ANTS 2014 -- Ninth International Conference on Swarm Intelligence

September 10-12, 2014. Brussels, Belgium

Call for papers prepared on January 21, 2014

More details and up-to-date information at
http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/ants2014

Scope of the Conference

Swarm intelligence is a relatively new discipline that deals with the study of self-organizing processes both in nature and in artificial systems. 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, algorithms and methods inspired by these models have been proposed to solve difficult problems in many domains.

An example of a particularly successful research direction in swarm intelligence is ant colony optimization, the main focus of which is on discrete optimization problems. Ant colony optimization has been applied successfully to a large number of difficult discrete optimization problems including the traveling salesman problem, the quadratic assignment problem, scheduling, vehicle routing, etc., as well as to routing in telecommunication networks. Another interesting approach is that of particle swarm optimization, that focuses on continuous optimization problems. Here too, a number of successful applications can be found in the recent literature. Swarm robotics is another relevant field. Here, the focus is on applying swarm intelligence techniques to the control of large groups of cooperating autonomous robots.

ANTS 2014 will give researchers in swarm intelligence the opportunity to meet, to present their latest research, and to discuss current developments and applications.

The three-day conference will be held in Brussels, Belgium, on September 10-12, 2014.

Relevant Research Areas

ANTS 2014 solicits contributions dealing with any aspect of swarm intelligence. Typical, but not exclusive, topics of interest are:

  • Behavioral models of social insects or other animal societies that can stimulate new algorithmic approaches.

  • Empirical and theoretical research in swarm intelligence.

  • Application of swarm intelligence methods, such as ant colony optimization or particle swarm optimization, to real-world problems.

  • Theoretical and experimental research in swarm robotics systems.

Publication Details

Accepted papers will be published in Springer's LNCS series.

The journal Swarm Intelligence will publish a special issue dedicated to ANTS 2014 that will contain extended versions of the best research works presented at the conference. Further details will be published on the web site.

Submission Instructions

Submitted papers must be between 8 and 12 pages long, written in English, typeset in LaTeX, and formatted in the LNCS Springer style. Detailed submission instructions are available on the conference web site. Papers should be submitted using ConfTool: https://www.conftool.net/ants2014/

Invited speakers

Prof. Simon Garnier, New Jersey Institute of Technology & Rutgers University will deliver the invited speech titled “All roads lead to the mound”. More invited speakers will be listed on the conference web pages.

Best Paper Award

A best paper award will be presented at the conference. The prize winner will receive a certificate signed by the conference organizers and a bronze sculpture of an ant expressly created for the ANTS conference by the Italian sculptor Matteo Pugliese --- http://www.matteopugliese.com

Social program

Attendees will be invited to join the organising committee at a dinner offered by the host lab.

Further Information

Up-to-date information will be published on the web site http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/ants2014/. 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.

Conference Address

ANTS 2014
IRIDIA, CP 194/6
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Av. F. D. Roosevelt 50
1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Tel +32-2-6502729
Fax +32-2-6502715
http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/ants2014
email: ants@iridia.ulb.ac.be

Important Dates

  • Submission deadline March 2, 2014
  • Notification of acceptance April 30, 2014
  • Camera ready copy May 14, 2014
  • Conference September 10-12, 2014

ANTS 2014 Conference Committee

General Chair: Marco Dorigo IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Technical Program Chairs: Simon Garnier New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, NJ, USA Marco A. Montes De Oca Dept of Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware, DE, USA Christine Solnon LIRIS, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, France

Publication Chair: Heiko Hamann Dept of Computer Science, University of Paderborn, Germany

Organization Chairs: Mauro Birattari IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Thomas Stützle IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Local Arrangements: Andreagiovanni Reina IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Lorenzo Garattoni IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Manuele Brambilla IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Deadline: 

Sunday, March 2, 2014