9622138 Boyd Acquisition of a The equipment requested is a Silicon Graphics Power Challenge L Deskside Server with four 75 Mhz processors will support research in the areas of: (1) real-time scheduling via large scale problem reformulation; (2) design of robust manufacturing systems using simulation; (3) real-time job flow control in non-concurrent queueing networks; and (4) safe and energy-efficient natural gas networks. Real-time scheduling problems are naturally formulated as integer programming problems and are commonly inadequate for solving even small problems. Reformulation of these problems with new sets of variables and constraints shows promise, resulting in large-scale problems to solve. A robust system design based on a goal seeking expert system and utilizing a new and unique simulation environment for manufacturing systems in small and medium size operations is sought that satisfies multiple performance criteria and is insensitive to uncontrollable environmental or noise parameters. Improved job throughput, while holding job sojourn times to within an acceptable range, based on mathematical foundations in the context of non-concurrent queueing networks require numerical procedures suitable for implementing real-time control. Recent research in discrete optimization and large-scale integer programming will be brought to bear on evaluating tradeoffs between network safety and throughput and in designing safe and efficient natural gas networks. The acquired equipment will be networked within an existing ethernet system to permit maximum utilization fro four important research projects. The success of the research problems is contigent upon the availability of high-performance computing equipment.
