Output details

From the physics of interacting polymers to optimizing routes on the London Underground

<12> The paper analysed optimal routing for non-linear (both convex and concave costs) and integer variables; these are deemed difficult via existing techniques based on weighted linear approximations. While traditionally a fundamental computer science and logistics problem, the research used methods of polymer physics and statistical mechanics, as part of the European FP7-FET collaborative project STAMINA (€2M, Aston's share €388k) and a Royal Society International Research Grant with Hong-Kong (£12k), and resulted in an efficient routing algorithm (also valid for directed/weighted costs). It was presented in 4 international conferences (ICTP Trieste, Italy - by invitation; Budapest, London, Madrid).