ANTS'2002: Call for Papers

[Marco Dorigo]

ANTS'2002 - From Ant Colonies to Artificial Ants: 
Third International Workshop on Ant Algorithms 

Brussels, Belgium, September 11-14, 2002 

CALL FOR PAPERS (up-to-date information on the workshop is maintained on the  
web at http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~ants/ants2002/) 


SCOPE OF THE WORKSHOP

The behavior of social insects in general, and of ant colonies in particular, 
has long since fascinated both the scientist and the layman. Researchers in 
ethology and animal behavior have proposed many models to explain interesting 
aspects of social insect behavior such as self-organization and shape-formation. 
Recently, ant algorithms have been proposed as a novel computational model that 
replaces the traditional emphasis on control, preprogramming, and centralization 
with designs featuring autonomy, emergence, and distributed functioning. 
These designs are proving flexible and robust, they are able to adapt quickly 
to changing environments and they continue functioning when individual elements 
fail.

A particularly successful research direction in ant algorithms, known as "Ant 
Colony Optimization", is dedicated to their application to discrete 
optimization problems. Ant colony optimization has been applied successfully 
to a large number of difficult combinatorial problems including the traveling 
salesman problem, the quadratic assignment problem, scheduling problems, etc., 
as well as to routing in telecommunication networks. ANTS'2002 is the third 
edition of the only event entirely devoted to ant algorithms and to ant colony 
optimization. Also of great interest to the workshop are models of ant colony 
behavior which could stimulate new algorithmic approaches. 

The workshop will give researchers in both real ant behavior and in ant colony 
optimization an opportunity to meet, to present their latest research, and to 
discuss current developments and applications. The three-day workshop will be 
held in Brussels, Belgium, September 12-14, 2002. In the late afternoon of 
September 11th there will also be a tutorial on ant algorithms. 


RELEVANT RESEARCH AREAS

ANTS'2002 solicits contributions dealing with any aspect of ant algorithms and 
Ant Colony Optimization. Typical, but not exclusive topics of interest are: 

(1) Models of aspects of real ant colony behavior that can stimulate new 
    algorithmic approaches.
(2) Empirical and theoretical research in ant algorithms and ant colony 
    optimization.
(3) Application of ant algorithms and ant colony optimization methods to 
    real-world problems.
(4) Related research in swarm intelligence. 


SUBMISSION PROCEDURE & PUBLICATION DETAILS 

Conference proceedings will be published by Springer-Verlag in the Lecture 
Notes on Computer Science series (http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/index.html),
and distributed to the participants at the conference site. 
Submitted papers must be between 8 and 12 pages long, and must conform to the 
LNCS style (http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html). It is important 
that submissions are already in the LNCS format (papers that do not respect 
this formatting may not be considered). 

Submitted papers should be either in Postscript or PDF format and should be 
emailed to: ants-submissions at iridia.ulb.ac.be. 
Each submission will be acknowledged by email. 
Each submitted paper will be peer reviewed by at least two referees.


BEST PAPER AWARD

A best paper award will be presented at the workshop. 


REGISTRATION AND FURTHER INFORMATION

By submitting a camera-ready paper, the author(s) agree that at least one 
author will attend and present their paper at the workshop. 

A registration fee of 200 EUR will cover organization expenses, workshop 
proceedings, the possibility to attend a tutorial on ant algorithms in the 
late afternoon of September 11, coffee breaks, and a workshop social dinner 
on Friday 13 evening. 
A reduced PhD student registration fee of 150 EUR is available. 
A proof of inscription to a doctoral school will be necessary. 

Up-to-date information about the workshop will be available at the ANTS'2002 
web site (http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~ants/ants2002/). For information about 
local arrangements, registration forms, etc., please refer to the above 
mentioned web site, or contact the local organizers at the address below.


LIMITED NUMBER OF PLACES

The number of participants will be limited. If you intend to participate 
please fill in and email the INTENTION FORM available at the workshop web 
page to: 

ants-registration at iridia.ulb.ac.be

Only researchers that have received a confirmation to their intention form 
may take part in the workshop.


IMPORTANT DATES

Submission deadline			April	14th, 2002
Notification of acceptance		May 	31st, 2002
Camera ready copy			June 	16th, 2002
Tutorial				Sep 	11th, 2002
Workshop				Sep    12-14, 2002


ANTS'2002 CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

PROGRAM CHAIR
Marco DORIGO, IRIDIA, ULB, Belgium (mdorigo at ulb.ac.be) 

TECHNICAL PROGRAM AND PUBLICATION CHAIRS 
Gianni DI CARO,  IRIDIA, ULB, Belgium (gdicaro at ulb.ac.be) 
Michael SAMPELS, IRIDIA, ULB, Belgium (msampels at ulb.ac.be) 

LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS
Christian BLUM,  IRIDIA, ULB, Belgium (cblum at ulb.ac.be) 
Mauro BIRATTARI, IRIDIA, ULB, Belgium (mbiro at ulb.ac.be) 


PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Under formation.


PROGRAM CHAIR ADDRESS

Marco Dorigo, Ph.D.
Chercheur Qualifie' du FNRS	Tel +32-2-6503169
IRIDIA CP 194/6			Fax +32-2-6502715
Universite' Libre de Bruxelles	Secretary +32-2-6502729 
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50	http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mdorigo/
1050 Bruxelles			http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~ants/ants2002/
Belgium				http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/dorigo/ACO/ACO.html


CONFERENCE LOCATION

Avenue A. Buyl 87, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Building C - 4th floor 
(IRIDIA, Dorigo's lab, is at the 5th floor of the same building). 
There will be signs giving directions to the workshop room. 


RELATED CONFERENCES

Note that just before ANTS'2002, the conference PPSN-VII will take place in 
Granada, Spain (http://ppsn2002.ugr.es/ppsn2002.shtml).