A multi-mode resource-constrained scheduling problem in the context of port operations

We discuss a problem of attending ships within agreed time limits at a port under the condition of the first come first served order. In addition, we indicate the use of the developed tool to support decisions at a strategic level with the objective of improving the attendance of the ships. The tool is based on a mathematical model of a multi-mode resource-constrained scheduling problem and on an extension of a differential evolution algorithm. We illustrate the implementation by computational tests with data generated on the basis of the characteristics of a real port environment.     

Control of large scale discrete event systems: Task allocation and coordination

To control a large scale discrete event system, decentralized control and hierarchical control can be used, where several local supervisors are used to control events in local sites and a coordinator is used to coordinate the local supervisors. Two important problems that need to be solved in such a control architecture are task allocation and coordination. That is, how to allocate tasks to the supervisors, and how to coordinate those tasks. We propose and solve a task allocation problem of assigning tasks to the local supervisors and a minimal intervention problem of coordinating tasks so that the intervention by the coordinator is minimal.     

Optimization-based decision support system for crew scheduling in the cruise industry

Crew members on cruise ships are hired in a global labor market, and a major cost for cruise lines is moving crew members from their home cities to the cruise ship’s departure port. Complicating the crew scheduling problem is the uncertainty due to no-shows, terminations, and other reasons for crew to terminate their contract prematurely. To address this problem, this paper describes a scheduling system that implements a two-stage planning process that first determines overbooking levels for the number of crew to offer contracts to, and then second, a goal integer programming formulation to minimize the movement cost of assigning crew to ships while maintaining adequate crew levels and a desired crew region composition. We solve actual-sized problems characteristic of the cruise industry in a reasonably short amount of time. Experiments comparing the actual crew movement costs to the system’s projected crew movement costs show that the scheduling system can consistently reduce the movement costs in the range of 9–23%, better maintain desired crew levels, and better maintain desired crew region composition.     

基于量子遗传混合算法的泊位联合调度

为了提高集装箱港口服务效率,减少船舶服务的拖期费用,针对港口硬件（泊位、拖轮、岸桥）既定条件下的拖轮-泊位联合调度问题,新建了以最小化总体船舶在港时间和总拖期时间为目标的数学模型,设计了一种混合算法进行求解。首先,分析确定了将量子遗传算法（QGA）和禁忌搜索（TS）算法进行串行混合的策略;然后,依据该联合调度问题特点,在解决算法实施中的关键技术问题（染色体结构设计和测量、遗传操作、种群更新等）的同时,采用了动态量子旋转门更新机制;最后,用生产实例验证了算法的可行性及有效性。算法实验结果表明,与人工调度结果相比,混合算法的总体船舶在港时间和总拖期时间分别减少了24%和42.7%;与遗传算法结果相比,分别减少了10.9%和22.5%。所提模型及算法不仅能为港口船舶的入泊、离泊和装卸作业环节提供优化作业方案,而且能增强港口竞争力。     

基于关键资源优先的三级装卸搬运分时协调策略

研究基于关键资源优先的单元化“装卸、搬运、装卸” 三级作业链的调度问题. 在已知关键资源调度方案的条件下, 将两个非关键各作业级的调度问题分别转化为最小单位流问题, 并建立相应的0/1 整数规划模型求解. 为求解大规模问题, 提出三级装卸搬运的分时协调策略. 参照宁波港码头数据, 设计面向集装箱码头的仿真算例, 实验结果验证了所提出模型和策略的有效性.

     

基于蚁群算法的泊位调度优化与仿真

在全球贸易经济聚焦在中国的同时,港口的吞吐能力成为目前港口业的主要矛盾。提高泊位这个环节的运作能力,减少船舶在港时间,增加港口的吞吐能力成为主要研究对象。本文采取仿真模型与优化算法相结合的研究方法,把泊位调度问题转化为旅行商问题,建立了一个泊位岸桥协调调度,通过蚁群算法建立数学模型,使船舶在港时间最短为目标建立函数,求得最佳调度方案。用ProModel建立船舶到港停泊及离港仿真模型。验证泊位调度优化的有效性,以便指导港口实际的泊位调度。     

A multi-agent architecture for control of AGV systems

Agent is an autonomous, computational entity that can be viewed as perceiving its environment and acting upon it. Agents are event-driven objects that can be integrated in automated manufacturing environments to control certain tasks. In this paper a set of agents (a multi-agent system) is introduced to control an automated manufacturing environment. The architecture includes functions at the manufacturing cell level, materials handling and transport level, and factory scheduling level. Communication between these agents is accomplished by using a relational database (blackboard system). The relational database also integrates the requirements of a manufacturing execution system within the multi-agent task structure, which is unique to this architecture. Manufacturing cell and scheduling agents have been previously described in the literature. Here we focus our attention on the functions of the agents of the transport system, which is composed of a set of AGVs.     

异构云平台中基于多层架构的动态循环调度方案

针对现有分布式循环自调度方案在异构云平台中存在负载不平衡等问题,提出一种基于多层架构的分层分布式动态循环调度方案。首先,通过HPLS算法来评估计算环境中各Worker节点的计算速度。然后,在传统自调度方案中融入节点计算速度,构建一种能够处理异构环境的调度方案,提高负载平衡能力。最后,将计算系统构建成一个由SuperMaster,Master和Worker节点组成的多层架构,利用层次化方法来解决传统Master-Worker架构中单个Master节点的瓶颈问题,用来提高任务分配效率。仿真实验结果表明,提出的方案能够有效提高云平台的计算效率。     

基于粒子群算法的供油船调度

供油船调度是港口作业船舶调度中不可或缺的一个环节。根据港口的实际情况,以分析供油船的工作过程和特点为基础,本文提出了一种针对供油船的编码方式,并且将粒子群算法应用到供油船调度系统中。经过多次优化运行,证明优化的结果好于仿真。相比传统的经验调度,采用模型和算法的调度方式能够提高供油船作业的效率。     

A hierarchical reliability-driven scheduling algorithm in grid systems

In a Grid computing system, many distributed scientific and engineering applications often require multi-institutional collaboration, large-scale resource sharing, wide-area communication, etc. Applications executing in such systems inevitably encounter different types of failures such as hardware failure, program failure, and storage failure. One way of taking failures into account is to employ a reliable scheduling algorithm. However, most existing Grid scheduling algorithms do not adequately consider the reliability requirements of an application. In recognition of this problem, we design a hierarchical reliability-driven scheduling architecture that includes both a local scheduler and a global scheduler. The local scheduler aims to effectively measure task reliability of an application in a Grid virtual node and incorporate the precedence constrained tasks’ reliability overhead into a heuristic scheduling algorithm. In the global scheduler, we propose a hierarchical reliability-driven scheduling algorithm based on quantitative evaluation of independent application reliability. Our experiments, based on both randomly generated graphs and the graphs of some real applications, show that our hierarchical scheduling algorithm performs much better than the existing scheduling algorithms in terms of system reliability, schedule length, and speedup.     

Integrated well pad development scheduling with steam injection control in steam-assisted gravity drainage

In this paper, we study the problem of integrated well pad development scheduling with nonlinear model predictive control based steam injection in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). The scheduling problem has been modeled as a mixed-integer program to find optimal development sequence and timing of multiple well-pads. Model predictive control problems are solved to find optimal steam injection profile such that the reservoir is under control. The integrated problem is solved using open-loop and closed-loop methods: (1) scheduling problem is only solved at the beginning of project operation, (2) Scheduling problem is solved every year with shrinking horizon implementation, and (3) shrinking horizon implementation of scheduling with reservoir model update based on feedback from control level. Simulation results demonstrate the benefits of closed-loop integrated scheduling and control: the NPV increase is 19%.     

An optimization-based decision support system for ship scheduling

The bulk carriers in the world merchant fleet typically operate full between a loading and discharging port, then run empty until they reach the next loading port. The shipping rates of bulk trades are set on supply/demand bases and fluctuate considerably. Thus the proper scheduling of ships in bulk trade has the great potential of improving the owner's profit and economic performance of shipping. This paper considers an optimization-based Decision Support System for ship scheduling. The typical optimization models for scheduling the ships are briefly reviewed and classified by the underlying idea. Then a prototype MoDiSS(Model-based SS in Ship Scheduling) which is based on a set-packing model has been developed on PC base with proper GUI. The performance of the system has been tested and examined using various ship scheduling scenarios and thereby the effectiveness of the system is validated satisfactorily.     

基于移动Agent的分布式入侵检测系统设计与实现

针对目前入侵检测系统的不足,提出了一种基于移动Agent的分布式入侵检测系统模型,设计并实现了一个基于该模型的入侵检测系统MABDIDS。系统在设计上采用分层和网络混合的体系结构,有效解决了集中处理数据所带来的网络负载问题;通过在关键节点间建立网状结构,能够较好地解决入侵检测系统存在的单点失效问题。实验结果表明所设计的系统能够对大型分布式网络进行有效的入侵检测。     

Intelligent robotic control

A theoretical approach is developed to deal with man-machine interactive systems requiring advanced decision making in unpredictable environments. The hierarchical method consists of a three-layer control of "increasing intelligence and decreasing precision." The lowest level consists of several controllers designed for effective control with existing hardware using an approximation theory of optimal control. The next level is that of a coordinator which utilizes new computer architectures to effectively control the overall hardware system. The highest level is the organizer which supervises the performance of the overall system. Both highest levels are computer implemented and the research involved is in developing the appropriate architecture and software to accommodate others. The lowest level, aimed for end-point control tasks, is dominated by typical hardware control methods. The coexistence of the two approaches makes the method novel. Application of intelligent control techniques to robotics and manipulative systems is considered.     

Achieving fair service with a hybrid scheduling scheme for CICQ switches

Providing performance guarantees for arriving traffic flows has become an important measure for today’s routing and switching systems. However, none of current scheduling algorithms built on CICQ (combined input and cross-point buffered) switches can provide flow level performance guarantees. Aiming at meeting this requirement, the feasibility of implementing flow level scheduling is discussed thoroughly. Then, based on the discussion, it comes up with a hybrid and stratified fair scheduling (HSFS) scheme, which is hierarchical and hybrid, for CICQ switches. With HSFS, each input port and output port can schedule variable length packets independently with a complexity of O(1). Theoretical analysis show that HSFS can provide delay bound, service rate and fair performance guarantees without speedup. Finally, we implement HSFS in SPES (switch performance evaluation system) to verify the analytical results.     

A Hierarchical Architecture for QoS Guarantees and Routing in Wireless/Mobile Networks

This paper addresses the problem of providing quality of service (QoS) support and routing for wireless networks in the presence of user mobility. The proposed architecture is hierarchical where cells (the basic region of mobile coverage) are organized into QoS/routing domains. The QoS mechanism is based on our earlier work, which follows the integrated services approach with reservation protocol and class-based queueing used for signaling and scheduling, respectively. The routing mechanism proposed in this paper is integrated with the above QoS mechanism and uses a combination of mobile IP, fast route table updates, and proxy address resolution protocol. The architecture and mechanisms have been implemented in a wireless and mobile test bed that uses Lucent WaveLAN cards. Experimental results from this test bed are presented to show the validity of the architecture and to discuss basic system performance.     

Mathematical modeling and heuristic approaches to flexible job shop scheduling problems

Scheduling for the flexible job shop is very important in both fields of production management and combinatorial optimization. However, it is quite difficult to achieve an optimal solution to this problem in medium and actual size problem with traditional optimization approaches owing to the high computational complexity. For solving the realistic case with more than two jobs, two types of approaches have been used: hierarchical approaches and integrated approaches. In hierarchical approaches assignment of operations to machines and the sequencing of operations on the resources or machines are treated separately, i.e., assignment and sequencing are considered independently, where in integrated approaches, assignment and sequencing are not differentiated. In this paper, a mathematical model and heuristic approaches for flexible job shop scheduling problems (FJSP) are considered. Mathematical model is used to achieve optimal solution for small size problems. Since FJSP is NP-hard problem, two heuristics approaches involve of integrated and hierarchical approaches are developed to solve the real size problems. Six different hybrid searching structures depending on used searching approach and heuristics are presented in this paper. Numerical experiments are used to evaluate the performance of the developed algorithms. It is concluded that, the hierarchical algorithms have better performance than integrated algorithms and the algorithm which use tabu search and simulated annealing heuristics for assignment and sequencing problems consecutively is more suitable than the other algorithms. Also the numerical experiments validate the quality of the proposed algorithms.     

基于遗传算法的动态资源调度问题研究

建立了无人作战飞机任务规划问题的数学模型，提出了分层递阶的任务规划系统结构．针对任务规划的核心资源调度问题，设计了基于遗传算法的动态资源调度算法，有效地解决了多无人作战飞机的资源调度问题，计算结果表明了算法的有效性．     

Combined mathematical programming and heuristics for a radiotherapy pre-treatment scheduling problem

Demand for radiotherapy treatment services has increased due to higher cancer incidence, ageing population, and a larger number of prescribed radiotherapy fractions. This higher demand can, in turn, produce longer waiting times for radiotherapy treatment. We introduce a real-world radiotherapy pre-treatment scheduling problem at a hospital in the UK. This scheduling problem is modelled as an optimisation problem with multiple objectives. The objectives are hierarchical, thus the solution approach is based on solving a series of single-objective optimisation scheduling problems. Each of these problems is formulated as a mathematical programming model. Dispatching rules were introduced to produce an initial solution for the mathematical programming model. Their performance is compared to the mathematical programming approach.     

基于遗传算法的应急物资分层联动调度研究

本文提出了在多物资、多车型特征的应急物资分层调度情况下求解调度系统中各运输工具具体调度方案的算法。该算法以系统调度任务完成时间最小为目标,基于遗传算法采用整体联动的求解思想。实际问题中的调度问题往往具有本文所提出的层次性,针对物资分层联动调度问题,本文给出了物资两层调度的算例,并建立了相应的数学模型,算例中第一层调度系统由一级仓库、二级仓库、一级运输工具和一级路网构成;第二层调度系统由灾害点、二级仓库、二级运输工具和二级路网构成,将两层调度系统视作整体,采用基于遗传算法的整体联动求解方法对算例进行求解得出结果,并对结果进行分析论证,验证算法的可行性与有效性。