Reliability evaluation of a multistate flexible flow shop with stochastic capacity for multiple types of jobs

A flexible flow shop (FFS) is a general manufacturing system that has been studied by numerous researchers. Owing to maintenance, partial failure, the possibility of failure, unexpected situations, etc., the number of functioning machines in a stage should be represented by multiple levels. It is appropriate to regard the capacity in each stage (i.e., the number of machines in a stage) as stochastic. Unlike the previous research, which dealt with the FFS problems under the assumption of the fixed capacity, this paper extends the deterministic capacity to the stochastic case in every stage. The FFS with stochastic capacity is modeled as a multistate flexible flow shop network (MFFSN), where each edge denotes a stage with stochastic capacity and each node denotes a buffer. The addressed problem is to evaluate network reliability, the probability that the MFFSN can complete a customer's order composed of multiple types of jobs within a time threshold. An efficient algorithm integrating a systematic branch-and-bound approach is proposed to obtain the lower boundary vectors, in terms of a pair of capacity vectors generated from two estimated demand vectors. Two practical cases, a tile production system and an apparel manufacturing system, are presented to demonstrate the proposed algorithm and to discuss the changes in network reliability within different time thresholds, respectively.     

A game theoretic framework for stochastic multipath routing in self-organized MANETs

In this paper we propose a game theoretic framework for stochastic multipath routing in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). In a MANET, intelligent and adaptive attackers may try to hijack, jam or intercept data packets traveling from source to destination. In our proposed game, at each stage the source node keeps track of the available multiple paths, the residual bandwidth of the paths and the strategy of the attackers from the information gathered during the previous stage. Based on these observations, the source node selects a path for data communication and switching strategy among the multiple established paths between the source node and the destination node. Accordingly, it selects an optimal routing strategy to send data packets to the destination at each stage of the game. Using minimax-Q learning, the selected routing strategy maximizes the expected sum of per stage discounted payoff, which is the utilization of residual bandwidth between a source–destination pair along with the probability that the path is safe. Performance analysis and numerical results show that our proposed scheme achieves significant performance gains in terms of residual bandwidth utilization, average end-to-end delay, packet delivery ratio, routing overhead and security.     

Improved Complex-valued Radial Basis Function (ICRBF) neural networks on multiple crack identification

This paper introduces a new class of neural networks in complex space called Complex-valued Radial Basis Function (CRBF) neural networks and also an improved version of CRBF called Improved Complex-valued Radial Basis Function (ICRBF) neural networks. They are used for multiple crack identification in a cantilever beam in the frequency domain. The novelty of the paper is that, these complex-valued neural networks are first applied on inverse problems (damage identification) which come under the category of function approximation. The conventional CRBF network was used in the first stage of ICRBF network and in the second stage a reduced search space moving technique was employed for accurate crack identification. The effectiveness of proposed ICRBF neural network was studied first on a single crack identification problem and then applied to a more challenging problem of multiple crack identification in a cantilever beam with zero noise as well as 5% noise polluted signals. The results proved that, the proposed ICRBF and real-valued Improved RBF (IRBF) neural networks have identified the single and multiple cracks with less than 1% absolute mean percentage error as compared to conventional CRBF and RBF neural networks, mainly because of their second stage reduced search space moving technique. It appears that IRBF neural network is a good compromise considering all factors like accuracy, simplicity and computational effort.     

面向全局搜索的自适应领导者樽海鞘群算法

针对实际配送过程中客户需求、车辆服务时间随机可变,提出带软时间窗的随机需求和随机服务时间的车辆路径问题.以配送车辆行驶路径为研究对象,建立基于配送成本、时间惩罚成本、修正成本的配送车辆路径优化模型,并提出一种混合禁忌搜索算法.该算法将最近邻算法和禁忌搜索算法相结合,将时间窗宽度及距离作为最近邻算法中节点选择标准;并对禁忌搜索算法中禁忌长度等构成要素进行自适应调整,引入自适应惩罚系数.实验结果表明,改进后的混合禁忌搜索算法具有较强的寻优能力、较高的鲁棒性,同时算法所得车辆行驶路径受客户需求变动影响较小.     

Reliability evaluation for an intermittent production system with stochastic number of normal machines

In an intermittent production system (IPS), a number of normal machines in a workstation may present multiple levels owing to maintenance, possibility of failure, etc. It means that the number of machines in each workstation is stochastic. This paper proposes a key performance index (KPI), which reflects the probability that an IPS can complete demand d within time constraint T. Such a probability is defined as system reliability. The IPS is modeled as a stochastic network, in which each arc is regarded as a workstation with stochastic number of normal machines, and each node is represented as a buffer. The concept of minimal machine vector (MMV), which indicates the minimal capacity required at each workstation to satisfy the demand and time constraints, is presented for evaluating the system reliability. In particular, a novel algorithm based on depth-first search is proposed to derive all MMVs. This algorithm avoids searching for unnecessary child nodes, and thus increases efficiency. Two practical examples, a printed circuit board and a footwear manufacturing systems, are used to illustrate the proposed algorithm. Such a KPI can provide information to production managers to understand the probability that an order can be completed on time.     

Topology optimization framework for structures subjected to stationary stochastic dynamic loads

The field of topology optimization has progressed substantially in recent years, with applications varying in terms of the type of structures, boundary conditions, loadings, and materials. Nevertheless, topology optimization of stochastically excited structures has received relatively little attention. Most current approaches replace the dynamic loads with either equivalent static or harmonic loads. In this study, a direct approach to problem is pursued, where the excitation is modeled as a stationary zero-mean filtered white noise. The excitation model is combined with the structural model to form an augmented representation, and the stationary covariances of the structural responses of interest are obtained by solving a Lyapunov equation. An objective function of the optimization scheme is then defined in terms of these stationary covariances. A fast large-scale solver of the Lyapunov equation is implemented for sparse matrices, and an efficient adjoint method is proposed to obtain the sensitivities of the objective function. The proposed topology optimization framework is illustrated for four examples: (i) minimization of the displacement of a mass at the free end of a cantilever beam subjected to a stochastic dynamic base excitation, (ii) minimization of tip displacement of a cantilever beam subjected to a stochastic dynamic tip load, (iii) minimization of tip displacement and acceleration of a cantilever beam subjected to a stochastic dynamic tip load, and (iv) minimization of a plate subjected to multiple stochastic dynamic loads. The results presented herein demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach for efficient multi-objective topology optimization of stochastically excited structures, as well as multiple input-multiple output systems.

     

A hybrid genetic algorithm for two-stage multi-item inventory system with stochastic demand

We study a two-stage, multi-item inventory system where stochastic demand occurs at stage 1, and nodes at stage 1 replenish their inventory from stage 2. Due to the complexity of stochastic inventory optimization in multi-echelon system, few analytical models and effective algorithms exist. In this paper, we establish exact stochastic optimization models by proposing a well-defined supply–demand process analysis and provide an efficient hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) by introducing a heuristic search technique based on the tradeoff between the inventory cost and setup cost and improving the initial solution. Monte Carlo method is also introduced to simulate the actual demand and thus to approximate the long-run average cost. By numerical experiments, we compare the widely used installation policy and echelon policy and show that when variance of stochastic demand increase, echelon policy outperforms installation policy and, furthermore, the proposed heuristic search technique greatly enhances the search capacity of HGA.     

HEURISTIC SEARCH UNDER CONTRACT

In this article, we present a heuristic search technique (Contract Search) that can be adapted automatically for a specific node contract. We analyze the node expansion characteristics of best‐first search techniques and identify a probabilistic model (rank profiles) that characterizes the search under restricted expansions. We use the model to formulate an optimal strategy to choose level dependent restriction bounds, maximizing the probability of obtaining the optimal cost goal node under the specified contract. We analyze the basic properties of the rank profiles and establish its relation with the search space configuration and heuristic error distributions. We suggest an approximation scheme for the profile function for unknown search spaces. We show how the basic framework can be adapted to achieve different objectives (like optimizing the expected quality) considering multiple goals and approximate solutions. Experimental comparison with anytime search techniques like ARA* and beam search on a number of search problems shows that Contract Search outperforms these techniques over a range of contract specifications.     

A stochastic connectionist approach for global optimization withapplication to pattern clustering

In this paper, a stochastic connectionist approach is proposed for solving function optimization problems with real-valued parameters. With the assumption of increased processing capability of a node in the connectionist network, we show how a broader class of problems can be solved. As the proposed approach is a stochastic search technique, it avoids getting stuck in local optima. Robustness of the approach is demonstrated on several multi-modal functions with different numbers of variables. Optimization of a well-known partitional clustering criterion, the squared-error criterion (SEC), is formulated as a function optimization problem and is solved using the proposed approach. This approach is used to cluster selected data sets and the results obtained are compared with that of the K-means algorithm and a simulated annealing (SA) approach. The amenability of the connectionist approach to parallelization enables effective use of parallel hardware.     

A genetic algorithm for multiprocessor scheduling

The problem of multiprocessor scheduling can be stated as finding a schedule for a general task graph to be executed on a multiprocessor system so that the schedule length can be minimized. This scheduling problem is known to be NP-hard, and methods based on heuristic search have been proposed to obtain optimal and suboptimal solutions. Genetic algorithms have recently received much attention as a class of robust stochastic search algorithms for various optimization problems. In this paper, an efficient method based on genetic algorithms is developed to solve the multiprocessor scheduling problem. The representation of the search node is based on the order of the tasks being executed in each individual processor. The genetic operator proposed is based on the precedence relations between the tasks in the task graph. Simulation results comparing the proposed genetic algorithm, the list scheduling algorithm, and the optimal schedule using random task graphs, and a robot inverse dynamics computational task graph are presented