Geoff Pond

Journal Publications

Schobel, K. and Pond, G. Public CFO Competencies – A National Defence Case Study Examining the Balance Between Financial and Strategic Priorities, Canadian Public Administration, Vol. 63(2), pp. 229-246, 2020. 

Tassone, J., Pond, G., and Choudhury, S. Algorithms for Optimizing Fleet Staging of Air Ambulances, Array, Vol. 7, 2020. 

Pond, G., Abdullah, M., and Turgeon, Y. Intersection of Corrosion Prevention Strategy and Practice, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 26(1), pp. 120-128, 2019. 

Pond, G., Brimberg, J., Wang, Y., and Simms, W., A Comparison of Heuristics Applied to the Sensor Deployment Problem in 2D, Defense Modeling and Simulation, Vol. 12(3), pp. 343-352, 2015. 

Pond, G. and Carretero, J.A., Dexterity Measures and Their Use in Quantitative Dexterity Comparisons, Meccanica, Vol. 46(1) pp. 51-64, 2011.

Pond, G.,Vehicle Availability During a Mounted Engagement, OR Insight, Vol 23(1) pp. 172-186, 2010.

Pond, G. and Carretero, J.A., Architecture Optimisation of Three 3-PRS Variants for Parallel Kinematic Machining, Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Vol. 25 (1) pp. 64-72, 2009.

Pond, G. and Carretero, J.A., Quantitative Dexterous Workspace Comparison of Parallel Manipulators, Mechanism and Machine Theory, Vol. 42 (10) pp.1388-1400, 2006.

Pond, G. and Carretero, J.A., Formulating Jacobian Matrices for the Dexterity of Parallel Manipulators, Mechanism and Machine Theory, Vol. 41 (12) pp. 1505-1519, 2006.  

Referreed Conference Publications

Pond, G. and Carretero, J.A., Dexterity Analysis of the Tricept Manipulator, in proceedings of: 2005 CCToMM M³ Symposium, Montreal, Canada, May 26-27, 2005.

Pond, G. and Carretero, J.A., Kinematic Analysis and Workspace Determination of the Inclined PRS Manipulator, in proceedings of: Romansy 2004: 15th CISM-IFToMM Symposium on Robot Design, Dynamics and Control, Montreal, Canada, June 14-18, 2004.

Pond, G. and Carretero, J.A., Singularity Analysis and Workspace Optimization of the Inclined PRS manipulator, in proceedings of: CSME-CCToMM Forum 2004, London, Ontario, Canada, June 1-4, 2004. 

Government Reports

Pond, G. and Bruce, J., Vehicle Allocation Modelling in Support of Force 2013 Analysis, DRDC CORA TM 2012-192, August 2012.

Pond, G., Wang, Y., Brimberg, J., and Simms, B., A Comparison of Heuristics Applied to the Sensor Deployment Problem, DRDC CORA TM 2012-191, August 2012.

Chapman, B., Pond, G., and Woodill, G., LAV Platoon Vehicle Mix Study – Turret Versus Remote Weapon Station, DRDC CORA TM 2012-110, May 2012.

Pond, G., Probability of Detection by Visual Observation: An Integrated Survivability Monte Carlo Simulation, DRDC CORA TM 2011-142, September 2011.

Pond, G., Chapman, B., and Cazzolato, F., A Comparison Between Remote Weapon Stations, Remote Turrets, and Conventional Turrets, DRDC CORA TM 2009-064, December, 2009 (35 pages), internal.

Pond, G., Cameron, F., and Conod, S., Group Preference Ranking of Candidate Future Indirect Fire Systems, DRDC CORA TM 2008-40, July, 2008.

Pond, G., Initial Investigation of Vehicle Sampling for Inspection at CMTC, DRDC CORA TM 2007-24, July 2007.

Cazzolato, F., Roy, R., Levesque, J., and Pond, G., Probabilities of Kill in JCATS, DRDC CORA TM 2007-33, June 2007.

Book Chapters

Martin-Víde, C., Pond, G., and Vega-Rodríguez, M (editors), Proceedings of Theory and Practice of Natural Computing (2019) conference, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Spring Publishing, 2019.

Pond, G., and G. McQuat, Chapter 17: Optimizing Fleet Staging of Air Ambulances in the Province of Ontario, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer Publishing, 2018. 

Pond, G. and Carretero, J.A., Chapter 10: Quantitative Dexterous Workspace Comparison of Serial and Parallel Planar Mechanisms, Parallel Manipulators, New Developments, ITech Education and Publishing, Vienna, Austria, 2008.

Carretero, J.A. and Pond, G., Quantitative Dexterous Workspace Comparisons, Advances in Robot Kinematics: Mechanisms and Motion, Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2006.

Technical Reports

Pond, G. and Holmes, H., Development of a Fleet Capacity Simulation for the ACSV Fleet. Prepared for Defence Research and Development Canada – Centre for Operational Research and Analysis, August 2019. 

Hansen, E. and Pond, G., Anomaly Detection in Aircraft Flight Data. Prepared for Boeing Aerospace, August 2017. 

Capt. I. Tremblay - Applied Military Science
2018-2019
Using data provided by Canada Blood Services, the student leveraged statistical models to identify an overbooking strategy that maximizes the expected blood donor levels subject to donor attributes (at an aggregate level). 

2Lt . A. Afkham-Ebrahimi – RMCC UG Thesis
2017-2018        
Using data provided by the Canadian Border Services Agency and UN estimates of Canada’s underground narcotics market, the CBSA effectiveness at intercepting cocaine shipments being smuggled into Canada was determined using Bayesian belief networks.

Capt. M. Abdullah - Applied Military Science
2016-2017
Data mining of maintenance logs were used to complete cost-benefit analysis of preventive maintenance measures – specifically corrosion prevention sprays. The analysis leveraged ANOVA to identify difference in regional effects and the frequency of spray-coating. The results indicate that no benefit was obtained due to poor fleet management (by investing in vehicles near the end-of-life).

Capt. K. Walton - Applied Military Science
2015-2016
This research project (undertaken as part of the AMS / RMC MBA program) investigated strategic inventory management challenges facing the armed forces during overseas operations and sought solutions from technical, cultural, procedural, and management perspectives.

Courses Taught

A partial history of courses I’ve taught or have been assigned is given in the following table: 

Doctoral Thesis

Modern manufacturing lines often leverage the improved capabilities of sophisticated robotic mechanisms (e.g., robot welding on an automotive manufacturing line). However, optimizing the architecture of these robots and manufacturing lines to make the best use of these significant capital investments has historically been problematic due largely to the mathematical complexity of the resulting optimization problem. 

Meta-heuristics are employed in my research to optimize the manipulator’s architecture to provide the best possible manipulator stiffness (resulting in greater accuracy) – or high end effector velocities. Consequently, manufacturing lines leveraging automated procedures in complex dimensions may be optimized for either accuracy of their work, or increased output. However, as demonstrated through singular value decomposition of the Jacobian matrix, the two objectives (increased output and improved accuracy) are mutually exclusive, meaning that one comes at the expense of the other.

The optimization algorithms included in the research are Genetic Algorithms and Differential Evolution algorithms. The research demonstrates that for optimization of the resulting continuous space problem, Differential Evolution provided superior objective function values (i.e., it found better solutions) and did so in less time in comparison to the Genetic Algorithm. 

Research Interests

Optimisation

• the application of global meta-heuristics to business and military problems. More specifically, Differential Evolution (DE), Genetic Algorithms (GA), Ant Colony,  Particle Swarm, and Tabu Search algorithms. 
• Hybrid algorithms which include a local search strategy (i.e., linear programming, vertex swap algorithm, or greedy algorithms), within a global meta-heuristic.
• Fuzzy logic and fuzzy optimization
• Supervised and Unsupervised Learning

Fleet Management

• Applications of aforementioned optimization strategies to
  • Fleet staging
  • Fleet composition
  • Maintenance planning
  • Spare parts inventories 

Formal Presentations

Pond, G. and Turner, I. Regression Analysis of Historical Blood Donor Patters to Improve Clinic Scheduling. 9^th International Conference of Operations Research and Enterprise Systems (ICORES 2020), Valetta, Malta.

Pond, G. and Pittman, J. Forecasting and Costing of a New 105mm Modular Propellant in Support of the Royal Canadian Artillery Regiment. 9^th IEEE International Conference in Industrial Technology and Management (ICITM 2020), University of Oxford, UK. 

Cameron, F., and Pond, G., A President’s Legacy: Kendall’s Rank Correlation Methods and Finding Agreement (or Otherwise) in a Problem Solving Group, OR55, September 5, 2013, Exeter, UK. 

Pond, G., and Bruce, J., Exploratory Analysis of the Canadian Army Vehicle Fleet’s Capability to Meet Future Requirements, ASAC Annual Conference, 10 June 2012, St. John’s, NF.

Pond, G., AAR Survey & CFTPO Results, presented to LGen Devlin (Comd CA), MGen Howard (Dep Comd CA), MGen Bowes (Comd, LFDTS), BGen Dabros (DG – Land Staff), and participants of the After-Action Review 2012, 1 June 2012, Kingston, ON.

Woodill, G., Chapman, B., and Pond, G., Building Enhanced Land Force Analysis & Simulation Tools (BELFAST), Canada Netherlands Land Operational Research & Analysis Bilateral, November, 2011, Ottawa, ON.

Cameron, F., Pond, G., Shine, D., and Appleget, J., Using Schools of Thought Analysis to Encourage a Fuller Appreciation of the Richness of Particularly Complicated Problems, OR53, September 6, 2011, Nottingham, UK.

Pond, G., Integrated Survivability Analysis Using a Monte Carlo Simulation, TTCP LND TP3 Annual Meeting, August 9, 2011, Detroit, MI. 

Pond, G., A Comparison of Two Metaheuristics Applied to the Sensor Deployment Problem, ASAC Annual Conference 2011, July 3, 2011, Montréal, QC. 

Pond, G., Facilitating Group Decision-Making Through Schools of Thought Analysis, presentation to Mr. Fred Bowden, DSTO, June 20, 2011, Kingston, ON. 

Cameron, F. and Pond, G., Military Decision Making Using Schools of Thought Analysis – A Soft Operational Research Technique With Numbers, 27^th Symposium on Military Operations Research, 31 Aug 2010, Hampshire, UK. 

Simms, B., Wang, Y., Pond, G., and Brimberg, J., A Sensor Deployment Problem, CORS Annual Conference 2011, May, 2011, St. John’s, NF. 

Cameron, F., and Pond, G., Applying School of Thought Analysis to Military Decision Making, ASAC 2010, Regina, SK, Canada.

Pond, G. and Chapman, B., Objective Performance Measurement of Simulated Ground Vehicle Situational Awareness Technologies, McNaughton Sessions (RMC), September, 2009.

Pond, G., Ammunition Reload Requirements of LAV Primary Weapon System Options, International Symposium on Military OR, September, 2009.

Chapman, B. and Pond, G., Comparison of LAV Pl Options for LAV LE, to DLCD, 7 July 2009, and COS(STRAT) 15 July 2009.

Haslip, D. and Pond, G., CIED Process Mapping, to TTCP LND AG-1.

Pond, G., Weapon Systems Option Analysis for the Future Medium Weight Vehicle Capability, to TTCP LND TP3, April, 2009.

Chapman, B. and Pond, G., RWS / Turret Experimentation Through Simulation – Project Update Brief, to DLCD, 13 March, 2009.

Pond, G., Group Decision Support to the Future Indirect Fire Capability Study, DRDC CORA Symposium, Ottawa, 9-10 February, 2009.

Pond, G., Chapman, B., and Cazzolato, F., Turret / RWS: A General Performance Comparison, brief to (A) DLR & DLAVPM 13 Dec 2008; (B) BGen. Tremblay, COS(STRAT) – 5 Dec 2008; and (C)  Army Capability Development Board – 9 Dec 2008.

Pond, G. and Chapman, B., Canada’s Experience w/ IEDs in Afghanistan, TTCP LND AG1/AG-2 meeting, 14 Nov 2008.

Pond, G., RWS/Turret Technology Survey for LAV LE, back-brief to (A) BGen. Tremblay, COS(STRAT), 13 August, 2008, and (B) DAD / DLCD senior officers, 15 Oct 2008.

Pond, G., A Framework for Modelling Blast Effects on Buildings, Vehicles and Personnel, visit of faculty members from the US Air Force Institute of Technology, 20 June, 2007.

Pond, G., Armour Penetration Calculation for JCATS and Target Characterization, visit of New Zealand and Australian defence scientists, 23 March, 2007.

Pond, G., Mathematical Software for OR: Maple 10 and Matlab 7, Short Course on OR, Cornwall, ON, 10 January, 2007. 

Pond, G., A Career in Defence Operational Research and Analysis, Recruitment Seminar, Queen’s University, Nov. 22, 2006.

Pond, G., Dexterity and Workspace Characteristics of Complex Degree-of-Freedom Parallel Manipulators, External PhD defence, University of New Brunswick, Aug. 24, 2006, Fredericton, NB, Canada.

Pond, G., Dexterity and Workspace Characteristics of Complex Degree-of-Freedom Parallel Manipulators, Internal PhD defence, University of New Brunswick, July 6, 2006, Fredericton, NB, Canada.

Pond, G., Differential Evolution: a Global Optimisation Strategy, Guest lecture, University of New Brunswick, March 31, 2006, Fredericton, NB, Canada.

Pond, G. and Carretero, J., Dexterous Workspace Optimization of the 3-PRS Manipulator, Proceedings the 2005 Conference on Intelligent Processing and Manufacturing of Materials (IPMM 2005), July 19-23, 2005, Monterey, California, USA. 

Pond, G. and Carretero, J., Dexterity Analysis of the Tricept Manipulator, Proceedings 2005 CCToMM Symposium on Mechanisms, Machines and Mechatronics, May 26-27, 2005, Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada. 

Pond, G. and Carretero, J., Singularity Analysis and Workspace Optimization of the Inclined PRS Manipulator, Proceedings of the 2004 CCToMM M³ Symposium, 2004 CSME Forum, June 1-4, 2004, London, Ontario, Canada. 

Pond, G. and Carretero, J., Kinematic Analysis and Workspace Determination of the Inclined PRS Parallel Manipulator, Proceedings of the 2004 RoManSy, 15th CISMIFToMM Symposium on Robot Design, Dynamics and Control, June 14-18, 2004, Montreal, Québec, Canada.

(Nomination) Teaching Excellence Award (RMC) (2017)

Best Presentation Award, UK OR Society (2011)

Science and Technology Excellence Award, Defence Research and Development Canada (2010)

Best Overall Paper, International Symposium of Military Operations Research (2010)

Best Paper (Honourable Mention), Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (2010)

Nominated by UNB: Doctoral Prize (23 submissions made nationally), NSERC: Engineering and Computer Science (2007)

Advanced Studies Scholarship (Doctoral), Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick (2005)

Graduate Bursary, University of New Brunswick (2004)

Youth Delegate Award, International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (2004)

Academic Service

RMC Department of Management
Department Head (2018-9) Program Chair (2016-9)
MBA Committee (2015-9)

Graduate Examination Committees

PhD Examination Committees 

A Unified Approach to Multi-Server Bulk-Arrival Queues Using Roots - J. Kim (2018)

A Direct Method of Solving (Linear or Nonlinear, Continuous or Discrete) Multicriteria Optimization Problems - Y. Wang (2018)

Master’s Examination Committees 

New and Extended Results in Renewal and Queuing Theories - J. Kim (2016)

Journal Submission Reviews

Reviewer for the following academic journals

• Journal of Mechanical Design
• Robotica
• Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing
• Interfaces
• OR Insight
• Simulation: Transactions of the Society for Modeling and Simulation  
• Journal of Quality in Maintenance and Engineering

Conference Submission Reviews

• Administrative Science Association of Canada (ASAC 2018), Toronto 
• Administrative Science Association of Canada (ASAC 2013), Calgary 
• Administrative Science Association of Canada (ASAC 2012), St. John’s NF
• Administrative Science Association of Canada (ASAC 2011), Montreal
• Administrative Science Association of Canada (ASAC 2010), Regina, SK
• 10^th World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation, Beijing, China, 2012
• 8^th World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation, Jinan, China, 2010
• IEEE International Conference on Automation and Logistics (ICAL 2009), Shenyang, China
• Administrative Science Association of Canada (ASAC 2009), Niagara Falls
• Military Modeling and Simulation Symposium (MMS 2009), San Diego, CA.
• 2005 CCToMM M³ Symposium, Montreal
• CSME-CCToMM Forum 2004, London, Ontario 

Divisional chair for the Management Science Division of ASAC 2013, Calgary, AB.

Program chair for the Management Science Division of ASAC 2012, St. John’s, NF. 

Coordinator of academic reviews for the Management Science Division of ASAC 2011, Montreal, QC.

Reviewer of publications internal to DRDC-CORA.

Professional Memberships

• Professional Engineers Ontario (P.Eng.)
• Administrative Sciences Association of Canada
• Canadian Operational Research Society