Engineering Constraint Optimisation solutions for industrial problems
Dr David Lesaint, Intelligent Systems Research, BT Laboratories, Ipswich

Abstract: I will give an overview of the applied research activity undertaken at BT Labs in the field of Constraint Optimisation. Three systems developped in-house will be presented: a dynamic scheduler for managing BT's field workforce, a call sequencer for testing BT's billing service and a router/scheduler for broadcasting visual services. Taking the workforce scheduler as an example, I will explain how Constraint Satisfaction may be coupled with Local Search to achieve accurate problem modelling and effective problem solving. Limitations of this approach will also be discussed.

This seminar was held at the Department of Computer Science, Royal Holloway, University of London on 21 October 1998.

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