Peter J. Fleming

Last updated
Peter J. Fleming
Awards
Scientific career
Fields Multi-objective optimization and Evolutionary Algorithm and Control Systems
InstitutionsDepartment of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, Sheffield University

Peter John Fleming CBE FREng is a Professor of Industrial Systems and Control in the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering at the University of Sheffield, and till June 2012 he was the director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre for Control and Systems Engineering. He works in the field of control and systems engineering and is known for his work on evolutionary computation applied to systems engineering. Fleming is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Systems Science. [1]

Contents

Research

Fleming's primary area of research involves the development of evolutionary algorithms, including genetic algorithm for multi-objective optimization. He also works in the area of control & systems engineering. He has authored about 400 research publications, including six books. His research interests have led to the development of close links with a variety of industries in sectors such as automotive, aerospace, power generation, food processing, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing. Two of his most cited articles are:

He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering since 2005, [3] a Fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control since 2009, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Technology, and a Fellow of the Institute of Measurement and Control. [4]

Selected books

Related Research Articles

Genetic algorithm competitive algorithm for searching a problem space

In computer science and operations research, a genetic algorithm (GA) is a metaheuristic inspired by the process of natural selection that belongs to the larger class of evolutionary algorithms (EA). Genetic algorithms are commonly used to generate high-quality solutions to optimization and search problems by relying on biologically inspired operators such as mutation, crossover and selection. John Holland introduced genetic algorithms in 1960 based on the concept of Darwin’s theory of evolution; his student David E. Goldberg further extended GA in 1989.

Evolutionary computation Trial and error problem solvers with a metaheuristic or stochastic optimization character

In computer science, evolutionary computation is a family of algorithms for global optimization inspired by biological evolution, and the subfield of artificial intelligence and soft computing studying these algorithms. In technical terms, they are a family of population-based trial and error problem solvers with a metaheuristic or stochastic optimization character.

Particle swarm optimization Iterative simulation method

In computational science, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a computational method that optimizes a problem by iteratively trying to improve a candidate solution with regard to a given measure of quality. It solves a problem by having a population of candidate solutions, here dubbed particles, and moving these particles around in the search-space according to simple mathematical formulae over the particle's position and velocity. Each particle's movement is influenced by its local best known position, but is also guided toward the best known positions in the search-space, which are updated as better positions are found by other particles. This is expected to move the swarm toward the best solutions.

Bio-inspired computing, short for biologically inspired computing, is a field of study which seeks to solve computer science problems using models of biology. It relates to connectionism, social behavior, and emergence. Within computer science, bio-inspired computing relates to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Bio-inspired computing is a major subset of natural computation.

In computer science and mathematical optimization, a metaheuristic is a higher-level procedure or heuristic designed to find, generate, or select a heuristic that may provide a sufficiently good solution to an optimization problem, especially with incomplete or imperfect information or limited computation capacity. Metaheuristics sample a set of solutions which is too large to be completely sampled. Metaheuristics may make few assumptions about the optimization problem being solved, and so they may be usable for a variety of problems.

In artificial intelligence, artificial immune systems (AIS) are a class of computationally intelligent, rule-based machine learning systems inspired by the principles and processes of the vertebrate immune system. The algorithms are typically modeled after the immune system's characteristics of learning and memory for use in problem-solving.

Genetic fuzzy systems are fuzzy systems constructed by using genetic algorithms or genetic programming, which mimic the process of natural evolution, to identify its structure and parameter.

In computer science and operations research, a memetic algorithm (MA) is an extension of the traditional genetic algorithm. It uses a local search technique to reduce the likelihood of the premature convergence.

Kalyanmoy Deb is an Indian computer scientist. Since 2013, Deb has held the Herman E. & Ruth J. Koenig Endowed Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering at Michigan State University, which was established in 2001. Deb is a Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. Prior to this position, Deb held the positions of Deva Raj Endowed Chair and Gurmukh and Veena Mehta Endowed Chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.

Multi-objective optimization is an area of multiple criteria decision making that is concerned with mathematical optimization problems involving more than one objective function to be optimized simultaneously. Multi-objective optimization has been applied in many fields of science, including engineering, economics and logistics where optimal decisions need to be taken in the presence of trade-offs between two or more conflicting objectives. Minimizing cost while maximizing comfort while buying a car, and maximizing performance whilst minimizing fuel consumption and emission of pollutants of a vehicle are examples of multi-objective optimization problems involving two and three objectives, respectively. In practical problems, there can be more than three objectives.

Search-based software engineering (SBSE) applies metaheuristic search techniques such as genetic algorithms, simulated annealing and tabu search to software engineering problems. Many activities in software engineering can be stated as optimization problems. Optimization techniques of operations research such as linear programming or dynamic programming are often impractical for large scale software engineering problems because of their computational complexity. Researchers and practitioners use metaheuristic search techniques to find near-optimal or "good-enough" solutions.

ECJ is a freeware evolutionary computation research system written in Java. It is a framework that supports a variety of evolutionary computation techniques, such as genetic algorithms, genetic programming, evolution strategies, coevolution, particle swarm optimization, and differential evolution. The framework models iterative evolutionary processes using a series of pipelines arranged to connect one or more subpopulations of individuals with selection, breeding (such as crossover, and mutation operators that produce new individuals. The framework is open source and is distributed under the Academic Free License. ECJ was created by Sean Luke, a computer science professor at George Mason University, and is maintained by Sean Luke and a variety of contributors.

Design Automation usually refers to electronic design automation, or Design Automation which is a Product Configurator. Extending Computer-Aided Design (CAD), automated design and Computer-Automated Design (CAutoD) are more concerned with a broader range of applications, such as automotive engineering, civil engineering, composite material design, control engineering, dynamic system identification and optimization, financial systems, industrial equipment, mechatronic systems, steel construction, structural optimisation, and the invention of novel systems.

In applied mathematics, multimodal optimization deals with optimization tasks that involve finding all or most of the multiple solutions of a problem, as opposed to a single best solution. Evolutionary multimodal optimization is a branch of evolutionary computation, which is closely related to machine learning. Wong provides a short survey, wherein the chapter of Shir and the book of Preuss cover the topic in more detail.

Natural computing, also called natural computation, is a terminology introduced to encompass three classes of methods: 1) those that take inspiration from nature for the development of novel problem-solving techniques; 2) those that are based on the use of computers to synthesize natural phenomena; and 3) those that employ natural materials to compute. The main fields of research that compose these three branches are artificial neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence, artificial immune systems, fractal geometry, artificial life, DNA computing, and quantum computing, among others.

Enrique Alba is a professor of computer science at the University of Málaga, Spain.

Kaisa Miettinen is a Finnish mathematician and the Vice Rector of the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. She is a Professor of Industrial Optimization with the Department of Mathematical Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. In addition, she heads the Industrial Optimization Group.

In applied mathematics, test functions, known as artificial landscapes, are useful to evaluate characteristics of optimization algorithms, such as:

Machine learning control (MLC) is a subfield of machine learning, intelligent control and control theory which solves optimal control problems with methods of machine learning. Key applications are complex nonlinear systems for which linear control theory methods are not applicable.

References

  1. "International Journal of Systems Science". Taylor & Francis. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  2. "Evolutionary Computation". MIT Press. doi:10.1162/evco.1995.3.1.1.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. "List of Fellows". The Royal Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  4. "Professor Peter J Fleming" . Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  5. Chen, M. (1997). A. M. Zalzala and P. J. Genetic Algorithms in Engineering Systems. ISBN   9780852969021 . Retrieved 19 February 2012.