Multiobjective Scheduling of Logistics UAVs Based on Variable Neighborhood Search

This study focuses on the issue of logistics Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) distribution in urban environment and an automatic delivery system to support the delivery of packages. It can effectively integrate existing facilities and be easily deployed. There is a scheduling problem in this system wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yixuan Li, Xiaoxiang Yuan, Jie Zhu, Haiping Huang, Min Wu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-05-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/10/3575
Description
Summary:This study focuses on the issue of logistics Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) distribution in urban environment and an automatic delivery system to support the delivery of packages. It can effectively integrate existing facilities and be easily deployed. There is a scheduling problem in this system with multiple UAVs and multiple flights. We manage to optimize the two objectives of customer satisfaction and total completion time. The scheduling problem is formulated to a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP), and we propose a multiple objectives decision-making method. A special encoding method suitable for the small scale problem is presented and Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) algorithm framework is used to generate the approximate optimal solution for this problem. In experiments, we calibrate the important parameter and analyze the robustness of the algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithms are efficient for this problem.
ISSN:2076-3417