Optimal team deployment in urban search and rescue

The problem of optimally deploying urban search and rescue (USAR) teams to disaster sites in post-disaster circumstances is formulated as a multistage stochastic program (MSP). A portion of sites requiring assistance arrive dynamically over the decision horizon and key problem characteristics are known only with uncertainty a priori. The problem seeks to identify a set of tours for USAR teams so as to maximize the total expected number of people that can be saved by attending to all or a subset of disaster sites within the disaster region. Decisions are taken dynamically over the decision horizon as situational awareness improves and survival likelihood diminishes with the aim of increasing the expected number of saved lives. To overcome the expensive computational effort associated with solving a MSP, a column generation-based strategy that consists of solving a series of interrelated two-stage stochastic programs with recourse within a shrinking time horizon is developed.

[1]  G. Nemhauser,et al.  Integer Programming , 2020 .

[2]  Elise Miller-Hooks,et al.  Scheduling technicians for planned maintenance of geographically distributed equipment , 2007 .

[3]  Warren B. Powell,et al.  An Algorithm for Multistage Dynamic Networks with Random Arc Capacities, with an Application to Dynamic Fleet Management , 1996, Oper. Res..

[4]  Zhi-Long Chen,et al.  Dynamic Column Generation for Dynamic Vehicle Routing with Time Windows , 2006, Transp. Sci..

[5]  R. Kevin Wood,et al.  Solving a class of stochastic mixed-integer programs with branch and price , 2006, Math. Program..

[6]  Russell Bent,et al.  Scenario-Based Planning for Partially Dynamic Vehicle Routing with Stochastic Customers , 2004, Oper. Res..

[7]  Matthias Butenuth,et al.  Trafficability analysis after flooding in urban areas using probabilistic graphical models , 2011, 2011 Joint Urban Remote Sensing Event.

[8]  Martin W. P. Savelsbergh,et al.  Branch-and-Price: Column Generation for Solving Huge Integer Programs , 1998, Oper. Res..

[9]  Stuart P. D. Gill,et al.  Geospatial Disaster Response during the Haiti Earthquake: A Case Study Spanning Airborne Deployment, Data Collection, Transfer, Processing, and Dissemination , 2011 .

[10]  Dimitris Bertsimas,et al.  Stochastic and Dynamic Vehicle Routing in the Euclidean Plane with Multiple Capacitated Vehicles , 1993, Oper. Res..

[11]  John R. Birge,et al.  Introduction to Stochastic programming (2nd edition), Springer verlag, New York , 2011 .

[12]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  DYNAMIC VEHICLE ROUTING AND DISPATCHING , 1998 .

[13]  E. Noji,et al.  The Public Health Consequences of Disasters , 2000, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine.

[14]  David Alexander,et al.  Principles of Emergency Planning and Management , 2002 .

[15]  Martin W. P. Savelsbergh,et al.  Drive: Dynamic Routing of Independent Vehicles , 1998, Oper. Res..

[16]  Yong Min Wang.  A Column Generation Approach for Stochastic Optimization Problems , 2009 .

[17]  Stein W. Wallace.  Algorithms and model formulations in mathematical programming , 1989 .

[18]  P. Shi,et al.  The 2011 eastern Japan great earthquake disaster: Overview and comments , 2011 .

[19]  Dirk Van Oudheusden,et al.  The orienteering problem: A survey , 2011, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[20]  Yingjie Jin,et al.  Building damage in Dujiangyan during Wenchuan Earthquake , 2008 .

[21]  Jiuh-Biing Sheu,et al.  An emergency logistics distribution approach for quick response to urgent relief demand in disasters , 2007 .

[22]  William S. Havens,et al.  Generating Random Dynamic Resource Scheduling Problems , 2008 .

[23]  David Simchi-Levi,et al.  A New Generation of Vehicle Routing Research: Robust Algorithms, Addressing Uncertainty , 1996, Oper. Res..

[24]  Roberto Musmanno,et al.  Real-time vehicle routing: Solution concepts, algorithms and parallel computing strategies , 2003, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[25]  C. V. Anderson,et al.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) , 2002 .

[26]  Lijian Chen,et al.  Re-solving stochastic programming models for airline revenue management , 2010, Ann. Oper. Res..

[27]  D. Bertsimas,et al.  STOCHASTIC AND DYNAMIC VEHICLE ROUTING PROBLEM IN THE EUCLIDEAN PLANE WITH MULTIPLE CAPACITATED VEHICLES. , 1993 .

[28]  Robert A. Olson,et al.  Urban Heavy Rescue , 1987 .

[29]  William L. Cooper.  Asymptotic Behavior of an Allocation Policy for Revenue Management , 2002, Oper. Res..

[30]  Dimitris Bertsimas,et al.  A Stochastic and Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem in the Euclidean Plane , 1991, Oper. Res..

[31]  Ellis L. Johnson.  Modelling and strong linear programs for mixed integer programming , 1989 .

[32]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  Exploiting Knowledge About Future Demands for Real-Time Vehicle Dispatching , 2006, Transp. Sci..

[33]  Hitoshi Saji,et al.  Estimation of earthquake damage from aerial images by probabilistic method , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[34]  Michel Gendreau,et al.  The orienteering problem with stochastic travel and service times , 2011, Ann. Oper. Res..

[35]  Hani S. Mahmassani,et al.  Local Optimization Approaches to Solve Dynamic Commercial Fleet Management Problems , 2000 .

[36]  Jiuh-Biing Sheu,et al.  Dynamic Relief-Demand Management for Emergency Logistics Operations Under Large-Scale Disasters , 2010 .

[37]  Anton J. Kleywegt,et al.  The Dynamic and Stochastic Knapsack Problem , 1998, Oper. Res..

[38]  Judith Mitrani-Reiser,et al.  AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION: PROBABILISTIC LOSS ESTIMATION FOR PERFORMANCE - BASED EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING , 2007 .

[39]  George L. Nemhauser,et al.  Airline Crew Scheduling Under Uncertainty , 2005, Transp. Sci..

[40]  John R. Birge,et al.  Introduction to Stochastic Programming , 1997 .

[41]  Fritz Gehbauer,et al.  Optimized resource allocation for emergency response after earthquake disasters , 2000 .

[42]  E. Erkut,et al.  The maximum collection problem with time-dependent rewards , 1996 .

[43]  Edward P. C. Kao,et al.  A Preference Order Dynamic Program for a Stochastic Traveling Salesman Problem , 1978, Oper. Res..

[44]  Keith Porter,et al.  An Overview of PEER's Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering Methodology , 2003 .