面向建材装备集团制造的分布式多项目资源调度

针对建材装备集团项目执行过程中存在的项目内和项目间多类别资源协同共用现象,提出并行调度机制下考虑多类别资源转移时间和转移成本的分布式多项目资源调度问题,以最小化资源转移成本和项目执行工期为目标建立问题的数学模型.为改善进化算法在局部搜索能力方面的不足,提出将禁忌搜索与进化算法相结合,构造一种内嵌禁忌搜索寻优搜索的多目标混合进化算法,在保证算法全局搜索能力的前提下提升局部精确搜索能力.同时,考虑资源转移成本和时间对任务选取的影响,改进任务选择的优先权值,提出并行调度机制下资源转移冲突消解策略.数据实验表明,所提算法能够有效避免不合理的资源转移,在求解质量方面具有良好的性能.     

An iterative genetic algorithm for the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem of type-II

In this study, we consider the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem of type-II (ALWABP-2). ALWABP-2 arises when task times differ depending on operator skills and concerns with the assignment of tasks and operators to stations in order to minimize the cycle time. We developed an iterative genetic algorithm (IGA) to solve this problem. In the IGA, three search approaches are adopted in order to obtain search diversity and efficiency: modified bisection search, genetic algorithm and iterated local search. When designing the IGA, all the parameters such as construction heuristics, genetic operators and local search operators are adapted specifically to the ALWABP-2. The performance of the proposed IGA is compared with heuristic and metaheuristic approaches on benchmark problem instances. Experimental results show that the proposed IGA is very effective and robust for a large set of benchmark problems.     

An Immune-based Genetic Algorithm with Reduced Search Space Coding for Multiprocessor Task Scheduling Problem

Multiprocessor task scheduling is an important problem in parallel applications and distributed systems. In this way, solving the multiprocessor task scheduling problem (MTSP) by heuristic, meta-heuristic, and hybrid algorithms have been proposed in literature. Although the problem has been addressed by many researchers, challenges to improve the convergence speed and the reliability of methods for solving the problem are still continued especially in the case that the communication cost is added to the problem frame work. In this paper, an Immune-based Genetic algorithm (IGA), a meta-heuristic approach, with a new coding scheme is proposed to solve MTSP. It is shown that the proposed coding reduces the search space of MTSP in many practical problems, which effectively influences the convergence speed of the optimization process. In addition to the reduced search space offered by the proposed coding that eventuate in exploring better solutions at a shorter time frame, it guarantees the validity of solutions by using any crossover and mutation operators. Furthermore, to overcome the regeneration phenomena in the proposed GA (generating similar chromosomes) which leads to premature convergence, an affinity based approach inspired from Artificial Immune system is employed which results in better exploration in the searching process. Experimental results showed that the proposed IGA surpasses related works in terms of found makespan (20% improvement in average) while it needs less iterations to find the solutions (90% improvement in average) when it is applied to standard test benches.     

Task assignment using a problem-space genetic algorithm

The task assignment problem is one of assigning tasks of a parallel program among the processors of a distributed computing system in order to reduce the job turnaround time and to increase the throughput of the system. Since the task assignment problem is known to be NP-complete except in a few special situations, satisfactory suboptimal solutions obtainable in a reasonable amount of computation time are generally sought. In the paper we introduce a technique based on the problem-space genetic algorithm (PSGA) for the static task assignment problem in both homogeneous and heterogeneous distributed computing systems to reduce the task turnaround time and to increase the throughput of the system by properly balancing the load and reducing the interprocessor communication time among processors. The PSGA based approach combines the power of genetic algorithms, a global search method, with a simple and fast problem-specific heuristic to search a large solution space efficiently and effectively to find the best possible solution in an acceptable CPU time. Experimental results on test examples from the literature show considerable improvements in both the assignment cost and the CPU times over the previous work. The proposed scheme is also applied to a digital signal processing (DSP) system consisting of 119 tasks to illustrate its balancing properties and computational advantage on a large system. The proposed scheme offers 12–30% improvement in the assignment cost as compared to the previous best known results for the DSP example.     

一种混合人工蜂群算法求解顺序相依拆卸线平衡问题

拆卸线平衡问题直接影响回收再制造成本.为此,构建了最小工作站开启数量、最短总拆卸时间、均衡工作站空闲时间、尽早拆卸有危害和高需求零部件的多目标顺序相依拆卸线平衡问题优化模型,提出一种混合人工蜂群算法.所提出算法在观察蜂跟随阶段采用分阶段选择评价法,以便更好地区分蜜源;在侦查蜂开采阶段构建基于全局学习的搜索机制,以提高开采能力.蜜蜂寻优过程中设计了简化变邻域搜索策略,提高了寻优效率.对比实验结果验证了模型的有效性和算法的优越性.     

A branch and bound method for the line balancing problem in U-shaped assembly lines with equipment requirements

In this study we consider a U-shaped assembly line balancing problem where each task uses a specified set of equipments and each type of equipment has a specified cost. Our problem is to assign the tasks together with their equipments to the workstations so as to minimize the total equipment cost. We formulate the problem as a mixed integer linear programming model that is capable of solving small sized instances. We propose a branch and bound algorithm that uses efficient precedence relations and lower bounds. We find that the algorithm is able to solve moderate sized problem instances in reasonable times.     

Assembly line balancing with positional constraints,task assignment restrictions and station paralleling: A case in an electronics company

In this paper, we present a real-life Assembly Line Balancing Problem for an electronics manufacturing company. The main characteristics of the problem are as follows: (i) a set of operations are related to the front part of the workpiece and others are related to the back part of the workpiece, which in turn makes all tasks dependent on the position of the workpiece, (ii) some of the tasks must be executed on the same station and no other tasks should be assigned to this station due to technological restrictions, (iii) parallel stations are allowed to increase the line efficiency at the required production rate and to overcome the problem of assigning tasks with operation times that exceed the cycle time. Initially, the problem is formulated as a 0–1 integer programming model and solved using CPLEX solver. Then, the effect of alternative work schedules such as multiple shifts and overtime on the expected labor cost of the line is analyzed. Considering alternative work schedules while balancing the line for corresponding cycle times allows us to select an efficient assembly line for the company, resulting in a lower labor cost and a more balanced line with respect to the operation times and the activity of the workers at each station. Lastly, a computational study is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. It is found that the model is capable of producing high quality solutions in reasonable solution times.     

FASTEST: a practical low-complexity algorithm for compile-timeassignment of parallel programs to multiprocessors

In the area of parallelizing compilers, considerable research has been carried out on data dependency analysis, parallelism extraction, as well as program and data partitioning. However, designing a practical, low complexity scheduling algorithm without sacrificing performance remains a challenging problem. A variety of heuristics have been proposed to generate efficient solutions but they take prohibitively long execution times for moderate size or large problems. In this paper, we propose an algorithm called FASTEST (Fast Assignment and Scheduling of Tasks using an Efficient Search Technique) that has O(e) time complexity, where e is the number of edges in the task graph. The algorithm first generates an initial solution in a short time and then refines it by using a simple but robust random neighborhood search. We have also parallelized the search to further lower the time complexity. We are using the algorithm in a prototype automatic parallelization and scheduling tool which compiles sequential code and generates parallel code optimized with judicious scheduling. The proposed algorithm is evaluated with several application programs and outperforms a number of previous algorithms by generating parallelized code with shorter execution times, while taking dramatically shorter scheduling times. The FASTEST algorithm generates optimal solutions for a majority of the test cases and close-to-optimal solutions for the rest     

具有成本约束的设备投资木桶—贪婪优化算法研究

针对以经验为主的混合流水车间设备购置策略所导致的生产不平衡问题,提出了一种木桶—贪婪算法。该算法在固定设备成本的约束下,以产线生产节拍最快为目标,利用木桶效应的补短板思路识别出瓶颈工序,并在此基础上针对产线内多种类产品瓶颈工序不一致的特性引入贪婪思想。然后,基于实际产线案例对比不同算法的求解结果,木桶—贪婪算法相比穷竭搜索算法以及改进遗传算法在求解质量和效率方面具有一定优势。最后,以实际产线为背景,利用Plant Simulation仿真进行产线改造前后对比,验证了提出的算法在实际生产中的可行性和有效性。     

Collaborative optimization of robotic disassembly sequence planning and robotic disassembly line balancing problem using improved discrete Bees algorithm in remanufacturing✰

Remanufacturing helps to reduce manufacturing cost and environmental pollution by reusing end-of-life products. Disassembly is an inevitable process of remanufacturing and it is always finished by manual labor which is high cost and low efficiency while robotic disassembly helps to cover these shortages. Before the execution of disassembly, well-designed disassembly sequence and disassembly line balancing solution help to improve disassembly efficiency. However, most of the research used for disassembly sequence planning and disassembly line balancing problem is only applicable to manual disassembly. Also, disassembly sequence planning and disassembly line balancing problem are separately studied. In this paper, an improved discrete Bees algorithm is developed to solve the collaborative optimization of robotic disassembly sequence planning and robotic disassembly line balancing problem. Robotic workstation assignment method is used to generate robotic disassembly line solutions based on feasible disassembly solutions obtained by the space interference matrices. Optimization objectives of the collaborative optimization problem are described, and the analytic network process is used to assign suitable weights to different indicators. With the help of variable neighborhood search, an improved discrete Bees algorithm is developed to find the optimal solution. Finally, based on a gear pump and a camera, case studies are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results under different cycle time of robotic disassembly line are analyzed. Under the best cycle time, the performance of the improved discrete Bees algorithm under different populations and iterations are analyzed and compared with the other three optimization algorithms. The results under different assessment methods and scenarios are also analyzed.     

基于变邻域模拟退火算法的多自动导引车任务分配优化

针对多自动导引车（AGV）仓储系统任务分配问题,提出了变邻域模拟退火（VN_SA）算法。首先,根据系统作业流程及AGV运行特征,以AGV执行任务的路径代价、时间代价以及任务均衡值代价为目标,并在约束中加入AGV空载行驶和负载行驶的耗电情况,构建更贴合实际的多AGV仓储系统任务分配多目标优化模型;其次,针对问题特点,设计了一种变邻域模拟退火算法。算法中的邻域扰动操作拓展了模拟退火算法的搜索范围,且概率突变特性的结合使算法跳出局部最优,并获得全局开发的效果。分别设置任务量为20、50、100的作业进行仿真实验,实验结果表明,所提算法优化后的总代价相较于遗传算法（GA）分别降低了6.4、7.5、13.2个百分点,验证了所提算法在不同任务规模下的有效性。可见所提算法具有更好的收敛性和搜索效率。     

Yard crane scheduling in a container terminal for the trade-off between efficiency and energy consumption

Green transportation has recently been the focus of the transportation industry to sustain the development of global economy. Container terminals are key nodes in the global transportation network and energy-saving is a main goal for them. Yard crane (YC), as one type of handling equipment, plays an important role in the service efficiency and energy-saving of container terminals. However, traditional methods of YC scheduling solely aim to improve the efficiency of container terminals and do not refer to energy-saving. Therefore, it is imperative to seek an appropriate approach for YC scheduling that considers the trade-off between efficiency and energy consumption. In this paper, the YC scheduling problem is firstly converted into a vehicle routing problem with soft time windows (VRPSTW). This problem is formulated as a mixed integer programming (MIP) model, whose two objectives minimize the total completion delay of all task groups and the total energy consumption of all YCs. Subsequently, an integrated simulation optimization method is developed for solving the problem, where the simulation is designed for evaluating solutions and the optimization algorithm is designed for exploring the solution space. The optimization algorithm integrates the genetic algorithm (GA) and the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, where the GA is used for global search and the PSO is used for local search. Finally, computational experiments are conducted to validate the performance of the proposed method.     

基于遗传算法的焊接生产线工位平衡规划方法

在现代化大规模大批量的流水装配制造业中,数量众多的作用分配和多工位的合理安排使工位平衡问题显得更为突出。针对第一类工位平衡问题,即在给定的生产节拍下最小化工位数,首先分析了该问题并建立了数学模型,进而提出了一种基于改进遗传算法求解工位平衡问题的方法。该算法以焊接任务的操作顺序优先关系为约束前提,在初始种群的生产以及交叉和变异过程中保证了染色体解的可行性,同时在遗传算法的选择过程中考虑了具有相同工位数的最优作业方案的工时标准差,从而提高了算法的搜索效率和解的可靠性。最后通过实例求解验证了该算法的有效性。     

Multi-rule Multi-objective Simulated Annealing Algorithm for Straight and U Type Assembly Line Balancing Problems

The task of balancing of assembly lines is of considerable industrial importance. It consists of assigning operations to workstations in a production line in such a way that (1) no assembly precedence constraint is violated, (2) no workstations in the line takes longer than a predefined cycle time to perform all tasks assigned to it, and (3) as few workstations as possible are needed to perform all the tasks in the set. This paper presents a new multiple objective simulated annealing (SA) algorithm for simple (line) and U type assembly line balancing problems with the aim of maximizing “smoothness index” and maximizing the “line performance” (or minimizing the number of workstations). The proposed algorithm makes use of task assignment rules in constructing feasible solutions. The proposed algorithm is tested and compared with literature test problems. The proposed algorithm found the optimal solutions for each problem in short computational times. A detailed performance analysis of the selected task assignment rules is also given in the paper.     

不确定性感知的边缘计算任务调度算法

任务执行时长的不确定性是设计任务调度算法时的一个重要问题,关系到调度方案能否满足任务的截止时间要求.鉴于此,研究不确定性感知的边缘计算任务调度问题,以最小化边缘提供商开销为优化目标建立任务调度问题的优化模型.该模型将任务执行时长建模为随机变量并推导出任务完成时间的完整概率分布,引入关于任务截止时间的概率约束,以可调节的概率阈值保证任务按时完成.为求解该问题,进一步提出基于蝙蝠算法搜索策略的元启发式算法,包含两个关键的算法组件,映射算子实现蝙蝠空间与调度解空间的关联,评估算子实现候选解可行性的判定和优化目标值的计算.基于对比实验的仿真结果表明,所提出算法能够得到高质量的任务调度方案.     

A heuristic-based hybrid genetic-variable neighborhood search algorithm for task scheduling in heterogeneous multiprocessor system

Effective task scheduling, which is essential for achieving high performance in a heterogeneous multiprocessor system, remains a challenging problem despite extensive studies. In this article, a heuristic-based hybrid genetic-variable neighborhood search algorithm is proposed for the minimization of makespan in the heterogeneous multiprocessor scheduling problem. The proposed algorithm distinguishes itself from many existing genetic algorithm (GA) approaches in three aspects. First, it incorporates GA with the variable neighborhood search (VNS) algorithm, a local search metaheuristic, to exploit the intrinsic structure of the solutions for guiding the exploration process of GA. Second, two novel neighborhood structures are proposed, in which problem-specific knowledge concerned with load balancing and communication reduction is utilized respectively, to improve both the search quality and efficiency of VNS. Third, the proposed algorithm restricts the use of GA to evolve the task-processor mapping solutions, while taking advantage of an upward-ranking heuristic mostly used by traditional list scheduling approaches to determine the task sequence assignment in each processor. Empirical results on benchmark task graphs of several well-known parallel applications, which have been validated by the use of non-parametric statistical tests, show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms several related algorithms in terms of the schedule quality. Further experiments are carried out to reveal that the proposed algorithm is able to maintain high performance within a wide range of parameter settings.     

基于混合搜索算法的贴片机贴装过程优化

贴片机是PCB组装生产线中的瓶颈设备,提高其贴装效率对整个生产线有重要意义;针对该设备的生产效率优化问题,提出了由最近邻算法和分散搜索算法组成的混合算法;本算法将使用最近邻算法求解元器件的拾取贴装顺序并通过将其引入到分散搜索的框架中求解喂料器分配问题,使两个子问题的求解过程相互结合,从而更好完成贴装效率的优化;仿真结果表明,在大多数情况下该算法都能够在取得优于原有最近邻算法的效果;说明该算法能够更好的提高贴片机的贴装效率.     

A scheduling algorithm for applications in a cloud computing system with communication changes

This paper proposes a scheduling algorithm to solve the problem of task scheduling in a cloud computing system with time‐varying communication conditions. This algorithm converts the scheduling problem with communication changes into a directed acyclic graph (DAG) scheduling problem for existing fuzzy communication task nodes, that is, the scheduling problem for a communication‐change DAG (CC‐DAG). The CC‐DAG contains both computation task nodes and communication task nodes. First, this paper proposes a weighted time‐series network bandwidth model to solve the indefinite processing time (cost) problem for a fuzzy communication task node. This model can accurately predict the processing time of a fuzzy communication task node. Second, to address the scheduling order problem for the computation task nodes, a dynamic pre‐scheduling search strategy (DPSS) is proposed. This strategy computes the essential paths for the pre‐scheduling of the computation task nodes based on the actual computation costs (times) of the computation task nodes and the predicted processing costs (times) of the fuzzy communication task nodes during the scheduling process. The computation task node with the longest essential path is scheduled first because its completion time directly influences the completion time of the task graph. Finally, we demonstrate the proposed algorithm via simulation experiments. The experimental results show that the proposed DPSS produced remarkable performance improvement rate on the total execution time that ranges between 11.5% and 21.2%. In view of the experimental results, the proposed algorithm provides better quality scheduling solution that is suitable for scientific application task execution in the cloud computing environment than HEFT, PEFT, and CEFT algorithms.     

An efficient branch and bound algorithm for assembly line balancing problems with parallel multi-manned workstations

In the event that big-sized complex products (containing a large number of assembly tasks most of which have long task times) are produced in simple or two-sided assembly lines, hundreds of stations are essentially required. Long product flow time, a large area for establishment of the line, a high budget for the investment of equipment, and tools in stations and several work-in-process are also required for these kinds of products. In order to avoid these disadvantages, assembly lines with parallel multi-manned workstations can be utilized. In this paper, these lines and one of their balancing problems are addressed, and a branch and bound algorithm is proposed. The algorithm is composed of a branching scheme, some efficient dominance and feasibility criteria based on a problem-specific knowledge. A heuristic-based guidance for enumeration process is included as an efficient component of the algorithm as well. VWSolver algorithm proposed for a special version of the problem in the literature has been modified and compared with the proposed algorithm. Results show that proposed algorithm outperforms VWSolver in terms of both CPU times and quality of feasible solutions found.     

Mixed-model U-shaped assembly lines: Balancing and comparing with straight lines with buffers and parallel workstations

In the paper a genetic algorithm approach is proposed to balance asynchronous mixed-model U-shaped lines with stochastic task times. U-shaped lines have become popular in recent years for their ability to outperform straight assembly lines in terms of line efficiency. The great majority of studies in the literature deal with paced synchronous U-shaped lines. Asynchronous lines can be more efficient than synchronous lines, but are more difficult to study, due to blocking and starvation phenomena caused by the variability of completion times: this makes it difficult to calculate the effective throughput. This variability, that in straight lines comes from the stochastic nature of task times and from the changing of models entering the line, is even higher in U-shaped lines, where an operator can work at two different models in the same cycle at the two sides of the line. For this reason, the genetic algorithm proposed is coupled to a parametric simulator for the evaluation of the objective function, which contains the simulated throughput. Two alternative chromosomal representations are tested on an ample set of instances from the literature. The best solutions are also compared with the best solutions known in the literature, on the same instances, for straight lines with buffers and parallel workstations. From the comparison it turns out that U-shaped lines are generally more efficient with respect to straight lines with buffers. This is because crossover work centers naturally act similarly to unitary buffers, providing two places in which two loads can be placed simultaneously. The superiority of U-shaped lines holds true as long as it is possible to take full advantage of the employment of crossover work centers. For particular types of instances, depending on the distribution of task times, this possibility decreases, so that straight lines with parallel workstations and buffers are preferable.