Val Lowndes

The Design and Optimisation of Surround Sound Decoders Using Heuristic Methods

Since the introduction of the DVD (both video and audio) surround sound has become an affordable luxury, surround sound mixing and reproduction equipment is also in widespread use.

Appendix C: What to Simulate to Evaluate Production Planning and Control Methods in Small Manufacturing Firm’s

A set of case studies confirmed that there exists a group of small (micro-sized) manufacturing firms (SMFs) that operate similar production systems and have similar requirements from a production planning and control system (PP&C). The features common to all the case study firms are the small number of production stages together with the fact that all jobs follow the same route through the factory.

Appendix B: Function Optimisation Techniques Genetic Algorithms and Tabu Searches

This technique was developed by John Holland introducing to attempt to overcome the problems faced by more classical techniques, in problems where, for example, there are multiple objectives.

Heuristic Techniques in Optimisation

These approaches can be useful when the problem to be solved is large and/or complex, when a timely good solution is considered to be better than a late optimal solution.

Further Use of Heuristic Methods

The next section shows not only how a heuristic approach can be employed to solve hard problems but also how an investigation of the mathematical model can lead to a simpler solution technique.

Solving Multiple Objective Problems: Modelling Diet Problems

The first objective in solving a Diet Problem is to select the best set of foods, from a given list, so that the resultant diet will both satisfy a set of nutrient restrictions and minimise the total cost of the diet; this cost could be expressed in monetary terms or for example as the fat content of the diet.

Case Studies: Using Heuristics

The aim of these case studies is to demonstrate how large and complex decision-making problems can be “solved” using heuristic methods.

Introduction to the Use of Queueing Theory and Simulation

Queueing theory can be used to provide information about systems that can be represented by a queue/server or by series of queues/servers enabling queueing theory results to provide a means of estimating the expected performance of a manufacturing system.

Introduction to Mathematical Programming

Mathematical programming can be used to determine the optimal solution to planning problems. Typically, mathematical programming modelling has been applied to problems in the areas.

Introduction to Cellular Automata in Simulation

Cellular Automata and Agents can be used to construct simulations where the movement/change of status in an individual is to be observed.