FORMALISING AN AGENT-BASED CONTAINER STACKING MODEL VIA PETRI NETS

Abstract Within the frame of combinatorial optimisation problem solving, particularly the one that concern scheduling in fluvial and maritime transport domain, we are interested in quay management of fluvial ports and precisely in the activity of loading of ISO containers within a barge. First, we present a multi-agent model dedicated to the stacking of containers while minimizing the number of done movements. Then, we propose an associated formalisation using Coloured Petri Nets. Such formalism is developed and is visualized via the environment software CPN-Tools. Finally, the use of such a formal method to express a multi - agent model for this class of problems will be briefly discussed.

[1]  Iris F. A. Vis,et al.  Transshipment of containers at a container terminal: An overview , 2003, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[2]  Kurt Jensen,et al.  A Brief Introduction to Coloured Petri Nets , 1997, TACAS.

[3]  Jacques Ferber,et al.  Les Systèmes multi-agents: vers une intelligence collective , 1995 .

[4]  Kap Hwan Kim,et al.  Re-marshaling export containers in port container terminals , 1998 .

[5]  Carlos Carrascosa,et al.  A Multi-Agent System for the Automation of a Port Container Terminal , 2000 .

[6]  Kap Hwan Kim,et al.  THE OPTIMAL SIZING OF THE STORAGE SPACE AND HANDLING FACILITIES FOR IMPORT CONTAINERS , 2002 .

[7]  Jaap A. Ottjes,et al.  A SIMULATION MODEL FOR INTEGRATING QUAY TRANSPORT AND STACKING POLICIES ON AUTOMATED CONTAINER TERMINALS , 2001 .

[8]  Erhan Kozan,et al.  Genetic algorithms to schedule container transfers at multimodal terminals , 1999 .

[9]  Tadao Murata,et al.  Petri nets: Properties, analysis and applications , 1989, Proc. IEEE.

[10]  Munindar P. Singh,et al.  Formal methods in DAI: logic-based representation and reasoning , 1999 .

[11]  Jacques Ferber.  Computational reflection in class based object-oriented languages , 1989, OOPSLA 1989.

[12]  Kap Hwan Kim,et al.  Deriving decision rules to locate export containers in container yards , 2000, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[13]  Khaled Ghédira,et al.  A Multi-Agent Model for the Resource Allocation Problem: A Reactive Approach , 1992, ECAI.

[14]  Luca Maria Gambardella,et al.  Simulation and Planning of an Intermodal Container Terminal , 1998, Simul..

[15]  Ouajdi Korbaa,et al.  Container assignment to stock in a fluvial port , 2004, 2004 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37583).