UFO

UFO is an interactive system for universal functional optimization that serves for solving both dense medium-size and sparse large-scale optimization problems. The UFO system can be used for the following applications:

The UFO system is an open software system for solving a broad class of optimization problems. An optimization problem solution is processed in four phases. In the first phase the optimization problem is specified and an optimization method is selected. This can be made in three different ways:

The second phase is realized by using the UFO preprocessor. This preprocessor is written in the Fortran 77 language and its output is a Fortran 77 control program. In the third phase, the control program is translated by using a Fortran 77 compiler and a final program is linked by using library modules. In the fourth phase, the final program is executed and thus results which can be viewed by using extensive output means are obtained. A detailed description of the UFO system is contained in research report V1218-14.pdf.

The UFO system can be used for solving various dense or sparse optimization problems:

Moreover, the objective function can assume various forms:

The UFO system contains optimization methods that can be divided into the following classes:

These methods can be realized in various forms depending on the stepsize selection:

Moreover, various preconditioned iterative methods can be chosen for the direction determination.

The UFO system contains useful input and output possibilities:

The following figure shows an example of graphic screen output: