OPTIMISATION: A KEY TOOL FOR ADVANCED DESIGN IN SCHEDULING, ESTIMATION AND CONTROL

Advanced design aims to achieve the best possible performance subject to operational constraints. Such questions can be formulated as optimization problems. The advantages of using an explicit optimization formulation include clear articulation of performance trade-offs and the provision of a clear basis for quantitative comparison of different strategies. In this paper we will briefly review aspects of modern optimization. We will also show how these tools can be deployed in scheduling, estimation and control. We will illustrate the ideas by examples drawn from the mining, mineral and metal processing field.