DMS Graduate Student Seminar

Speaker: Elvan Ceyhan, Auburn University 

Title: Stochastic Obstacle Scene Problem on Spatial Networks

Abstract: The goal of this research is finding optimal or near-optimal solutions to the stochastic obstacle scene (SOS) problem using spatial network optimization. We will study two variants of the SOS problem: (i) Optimal Traversal Path (OTP) Problem: This is the original SOS problem which only considered a single navigating agent (NAVA) whose goal is choosing a path in the space containing “forbidden regions”, so as to minimize the cost sustained until arrival. (ii) Optimal Obstacle Placement (OOP) Problem: This second problem is recently introduced and considers an obstacle placing agent (OPA) inserting obstacles in the traversal window so as to maximize NAVA’s traversal length. Our research objectives are to (a) extend the SOS problem in various directions, e.g., high dimensional version and develop potential strategies to improve OTP and OOP algorithms, (b) introduce and develop the weight constraint versions of both SOS variants, study the solution strategies and develop a more comprehensive approach to network traversal optimization/obstruction all from the probabilistic/statistical and computational points of view, and (c) study the theoretical properties (including complexity) of the network traversal and obstruction algorithms together with the characterization of the cost functions for the OTP problem.