Automatic frequency assignment for cellular telephones using constraint satisfaction techniques

We study the problem of automatic frequency assignment for cellular telephone systems. The frequency assignment problem is viewed as the problem to minimize the unsatisfied soft constraints in a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) over a finite domain of frequencies involving co-channel, adjacent channel, and co-site constraints. The soft constraints are automatically derived from signal strength prediction data. The CSP is solved using a generalized graph coloring algorithm. Graph-theoretical results play a crucial role in making the problem tractable. Performance results from a real-world frequency assignment problem are presented. We develop the generalized graph coloring algorithm by stepwise refinement, starting from DSATUR and augmenting it with local propagation, constraint lifting, intelligent backtracking, redundancy avoidance, and iterative deepening

On the Efficiency of Optimising Shallow Backtracking in Prolog

The cost of backtracking has been identified as one of the bottlenecks in achieving peak performance in compiled Prolog programs. Much of the backtracking in Prolog programs is shallow, i.e. is caused by unification failures in the head of a clause when there are more alternatives for the same procedure, and so special treatment of this form of backtracking has been proposed as a significant optimisation. This paper describes a modified WAM which optimises shallow backtracking. Four different implementation approaches are compared. A number of benchmark results are presented, measuring the relative tradeoffs between compilation time, code size, and run time. The results show that the speedup gained by this optimisation can be significant

Finite domain constraint programming systems

Tutorial at CP'2002, Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming. Powerpoint slides.</p

The formation of IRIS diagnostics V. A quintessential model atom of C II and general formation properties of the C II lines at 133.5 nm

The 133.5 nm lines are important observables for the NASA/SMEX mission Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). To make 3D non-LTE radiative transfer computationally feasible it is crucial to have a model atom with as few levels as possible while retaining the main physical processes. We here develop such a model atom and we study the general formation properties of the C II lines. We find that a nine-level model atom of C I-C III with the transitions treated assuming complete frequency redistribution (CRD) suffices to describe the 133.5 nm lines. 3D scattering effects are important for the intensity in the core of the line. The lines are formed in the optically thick regime. The core intensity is formed in layers where the temperature is about 10kK at the base of the transition region. The lines are 1.2-4 times wider than the atomic absorption profile due to the formation in the optically thick regime. The smaller opacity broadening happens for single peak intensity profiles where the chromospheric temperature is low with a steep source function increase into the transition region, the larger broadening happens when there is a temperature increase from the photosphere to the low chromosphere leading to a local source function maximum and a double peak intensity profile with a central reversal. Assuming optically thin formation with the standard coronal approximation leads to several errors: Neglecting photoionization severly underestimates the amount of C II at temperatures below 16kK, erroneously shifts the formation from 10kK to 25kK and leads to too low intensities.Comment: Accepted for publication by the Astrophysical Journa

Constructive Cardinality

We describe a set of necessary conditions that are useful for generating propagation algorithms for the cardinality operator as well as for over-constrained problems with preferences. Constructive disjunction as well as the entailments rules originally proposed for the cardinality operator can be seen as simple cases of these necessary conditions. In addition these necessary conditions have the advantage of providing more pruning

Multiplex dispensation order generation for pyrosequencing

This paper introduces the multiplex dispensation order generation problem, a real-life combinatorial problem that arises in the context of analyzing large numbers of short to medium length DNA sequences. The problem is modeled as a constraint optimization problem (COP). We present the COP, its constraint programming formulation, and a custom search procedure. We give some experimental data supporting our design decisions. One of the lessons learnt from this study is that the ease with which the relevant constraints are expressed can be a crucial factor in making design decisions in the COP model

Does a Non-Magnetic Solar Chromosphere Exist?

Enhanced chromospheric emission which corresponds to an outwardly increasing semiempirical temperature structure can be produced by wave motion without any increase in the mean gas temperture. Hence, the sun may not have a classical chromosphere in magnetic field free internetwork regions. Other significant differences between the properties of dynamic and static atmospheres should be considered when analyzing chromospheric observations.Comment: 4 pages, uuencoded compressed postscript file including three figures. APJL accepte

Synchronized sweep algorithms for scalable scheduling constraints

This report introduces a family of synchronized sweep based filtering algorithms for handling scheduling problems involving resource and precedence constraints. The key idea is to filter all constraints of a scheduling problem in a synchronized way in order to scale better. In addition to normal filtering mode, the algorithms can run in greedy mode, in which case they perform a greedy assignment of start and end times. The filtering mode achieves a significant speed-up over the decomposition into independent cumulative and precedence constraints, while the greedy mode can handle up to 1 million tasks with 64 resources constraints and 2 million precedences. These algorithms were implemented in both CHOCO and SICStus