity on optimization algorithm performances, and show that the proposed method demonstrates better resistance to terrain complexity than other optimization methods.     

Pareto-based evolutionary computational approach for wireless sensor placement

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have become increasingly appealing in recent years for the purpose of data acquisition, surveillance, event monitoring, etc. Optimal positioning of wireless sensor nodes is an important issue for small networks of relatively expensive sensing devices. For such networks, the placement problem requires that multiple objectives be met. These objectives are usually conflicting, e.g. achieving maximum coverage and maximum connectivity while minimizing the network energy cost. A flexible algorithm for sensor placement (FLEX) is presented that uses an evolutionary computational approach to solve this multiobjective sensor placement optimization problem when the number of sensor nodes is not fixed and the maximum number of nodes is not known a priori. FLEX starts with an initial population of simple WSNs and complexifies their topologies over generations. It keeps track of new genes through historical markings, which are used in later generations to assess two networks’ compatibility and also to align genes during crossover. It uses Pareto-dominance to approach Pareto-optimal layouts with respect to the objectives. Speciation is employed to aid the survival of gene innovations and facilitate networks to compete with similar networks. Elitism ensures that the best solutions are carried over to the next generation. The flexibility of the algorithm is illustrated by solving the device/node placement problem for different applications like facility surveillance, coverage with and without obstacles, preferential surveillance, and forming a clustering hierarchy.     

A heuristic approach to selecting views for materialization

XML data warehouses are becoming more popular as data is harvested from the web or as output from web services. As these warehouses tend to grow significantly over time, various techniques for expediting queries have been developed. One such technique is to materialize some or all of the queries in advance of query processing. These views are then subject to change either when underlying data changes or view definitions themselves are modified by users. The work in this paper focuses on changes to view definitions or view adaptation as it is known. Our approach is to segment the materialized view into fragments to minimize the effect of view changes. One crucial aspect to this approach is how to select the best fragments for materialization. In this paper, we introduce a new approach to selecting fragments based on heuristics derived from costs associated with the view graph. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种改进的VLSI电路有效布局算法

采用重心矩形约束[1]进行VLSI布局会出现以下问题：(1)布局边界的浪费,出现不可利用的小区域;(2)放置模块时可能会出现模块放置在实际有效区域内却因为重心约束成为非法放置。为了解决该问题,本文提出了一种改进文献[1]的VLSI布局启发式算法：通过设计模块的优先顺序进行合理布局,并辅助于边界矩形来解决重心矩形约束出现的问题;对模块布局放置的多个可能位置进行比较,并将其放置在优先度最高的适当区域。用Banchmark（ami33,ami49）和文献[1]的数据进行测试,结果表明新算法：（1）算法简洁高效,运行时间短;（2）布局结果明显好于文献[1]。     

A multi-phase planning heuristic for a dual-delivery SMT placement machine optimization

This paper proposes a heuristic multi-phase approach to minimize the moving distance of gantries by balancing the workload of a dual-delivery surface mount technology (SMT) placement machine. The SMT placement machine under study is a rotary-head dual-gantry machine. Several practical factors are considered, such as the component-nozzle compatibility and the machine structure. The machine has two stations with a symmetric layout. Each station has a printed circuit board (PCB) conveyor belt, a fixed camera, an auto nozzle changer, a feeder base, and a movable gantry with several nozzle heads. In the pick-and-place assembly operation, two independent gantries alternately mount on one PCB. Most research in literature considers three main decisions in the SMT placement machine optimization: nozzle setup, feeder arrangement, and pick-and-place sequence. In this research, two more decisions are introduced into the dual-gantry problem: workload balance between gantries and gantry cycle scheduling. A hierarchical strategy is developed to solve the workload balance problem, including nozzle and component allocations. The other decisions, such as the feeder arrangement and the pick-and-place sequence, are made using existing heuristics. The experimental results show that this heuristic approach has advantages compared to other algorithms proposed in literature.     

A case-based approach to heuristic planning

Most of the great success of heuristic search as an approach to AI Planning is due to the right design of domain-independent heuristics. Although many heuristic planners perform reasonably well, the computational cost of computing the heuristic function in every search node is very high, causing the planner to scale poorly when increasing the size of the planning tasks. For tackling this problem, planners can incorporate additional domain-dependent heuristics in order to improve their performance. Learning-based planners try to automatically acquire these domain-dependent heuristics using previous solved problems. In this work, we present a case-based reasoning approach that learns abstracted state transitions that serve as domain control knowledge for improving the planning process. The recommendations from the retrieved cases are used as guidance for pruning or ordering nodes in different heuristic search algorithms applied to planning tasks. We show that the CBR guidance is appropriate for a considerable number of planning benchmarks.     

A heuristic approach to commodity purchasing

In this paper a Heuristic model is proposed for commodity purchasing. The model is based on the combined use of Dynamic Programming model and a price trend forecasting model. The proposed approach is highly efficient and is simple to use even by a layman. Performance of the proposed model is compared with that of the Dynamic Programming model. The results of the sensitivity analysis indicate that the proposed approach performs consistently better compared to that of the Dynamic Programming model. It is. therefore, believed that the proposed approach would be fruitfully utilized in designing an optimal commodity purchasing system.     

A heuristic algorithm for optimal placement of rectangular objects

The problem of partitioning a two-dimensional area into pieces having certain sizes with a minimum of wasted space is very important, especially in packing components tightly in the manufacture of very large-scale integrated circuits. The purpose of this paper is to examine the problem of placing rectangular objects in a rectangular area so as to minimize the wasted space, from the viewpoint of establishing maximum empty rectangles rather than the standard linear-programming approach. A comparison of our results with those of the Steudel [5] is reported. Empirical comparisons of our results indicate that our algorithm is very simple and efficient.     

一种利用函数链神经网络的传感器建模新方法

讨论基于函数链神经网络 (FLNN)的传感器建模新方法 ,其结构简单、使用灵活、建模容易 ,易于实时硬件实现。两个算例说明网络的训练和非线性逼近方法 ,显示出网络的自适应能力、学习能力 ,基于FLNN的传感器模型可同时实现温度补偿和非线性校正。实际上 ,利用这种模型可以跟踪补偿环境改变引起的传感器特性的各种变化 ,在测控系统中具有良好的应用前景。     

A heuristic approach to automatic grasp planning for a 3-fingered hand

This paper presents the core of a software system able to determine a good grasp configuration on 3D objects for a three-fingered hand. The grasp planning problem has been studied considering both the constraints due to the stability and accessibility conditions, and the ones related to functionality. Physical, geometrical, spatial and task-related knowledge for solving the grasp planning problem have been properly modelled to support a heuristic-based reasoning process. A series of heuristic rules and geometric tests are used to scan the solution space, searching for a good grasp. In fact, when considering the three-dimensional case, a purely analytical and exhaustive approach appears too complex because of the dimension of the search space. This approach results in an incremental and modular model of grasp reasoning, that has been implemented using the Flex expert system shell. This work has been developed and demonstrated within the Esprit 2 project CIM-PLATO No. 2202.     

A novel heuristic approach for distance- and connectivity-based multihop node localization in wireless sensor networks

The availability of accurate location information of constituent nodes becomes essential in many applications of wireless sensor networks. In this context, we focus on anchor-based networks where the position of some few nodes are assumed to be fixed and known a priori, whereas the location of all other nodes is to be estimated based on noisy pairwise distance measurements. This localization task embodies a non-convex optimization problem which gets even more involved by the fact that the network may not be uniquely localizable, especially when its connectivity is not sufficiently high. To efficiently tackle this problem, we present a novel soft computing approach based on a hybridization of the Harmony Search (HS) algorithm with a local search procedure that iteratively alleviates the aforementioned non-uniqueness of sparse network deployments. Furthermore, the areas in which sensor nodes can be located are limited by means of connectivity-based geometrical constraints. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed approach outperforms previously published soft computing localization techniques in most of the simulated topologies. In particular, to assess the effectiveness of the technique, we compare its performance, in terms of Normalized Localization Error (NLE), to that of Simulated Annealing (SA)-based and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)-based techniques, as well as a naive implementation of a Genetic Algorithm (GA) incorporating the same local search procedure here proposed. Non-parametric hypothesis tests are also used so as to shed light on the statistical significance of the obtained results.     

A heuristic approach to optimal control†

Considerable difficulties have been encountered in the direct application of variational methods to control systems optimization because two-point boundary problems are involved which cannot normally be solved in real time. In this paper a method is described in which, by the use of heuristic computation techniques, this limitation is overcome.     

A SIMD approach to parallel heuristic search

Serial search algorithms often exhibit exponential run times and may require an exponential amount of storage as well. Thus, the design of parallel search algorithms with limited memory is of obvious interest. This paper presents an efficient SIMD parallel algorithm, called IDPS (for iterative-deepening parallel search). At a broad level IDPS is a parallel version of IDA*. While generically we have called our algorithm an IDPS, performance of four variants of it has been studied through experiments conducted on the well-known test-bed problem for search algorithms, namely the Fifteen Puzzle. During the experiments, data were gathered under two different static load balancing schemes. Under the first scheme, an unnormalized average efficiency of approximately 3/4 was obtained for 4K, 8K, and 16K processors. Under the second scheme, unnormalized average efficiencies of 0.92 and 0.76, and normalized average efficiencies of 0.70 and 0.63 were obtained for 8K and 16K processors, respectively. We show (as shown previously only for MIMD machines) that for admissible search, high average speedup can be obtained for problems of significant size. We believe that this research will enhance AI problem solving using parallel heuristic search algorithms.     

A heuristic approach to necessary conditions of optimality

A simple, direct method is presented for deriving necessary conditions of optimality covering most of the situations encountered in practice. The method is based on the observation that, if generalized functions are admitted, a broad class of optimal control problems can be transcribed into a canonical form called the Canonical Variational Problem (CVP). The necessary optimality condition for CVP is phrased in the form of a Lagrange multiplier rule. This condition contains many of the results relating to minimum principles in the optimal control literature.     

A heuristic error-feedback learning algorithm for fuzzy modeling

Describes a type of fuzzy system with interpolating capability to extract MISO fuzzy rules from input-output sample data through learning. The proposed model inherits many merits from Sugeno-type models and their variations. A heuristic error-feedback learning algorithm associated with the model is suggested. Based on which, the estimator is shown to have a self-adjusting step when approaching a minimum     

A heuristic approach for transfer lines balancing

The paper deals with optimal balancing transfer lines where the operations in each workstation are grouped into blocks. All operations of the same block are executed simultaneously by one spindle head. Spindle heads of the same workstation are activated sequentially. The workstation time is the sum of the processing times of its blocks. The problem is to find the best assignment of operations to blocks and assignment of blocks to workstations that leads to the minimal transfer line cost (a weighted sum of blocks and workstation numbers). The solution must provide a desired productivity rate (cycle time). It must also satisfy precedence and compatibility constraints. Two heuristic algorithms based on the COMSOAL technique are proposed. Results from computer testing are reported.     

A simple effective heuristic for embedded mixed-integer quadratic programming

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we propose a fast optimisation algorithm for approximately minimising convex quadratic functions over the intersection of affine and separable constraints (i.e. the Cartesian product of possibly nonconvex real sets). This problem class contains many NP-hard problems such as mixed-integer quadratic programming. Our heuristic is based on a variation of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), an algorithm for solving convex optimisation problems. We discuss the favourable computational aspects of our algorithm, which allow it to run quickly even on very modest computational platforms such as embedded processors. We give several examples for which an approximate solution should be found very quickly, such as management of a hybrid-electric vehicle drivetrain and control of switched-mode power converters. Our numerical experiments suggest that our method is very effective in finding a feasible point with small objective value; indeed, we see that in many cases, it finds the global solution.     

A new heuristic approach to assembly line balancing

The main feature of the method suggested in this paper is the assignment of priority to elements and priority elements are preferred to non-priority elements when assigning elements to stations. It gives the minimum number of stations under a predetermined cycle time. The work element time is considered to be invariant. This method has been tested by solving nearly all the problems available in the pertinent literature. This method yields better or similar results as available in the literature. A computer program incorporating the new heuristic method is presented in the paper.