[ Bristol CS | Index ] In the Genetic Algorithms theme, we are studying fine-grained and coarse-grained parallel algorithms. We aim to design a new hybrid algorithm which combines both fine-grained and coarse-grained parallelism. Some theoretical issues are also being studied, such as how local selection and global selection affect performance, and the relation between population size and speed of convergence. We have implemented a vectorized genetic algorithm, and expect to obtain detailed results soon.
In the theme of Constraint Logic Programming, we are applying distributed algorithms to finite domain constraint satisfaction problems. Conventionally, optimization problems are solved with finite domain constraints by using a global search on a set of global data. Our aim is to extend the finite domain constraint solving system such that the data can be kept locally, and several distributed constraint solvers (i.e., software agents) can work independently; when the local optimum is reached, solvers communicate with each other in order to achieve a global optimum. We have implemented two parallel constraint logic programming systems in the past and developed some practical applications.