A picture of me.

Benjamin Hiller
Email: hiller[at]zib.de
Phone: +49 30 84185-406

Room: 3101
 Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für
Informationstechnik Berlin (ZIB)
Department Optimization
Takustr. 7
D-14195 Berlin-Dahlem
Germany

General information

I am a research assistant in the Optimization group at ZIB. My research interests are

Projects

I am currently involved in the following projects.

Optimization of gas transportation networks
This projects deals with the analysis and optimization of gas transportation networks.
Optimization of system capacity and energy efficiency of elevator groups with destination calls
The handling capacity is a central notion for developing and planning elevator systems. It is yet unclear how much it can be increased by advanced elevator technology, like destination call systems, in which a passenger enters his destination floor already at he landing. Similarly, there is only liitle known on how to operate a group of elevators to obtain an energy-efficient operation, yet offering a certain service quality. This project aims at developing capacity-optimizing and energy-efficient control algorithms to be used in real-world elevator controls.

Past Projects

Combinatorial online-planning (part of the DFG research group "Algorithms, Structure, Randomness")
The goal of this project was to devise new measures for the performance of online algorithms which overcome the disadvantages of plain competitive analysis. We introduced a new approach for the probabilistic analysis of online algorithms based on stochastic orders, in particular the (usual) stochastic dominance order. Using this new approach, we were able to give a theoretical explanation why certain algorithms perform better than others for the online bin coloring problem and the paging problem.
Time optimization for elevator group control.
Low waiting and traveling times for passengers are the most important factors for the quality of service of elevator systems in large buildings. We are investigating new algorithms for a new control paradigma for elevators: Instead of specifying the direction of the ride, a passenger specifies the exact destination floor. The question is how this additional information can be exploited to obtain a better quality of service. We have to take into account the coordination of a group of elevators, which must be scheduled on a very limited computational device.
Online-Dispatching of Automobile Service Units
In this project we develop the core algorithm for an automated dispatching system used by the german automobile club ADAC: The club operates a fleet of service vehicles ("Gelbe Engel") which have to be assigned in online fashion and real-time to havarists. A prototype has already been implemented and shows a good performance in practice.

Publications

Awards

10/2010 Klaus Tschira Preis für verständliche Wissenschaft.
09/2010 GOR dissertation prize.

Academic CV

12/2009 Received my PhD from Technical University Berlin.
2/2008-4/2008 DAAD-funded research stay at Maastricht University.
since 9/2004 Scientific assistant at Zuse Institute Berlin.
2/2003-8/2004 Student assistant at Zuse Institute Berlin.
9/2002-1/2003 Internship at Zuse Institute Berlin.
1999-2004 Studies of Computer Science at Technical University of Ilmenau.
1998 Received my A-levels at Georg-Samuel-Dörffel-Gymnasium Weida.

Last modified: $Date: 2011-01-13 20:02:31 +0100 (Do, 13. Jan 2011) $