ENEL445-26S1 (C) Semester One 2026

Applied Engineering Optimisation

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 16 February 2026
End Date: Sunday, 21 June 2026
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 1 March 2026
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 10 May 2026

Description

An advanced course on optimisation techniques and their engineering applications. The course first provides a review of mathematical background, and then covers the formulation of unconstrained/constrained optimisation problems, gradient descent, method of Lagrangian multipliers, and first-order KKT conditions. Other topics include model predictive control, power system optimisation, evolutionary algorithms, constraint satisfaction methods, Bayesian optimization, nonlinear least squares,adaptive filtering and backpropagation for deep neural networks.

Optimisation is at the core of many engineering disciplines, including power systems, signal processing, communications, control, and machine learning. This course will cover the theory as well as the practice of engineering optimisation, including the problem formulation, problem transformation, gradient-based and gradient-free optimisation algorithms, and nature-inspired methods. Besides in-class lectures, students will work on a project which will give them hands-on experience solving real-world optimization problems. Topics include:

1. Mathematical background and optimisation basics
2. Gradient-based unconstrained optimisation
3. Constraint optimisation and KKT conditions
4. Optimisation-based control
5. Power system optimisation
6. Nature-inspired optimisation
7. FIR filter design using optimisation
8. Majorization-minorization (MM) algorithms
9. Deep neural networks

Learning Outcomes

  • At the conclusion of this course you should be able to:

  • LO1: Identify, research and formulate optimisation problems in power systems, signal processing, machine learning, and control (WA1, WA2, WA4)

  • LO2: Classify the formulated optimisation problems, design and derive practical algorithms to search for the optimal solution (WA3, WA4, WA5)

  • LO3: Using optimisation software to solve formulated optimisation problems, analyse the convergence of the algorithms and investigate the results (WA3, WA4, WA5)

  • LO4: Collaborate with other students and lecturers to formulate a real-world engineering problem as an optimisation problem and design a solution using optimisation software (WA3, WA4, WA9, WA10, WA11)
    • University Graduate Attributes

      This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

      Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award

      Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.

      Employable, innovative and enterprising

      Students will develop key skills and attributes sought by employers that can be used in a range of applications.

Prerequisites

Either ENEL320 or ENMT301; and either ENEL321 or ENME303

Timetable 2026

Students must attend one activity from each section.

Lecture A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Tuesday 11:00 - 12:00 Psychology - Sociology 115
16 Feb - 29 Mar
20 Apr - 31 May
Lecture B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Wednesday 11:00 - 12:00 Beatrice Tinsley 111
16 Feb - 29 Mar
20 Apr - 31 May
Lecture C
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 16:00 - 17:00 E16 Lecture Theatre
16 Feb - 29 Mar
20 Apr - 31 May

Examinations, Quizzes and Formal Tests

Test A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Friday 19:00 - 20:00 E9 Lecture Theatre
20 Apr - 26 Apr

Course Coordinator

Jeremy Watson

Lecturer

Le Yang

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Progress Report (Group) 10%
Test 20%
Project Oral Presentation 10%
Final Report 30%
Examination 30%

Textbooks / Resources

Required Texts

J. Martins and A. Ning; Engineering Design Optimization ; Cambridge University Press, 2022 (Freely available from https://mdobook.github.io).

Recommended Reading

A. Beck; Introduction to Nonlinear Optimization ; SIAM, 2014.

J. Nocedal and S.J. Wright; Numerical Optimization ; Springer, 2000.

R. Baldick; Applied Optimization: Formulation and Algorithms for Engineering Systems ; Cambridge University Press, 2006.

S. Brunton; Optimization Bootcamp ; (https://faculty.washington.edu/sbrunton/OptimizationBootcamp.pdf).

Z. Michalewicz and D.B. Fogel; How to solve it: Modern Heuristics ; Springer, 1998.

Additional Course Outline Information

Late submission of work

Lateness Penalties
For the Project progress and final reports, a lateness penalty of 10% (in absolute terms) per day or part day late will be deducted from the original mark. For example, an assignment with a nominal mark of 83% submitted 0-24 hours late will receive a mark of 73%, and submitted 24-48 hours late will receive 63%.

Other specific requirements

Scaling of marks:
In order to maintain consistency across courses and fairness for students, scaling of raw marks occurs. In the Faculty of Engineering, target course GPAs are calculated based on the performance of the cohort of students in their courses in the previous year. Scaling of the raw total course marks is normally performed so that when converted to grades (using UC Grade Scale) the outgoing GPA is in line with the target GPA for a course. Scaling up or down can occur.

The Grading Scale for the University:
https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/study/study-support-info/study-related-topics/grading-scale

Artificial Intelligence Tools:
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for each of the assessments in ENEL445 is summarised in the Table below. No AI use is allowed in the tests and exam because these are closed-book invigilated assessments. Students are always responsible for the accuracy of the submitted works, regardless of which tools are used.

Assessment Item and Permitted use of AI:
Project presentation: Generative AI Tools Are Permitted for Certain Parts of This Assessment
Project reports: Generative AI Tools Are Permitted for Certain Parts of This Assessment
Test: Generative AI tools cannot be used for this assessment.
Exam: Generative AI tools cannot be used for this assessment.

Generative AI Tools Are Permitted for Certain Parts of This Assessment:
In the project-based assessments, you are permitted to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) for the purpose of proof reading and editing documents, for debugging code, and for gathering and summarising knowledge. No other use of generative AI is permitted, including the generation of substantial parts of your computer code or report. To assist with maintaining academic integrity, you must appropriately acknowledge any use of generative AI in your work. Please include a Statement of AI use (if no AI tool has been used, then this must also be stated) and a listing of all prompts provided to the AI tool, clearly indicating which AI tools were used and how they contributed to your assessment.

Mahi ā-Ākonga | Workload (expected distribution of student hours, note 15 points = 150 hours):

Contact Hours

Lectures: 30 hours
Tutorials: 2 hours
Workshops: 0 hours
Laboratories: 0 hours

Independent study

Review of lectures: 34 hours
Test and exam preparation: 24 hours
Assignments: 60 hours
Tutorial preparation: 0 hours
Laboratory calculations: 0 hours

Total 150

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,344.00

International fee $6,488.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Electrical and Computer Engineering .

All ENEL445 Occurrences

  • ENEL445-26S1 (C) Semester One 2026