A hybrid genetic-heuristic algorithm for scheduling of automated guided vehicles and quay cranes in automated container terminals

Containers have been used in past decades increasingly as one of the most important transportation tools. Containers have revolutionized cargo shipping and thus changed the world trade systematically. Container terminals as the transhipment facility play a valuable role in performance of this transportation system. Improvement of this facility has been widely considered in literatures. Automated container terminals (ACTs) have been introduced to pursue this purpose. In ACTs various transport vehicles are automated and integrated to each other. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are used in ACTs to handle containers between quay cranes and storage yards. Usually scheduling of the AGVs is known as the key factor to improve the performance of ACTs. This paper proposed a heuristic algorithm to schedule the AGVs concurrently with quay cranes. A genetic algorithm is proposed to optimize the simultaneous scheduling of AGVs and QCs. The results showed that proposed genetic algorithm can be used in practical implications while its running time is reasonably low.

[1]  W. C. Ng,et al.  Crane scheduling in container yards with inter-crane interference , 2005, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[2]  Kap Hwan Kim,et al.  Deadlock prevention for automated guided vehicles in automated container terminals , 2006, OR Spectr..

[3]  Petros A. Ioannou,et al.  A comparison of different AGV dispatching rules in an automated container terminal , 2002, Proceedings. The IEEE 5th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems.

[4]  Ling Qiu,et al.  Scheduling and routing algorithms for AGVs: A survey , 2002 .

[5]  Napsiah Ismail,et al.  A STATISTICAL MODEL FOR EXPECTED CYCLE TIME OF SP-AS/RS: AN APPLICATION OF MONTE CARLO SIMULATION , 2008, Appl. Artif. Intell..

[6]  Christine M. Anderson-Cook.  Practical Genetic Algorithms (2nd ed.): Randy L. Haupt and Sue Ellen Haupt , 2005 .

[7]  Kees Jan Roodbergen,et al.  Determination of the number of AGVs in a semi-automated container terminal , 2001 .

[8]  Matthias Lehmann,et al.  Dispatching multi-load AGVs in highly automated seaport container terminals , 2004, OR Spectr..

[9]  Iris F. A. Vis,et al.  Comparison of vehicle types at an automated container terminal , 2004 .

[10]  Joseph J. M. Evers,et al.  Automated guided vehicle traffic control at a container terminal , 1996 .

[11]  Henry Y. K. Lau,et al.  Integrated scheduling of handling equipment at automated container terminals , 2008, Ann. Oper. Res..

[12]  Randy L. Haupt,et al.  Practical Genetic Algorithms , 1998 .

[13]  Kap Hwan Kim,et al.  A crane scheduling method for port container terminals , 2004, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[14]  Lazar N Spasovic,et al.  Scheduling material handling vehicles in a container terminal , 2003 .

[15]  Stefan Voß,et al.  Container terminal operation and operations research - a classification and literature review , 2004, OR Spectr..

[16]  Iris F. A. Vis,et al.  Survey of research in the design and control of automated guided vehicle systems , 2006, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[17]  Chung-Piaw Teo,et al.  Dispatching Automated Guided Vehicles in a Container Terminal , 2005 .