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Most of the existing path planning methods of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are static. This paper proposes a new methodology for the path planning of a fleet of AGVs to improve the flexibility, robustness, and scalability of the AGV system. We mathematically describe the transport process as a dynamical system using an ad hoc mixed logical dynamical (MLD) model. Based on our MLD model, model predictive control is proposed to determine the collision paths dynamically, and the corresponding optimization problem is formulated as 0-1 integer linear programming. An alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM)-based decomposition technique is then developed to coordinate the AGVs and reduce the computational burden, aiming for real-time decisions. The proposed methodology is tested on industrial scenarios, and results from numerical experiments show that the proposed method can obtain high transport productivity of the multi-AGV system at a low computational burden and deal with uncertainties resulting from the industrial environment., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Transport Engineering and Logistics

Operations of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are desired to be more energy-efficient while maintaining high transport productivity, motivated by the green production requirements. This paper investigates a new energy-efficient planning problem for determining conflict-free paths of the AGVs in its transport roadmap. In this problem, the vehicle path and transport time in the roadmap are jointly optimized, based on a flexible time–space network (FTSN). We provide the mathematical problem formulation of the energy-efficient path planning problem. The resulting optimization problem is proved to be a non-convex mixed-integer nonlinear programming which is computationally intractable. We further propose a hybrid metaheuristic that integrates the genetic algorithm and estimation of the distribution algorithm to improve its computational efficiency. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the developed algorithm based on the FTSN framework, compared to the existing metaheuristics, the conventional path planning method, and a commercial solver. The proposed method has a wide application in improving energy use of material handling, providing a guiding significance on promoting cleaner production of flexible manufacturing systems., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Transport Engineering and Logistics

Energy consumption is expected to be reduced while maintaining high productivity for container handling. This paper investigates a new energy-efficient scheduling problem of automated container terminals, in which quay cranes (QCs) and lift automated guided vehicles (AGVs) cooperate to handle inbound and outbound containers. In our scheduling problem, operation times and task sequences are both to be determined. The underlying optimization problem is mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP). To deal with its computational intractability, a customized and efficient genetic algorithm (GA) is developed to solve the studied MINLP problem, and lexicographic and weighted-sum strategies are further considered. An $\epsilon $ -constraint algorithm is also developed to analyze the Pareto frontiers. Comprehensive experiments are tested on a container handling benchmark system, and the results show the effectiveness of the proposed lexicographic GA, compared to results obtained with two commonly-used metaheuristics, a commercial MINLP solver, and two state-of-the-art methods., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Transport Engineering and Logistics

Subway lines connecting different urban functional zones in large cities have direction-dependent and time-variant passenger demand, namely, asymmetry in passenger demand. Most existing studies adopt a symmetric strategy to design operations in both directions and sequentially optimize the different problems associated with operations, thereby failing to meet the asymmetry in passenger demand. This study formulates an asymmetric operation strategy as an integrated mixed-integer non-linear model to optimize the entire operational process of rolling stock from the perspective of service quality and operating costs. Based on the proposed model, an exact algorithm is proposed with speed-up techniques to quickly generate an optimal solution. To this end, the original model is decomposed into several sub-problems that can be exactly solved by using a forward dynamic programming algorithm. Based on actual data from the Beijing subway's Yizhuang line, numerical experiments are conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the asymmetric operation strategy, to identify managerial insights on the integrated optimization, and to evaluate the performance of the proposed methodology.

During railway operations, unexpected events may influence normal traffic flows. This paper focuses on a train rescheduling problem for handling large disruptions, such as a rolling stock breakdown leading to a cancelled train service, where passenger reassignment strategies have to be considered. A novel mixed-integer linear programming formulation is established with consideration of train retiming, reordering, rerouting, and reservicing (addition of extra stops). The proposed mathematical formulation considers planning extra stops for non-canceled trains in order to transport the disrupted passengers, which were supposed to travel on the canceled train, to their pre-planned destination stations. Other constraints deal with limited seat capacity and track capacity, and mapping train rescheduling with passenger reassignment. A bi-objective function is optimized by a weighted-sum method to maximize the number of disrupted passengers reaching their destination stations and to minimize the weighted total train delay for all non-canceled trains at their destinations. A series of numerical experiments based on a part of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway line is carried out to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model and to perform a sensitivity analysis of various performance factors. The results show that an optimal reassignment plan of disrupted passengers is important to achieve real-time efficiency of traffic and re-ticketing. The impact of passenger reassignment on train rescheduling is influenced by the weights for objectives, duration of disruption, allowed additional dwell and running times, and relationship between passenger demand and total available train capacity.