Challenge Tracks

ATCO SpaceLab is interested in smart technologies aimed at assisting customers in effectively managing their energy requirements and monitoring usage. In this track, we pose the challenge of optimizing the charging schedule for a large fleet of electric vehicles in a hypothetical future city. The city does not yet know how it will avoid exceeding the electricity supply constraints of the charging hub, but knows that it will need to balance the charging hub supply and the EV charging demand, the charging time preferences and the schedule of each EV owner.

This is an optimization problem closest to the mathematically defined NP-hard space and we are interested in exploring whether quantum computing may provide advantages over classical approaches.

Full Description Sample Data

When extracting bitumen from oilsand, the ore is mixed with hot water to create a slurry where the bitumen floats to the top. The remaining mineral slurry (sand, clays and other trace materials) settles into layers of sand, water, and "fluid fine tailings" (FFT).

This fluid fine tailings layer is the focus of this challenge: When negatively charged, water-suspended clay particles tend to repulse each other, preventing their aggregation into larger particles that would settle more readily. This presents a challenge for mine site remediation, because, without further treatment, the layer will not gain enough strength required to build reclamation soils on top.

Full Description

Canada contains the third largest crude oil reserves in the world. Canada’s major oil production region is in Alberta, a province in the western part of the country. Oil is exported from Alberta via pipeline into other provinces in Canada and into the United States. Most of the oil in Alberta is heavy, either in the form of bitumen or classified as heavy crude.

The most cost effective high volume method of transporting crude via land is by pipeline and most Alberta oil moves on the existing pipeline network. Viscosity maxima and API gravity minima are specified by pipeline companies to ensure efficient operations and maximize movement of heavy oil from Alberta.

Full Description Viscosity Data