Student research opportunities
Efficient Algorithms for Spatial Reasoning
Project Code: CECS_51
This project is available at the following levels:
CS single semester, Honours, Summer Scholar, Masters, PhD
Supervisor:
Assoc Professor Jochen RenzOutline:
In computer science and engineering, spatial information (such as the spatial description of a room or a city) is often represented using coordinate systems, but this is not the way humans deal with spatial information. We often describe spatial features by specifying the relationship between objects in space (for example, the book is "on" the table, "to the left of" the screen). This is what is done in the area of Qualitative Spatial Representation and Reasoning, an important subfield of Artificial Intelligence. It is possible to define many different spatial relations for different aspects of space such as direction relations, distance relations, size relations etc. and to express spatial knowledge using these relations.
While most previous research in this area has focused on one particular aspect of space, most applications deal with different aspects simultaneously.
In this project we analyze how different aspects of space can be combined and how we can perform efficient reasoning over the combined information.
The project is suitable for all levels (summer, honours, masters and PhD students), and for students interested in theoretical research or in practical implementations.
The research area itself offers many interesting open problems and the project can be easily tailored towards the particular interests of the participant.
