Stochastic techniques for vehicle routing problems

Vehicle routing problems (VRPs) are resource management problems where the aim is to use the limited number of resources to a large number of jobs so that a maximum number of jobs can be completed with minimum cost. These problems are made complicated by the inclusion of temporal and technological constraints. These problems belong to the class of nondeterministic polynominal-time complete (NP) problems. This paper describes the application of stochastic techniques, namely simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA), to solve VRPs. It is found empirically that SA gives better results than GA for all randomly generated under-, critically- and over-resourced VRPs in almost all cases.     

Waste collection vehicle routing problem with time windows

In this paper, we address a real life waste collection vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) with consideration of multiple disposal trips and drivers’ lunch breaks. Solomon's well-known insertion algorithm is extended for the problem. While minimizing the number of vehicles and total traveling time is the major objective of vehicle routing problems in the literature, here we also consider the route compactness and workload balancing of a solution since they are very important aspects in practical applications. In order to improve the route compactness and workload balancing, a capacitated clustering-based waste collection VRPTW algorithm is developed. The proposed algorithms have been successfully implemented and deployed for the real life waste collection problems at Waste Management, Inc. A set of waste collection VRPTW benchmark problems is also presented in this paper.Waste collection problems are frequently considered as arc routing problems without time windows. However, that point of view can be applied only to residential waste collection problems. In the waste collection industry, there are three major areas: commercial waste collection, residential waste collection and roll-on-roll-off. In this paper, we mainly focus on the commercial waste collection problem. The problem can be characterized as a variant of VRPTW since commercial waste collection stops may have time windows. The major variation from a standard VRPTW is due to disposal operations and driver's lunch break. When a vehicle is full, it needs to go to one of the disposal facilities (landfill or transfer station). Each vehicle can, and typically does, make multiple disposal trips per day. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the waste collection VRPTW, benchmark problem sets, and a solution approach for the problem. The proposed algorithms have been successfully implemented and deployed for the real life waste collection problems of Waste Management, the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America with nearly 26,000 collection and transfer vehicles.     

A hybrid variable neighborhood tabu search heuristic for the vehicle routing problem with multiple time windows

This paper presents a new hybrid variable neighborhood-tabu search heuristic for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Multiple Time windows. It also proposes a minimum backward time slack algorithm applicable to a multiple time windows environment. This algorithm records the minimum waiting time and the minimum delay during route generation and adjusts the arrival and departure times backward. The implementation of the proposed heuristic is compared to an ant colony heuristic on benchmark instances involving multiple time windows. Computational results on newly generated instances are provided.     

有时间窗车辆路径问题的捕食搜索算法

有时间窗车辆路径问题是当前物流配送系统研究中的热点问题,该问题具有NP难性质。难以求得最优解或满意解,在建立有时间窗车辆路径问题数学模型的基础上。设计了一种模仿动物捕食策略的捕食搜索算法．该算法利用控制搜索空间的限制大小来实现算法的局域搜索和全局搜索,具有良好的局部集中搜索和跳出局部最优的能力．通过实例计算,并与相关启发式算法比较．取得了满意的结果．     

A hybrid evolutionary algorithm for heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problems with time windows

This paper presents a hybrid evolutionary algorithm (HEA) to solve heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problems with time windows. There are two main types of such problems, namely the fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem with time windows (F) and the heterogeneous fixed fleet vehicle routing problem with time windows (H), where the latter, in contrast to the former, assumes a limited availability of vehicles. The main objective is to minimize the fixed vehicle cost and the distribution cost, where the latter can be defined with respect to en-route time (T) or distance (D). The proposed unified algorithm is able to solve the four variants of heterogeneous fleet routing problem, called FT, FD, HT and HD, where the last variant is new. The HEA successfully combines several metaheuristics and offers a number of new advanced efficient procedures tailored to handle the heterogeneous fleet dimension. Extensive computational experiments on benchmark instances have shown that the HEA is highly effective on FT, FD and HT. In particular, out of the 360 instances we obtained 75 new best solutions and matched 102 within reasonable computational times. New benchmark results on HD are also presented.     

Site dependent vehicle routing problem with soft time window: Modeling and solution approach

This paper presents two meta-heuristic algorithms, an ant colony system with local searches and a tabu search algorithm, for Site-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problem with Soft Time Window (SDVRPSTW). In the SDVRPSTW a fleet of vehicles must deliver goods to their allowable set of customers, preferably in their time windows while the capacity constraints of the vehicles must be respected. Based on our best knowledge, this problem which challenges the distribution task of public services and private organizations in an urban context with heavy traffic has not yet been considered in practical aspects, especially where the vehicles entrance to some areas needs traffic license. Hence, in addition to present an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) model, we present the two mentioned algorithms to handle the problem in large scale instances. Furthermore, the algorithms efficiency and their optimality are analyzed by experimental results both in small and large dimensions.     

Dynamic vehicle routing using genetic algorithms

Many difficult combinatorial optimization problems have been modeled as static problems. However, in practice, many problems are dynamic and changing, while some decisions have to be made before all the design data are known. For example, in the Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem (DVRP), new customer orders appear over time, and new routes must be reconfigured while executing the current solution. Montemanni et al. [1] considered a DVRP as an extension to the standard vehicle routing problem (VRP) by decomposing a DVRP as a sequence of static VRPs, and then solving them with an ant colony system (ACS) algorithm. This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA) methodology for providing solutions for the DVRP model employed in [1]. The effectiveness of the proposed GA is evaluated using a set of benchmarks found in the literature. Compared with a tabu search approach implemented herein and the aforementioned ACS, the proposed GA methodology performs better in minimizing travel costs. Franklin T. Hanshar is currently a M.Sc. student in the Department of Computing and Information Science at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He received a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from Brock University in 2005. His research interests include uncertain reasoning, optimization and evolutionary computation. Beatrice Ombuki-Berman is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Brock University, Ontario, Canada. She obtained a PhD and ME in Information Engineering from University of The Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan in 2001 and 1998, respectively. She received a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Jomo Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya. Her primary research interest is evolutionary computation and applied optimization. Other research interests include neural networks, machine learning and ant colony optimization.     

Formulations and exact algorithms for the vehicle routing problem with time windows

In this paper we review the exact algorithms proposed in the last three decades for the solution of the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW). The exact algorithms for the VRPTW are in many aspects inherited from work on the traveling salesman problem (TSP). In recognition of this fact this paper is structured relative to four seminal papers concerning the formulation and exact solution of the TSP, i.e. the arc formulation, the arc-node formulation, the spanning tree formulation, and the path formulation. We give a detailed analysis of the formulations of the VRPTW and a review of the literature related to the different formulations. There are two main lines of development in relation to the exact algorithms for the VRPTW. One is concerned with the general decomposition approach and the solution to certain dual problems associated with the VRPTW. Another more recent direction is concerned with the analysis of the polyhedral structure of the VRPTW. We conclude by examining possible future lines of research in the area of the VRPTW.     

有时间窗车辆路径问题的混合智能算法

有时间窗的车辆路径问题属于组合优化领域中的NP-hard问题。在对该问题进行分析的基础上,为之建立了数学模型,提出了一种求解该问题的混合智能算法。该算法通过使用蚁群算法和遗传算法交替优化,并且及时交换信息,弥补了蚁群算法和遗传算法各自的不足,达到了优势互补的效果,增强了算法的寻优能力,避免了停滞现象。实验结果表明,该算法能有效解决有时间窗的车辆路径问题。     

Exact and heuristic algorithms for the vehicle routing problem with multiple interdependent time windows

In this paper a model and several solution procedures for a novel type of vehicle routing problems where time windows for the pickup of perishable goods depend on the dispatching policy used in the solution process are presented. This problem is referred to as Vehicle Routing Problem with multiple interdependent time windows (VRPmiTW) and is motivated by a project carried out with the Austrian Red Cross blood program to assist their logistics department. Several variants of a heuristic constructive procedure as well as a branch-and-bound based algorithm for this problem were developed and implemented. Besides finding the expected reduction in costs when compared with the current procedures of the Austrian Red Cross, the results show that the heuristic algorithms find solutions reasonably close to the optimum in fractions of a second. Another important finding is that increasing the number of pickups at selected customers beyond the theoretical minimum number of pickups yields significantly greater potential for cost reductions.     

Solving a vehicle routing problem with time windows by a decomposition technique and a genetic algorithm

The present study investigates the cost concerns of distribution centers and formulates a vehicle routing problem with time window constraints accordingly. Based on the embedded structure of the original problem, a decomposition technique is employed to decompose the original problems to a clustering problem (main problem) and a set of traveling salesman problems (sub-problems) with time window constraints. This decomposition not only reduces the problem size but also enable the use of simpler solution procedures. A genetic algorithm is developed to solve the clustering problem, while a simple heuristic algorithm is formulated to solve the set of traveling salesman problems. The solution of the original problem is obtained through iterative interactions between the main problem and the set of sub-problems. The performance of the proposed approach is compared with the well-known insertion method and a manual scheduling of a distribution center.     

有时间窗约束车辆路径问题的改进遗传算法

将遗传算法与禁忌搜索结合起来,设计了一种改进的遗传算法求解有时间窗约束车辆路径问题。采用启发式插入算法产生较优良的遗传操作初始种群,通过改进的逆转变异算子更多继承父代的优良性能,以提高遗传算法的计算效率。引入海明距评估遗传进化中种群的多样性。当种群多样性低到一定程度时转入禁忌搜索,以避免遗传算法早熟的缺陷,最终实现全局优化。通过算例验证了该算法的优越性。     

A hybrid meta-heuristic for multi-objective vehicle routing problems with time windows

The Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows is an important combinatorial optimization problem consisting in the determination of the set of routes of minimum distance to deliver goods, using a fleet of identical vehicles with restricted capacity, so that vehicles must visit customers within a time frame. A large number of algorithms have been proposed to solve single-objective formulations of this problem, including meta-heuristic approaches, which provide high quality solutions in reasonable runtimes. Nevertheless, in recent years some authors have analyzed multi-objective variants that consider additional objectives to the distance travelled. This paper considers not only the minimum distance required to deliver goods, but also the workload imbalance in terms of the distances travelled by the used vehicles and their loads. Thus, MMOEASA, a Pareto-based hybrid algorithm that combines evolutionary computation and simulated annealing, is here proposed and analyzed for solving these multi-objective formulations of the VRPTW. The results obtained when solving a subset of Solomon’s benchmark problems show the good performance of this hybrid approach.     

A decomposition based memetic algorithm for multi-objective vehicle routing problem with time windows

Multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA/D) provides an excellent algorithmic framework for solving multi-objective optimization problems. It decomposes a target problem into a set of scalar sub-problems and optimizes them simultaneously. Due to its simplicity and outstanding performance, MOEA/D has been widely studied and applied. However, for solving the multi-objective vehicle routing problem with time windows (MO-VRPTW), MOEA/D faces a difficulty that many sub-problems have duplicated best solutions. It is well-known that MO-VRPTW is a challenging problem and has very few Pareto optimal solutions. To address this problem, a novel selection operator is designed in this work to enhance the original MOEA/D for dealing with MO-VRPTW. Moreover, three local search methods are introduced into the enhanced algorithm. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm can obtain highly competitive results on Solomon׳s benchmark problems. Especially for instances with long time windows, the proposed algorithm can obtain more diverse set of non-dominated solutions than the other algorithms. The effectiveness of the proposed selection operator is also demonstrated by further analysis.     

求解带硬时间窗车辆路径问题的时差插入启发式算法

针对已有求解带硬时间窗车辆路径问题时插入启发式算法结构复杂、参数多、求解效率不高的缺点,提出了求解该问题的时差插入启发式算法。该算法引入时差的概念,将时差作为启发规则的评价指标。相比已有求解该问题的经典启发式算法,该算法有参数个数少、算法结构简单等特点。应用标准测试算例测试表明,所提算法的求解质量优于Solomon的插入启发式算法和Potvin的平行插入启发式算法。     

A note on the time travel approach for handling time windows in vehicle routing problems

In this paper, we identify two cases in which the proposition for calculating time window penalties presented in Nagata, Y., Bräysy, O. and Dullaert, W. A penalty-based edge assembly memetic algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows, Computers & Operations Research 2010;37(4): 724–37 yields incorrect results. We derive the corrected proposition and use numerical studies to show that a significant proportion of the evaluations performed by a Tabu Search for VRPTW falls under the two incorrect cases. Moreover, we demonstrate that the incorrect time window handling has a significant negative impact on the solution quality of the Tabu Search.     

带时间窗车辆路径问题的多目标文化基因算法

针对物流配送中带时间窗的车辆路径问题,以最小化车辆使用数和行驶距离为目标,建立了多目标数学模型,提出了一种求解该问题的多目标文化基因算法。种群搜索采用遗传算法的进化模式和Pareto排序的选择方式,局部搜索采用禁忌搜索机制和存储池的结构,协调两者得到的Pareto非占优解的关系。与不带局部搜索的多目标遗传算法和单目标文化基因算法的对比实验表明,本文算法的求解质量较高。     

A survey of genetic algorithms for solving multi depot vehicle routing problem

This article presents a survey of genetic algorithms that are designed for solving multi depot vehicle routing problem. In this context, most of the articles focus on different genetic approaches, methods and operators, commonly used in practical applications to solve this well-known and researched problem. Besides providing an up-to-date overview of the research in the field, the results of a thorough experiment are presented and discussed, which evaluated the efficiency of different existing genetic methods on standard benchmark problems in detail. In this manner, the insights into strengths and weaknesses of specific methods, operators and settings are presented, which should help researchers and practitioners to optimize their solutions in further studies done with the similar type of the problem in mind. Finally, genetic algorithm based solutions are compared with other existing approaches, both exact and heuristic, for solving this same problem.     

Vehicle routing problem with a heterogeneous fleet and time windows

In this paper, a problem variant of the vehicle routing problem with time windows is introduced to consider vehicle routing with a heterogeneous fleet, a limited number of vehicles and time windows. A method that extends an existing tabu search procedure to solve the problem is then proposed. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, experiments are conducted on a large set of test cases, which comprises several benchmark problems from numerous problem variants of the vehicle routing problem with a heterogeneous fleet. It is observed that the proposed method can be used to give reasonably good results for these problem variants. In addition, some ideas are presented to advance the research in heuristics, such as fair reporting standards, publication of benchmark problems and executable routines developed for algorithmic comparison.     

Annealing-based heuristics and genetic algorithms for circuit partitioning in parallel test generation

In this paper simulated annealing and genetic algorithms are applied to the graph partitioning problem. These techniques mimic processes in statistical mechanics and biology, respectively, and are the most popular meta-heuristics or general-purpose optimization strategies. A hybrid algorithm for circuit partitioning, which uses tabu search to improve the simulated annealing meta-heuristics, is also proposed and compared with pure tabu search and simulated annealing algorithms, and also with a genetic algorithm. The solutions obtained are compared and evaluated by including the hybrid partitioning algorithm in a parallel test generator which is used to determine the test patterns for the circuits of the frequently used ISCAS benchmark set.