Optimization 2018

Lecturer: Lucian Busoniu. TAs: Tassos Natsakis. See also the Romanian-language version of the course: Optimizari.

About this course

This course concerns numerical methods for optimization. It is part of the Bachelor of Science program of the Automation Department, UTCluj (4th year 2nd semester). As prerequisites, knowledge of analysis and linear algebra is needed, together with notions of Matlab programming. The responsible lecturer is Lucian Busoniu (but the course has been previously developed by Zsofia Lendek).

Grading:

30% project.
40% partial exam.
30% final exam.

Completing all the laboratory assignments and defending the project is required before being admitted to the exam. For more details, see the Evaluation rules. You can check your current status here.

Schedule

Below the schedule, including the partial exam and the project defense. Note that due to national holidays we need to skip classes several times, which means the schedule is extremely tight and nothing can be moved or skipped!

Image with schedule table

Lecture notes

The lecture notes are available below:

Note that this year the global optimization method we discussed was optimistic optimization. This replaces genetic algorithms, so the genetic-algorithm material now becomes optional (not required for the exam). It is still provided here though, for the people who are interested: Genetic algorithms and some kangaroos.

Practical classes

In the practical classes, a set of assignments must be solved. You may work in groups of at most 2. An exercise is completed when the method is implemented and the corresponding problem is solved. For a (very) short introduction of the algorithms to be used and examples, see the lab guide.

Lab 1 is an introduction to Matlab: Matlab tutorial and the exercise that should be solved.

Project

This project aims to help students gaining experience with searching for literature, writing a survey, and presenting scientific work. The project will be performed in groups of three students. Project material:

General project description (PDF). This description applies to all the topics; please read it carefully. A template for the final report in .doc can be found here and in .tex here.
Paper review form (DOC). Use this form to review the paper of your group.
Presentation review form (DOC). Use this form to review a presentation tryout of your group.
A single topic from the list below.

The project presentation workshop is scheduled for Monday May 21st, as follows: workshop schedule.

Each group of students will be assigned one topic from the following list. Have a look at the topics to determine which of them fit your background and preferences best. Select at least three topics in order of your preference, and email your selection to the lecturer, including the names of all three students in the group in the message. You will then receive a confirmation email that contains the title of the (single) topic that has been allocated to your group, as well as its corresponding article. Your selection is not final until confirmed by the lecturer!

Tuning FLCs: questions.
PSO for component detection: questions.
Groundwater management optimization: questions.
Optimization in dynamic environments: questions.
DE for global optimization: questions.
Discrete optimization: questions.

The following topics have already been taken:

Harmony search: questions.
Power transmission loss reduction: questions.
PSO for parameter identification: questions.
ABC for loading pattern optimization: questions.
Distributed BBO for robot control: questions.
PSO for timetables: questions.
Traffic optimization: questions.
Feedback-controlled PSO: questions.
Optimization of CNC trajectories: questions.

Contact

Comments, suggestions, questions etc. related to this course or website are welcome; please contact the lecturer.