A Monotone Approximate Dynamic Programming Approach for the Stochastic Scheduling, Allocation, and Inventory Replenishment Problem: Applications to Drone and Electric Vehicle Battery Swap Stations

There is a growing interest in using electric vehicles (EVs) and drones for many applications. However, battery-oriented issues, including range anxiety and battery degradation, impede adoption. Battery swap stations are one alternative to reduce these concerns that allow the swap of depleted for full batteries in minutes. The authors consider the problem of deriving actions at a battery swap station when explicitly considering the uncertain arrival of swap demand, battery degradation, and replacement. The authors model the operations at a battery swap station using a finite horizon Markov decision process model for the stochastic scheduling, allocation, and inventory replenishment problem (SAIRP), which determines when and how many batteries are charged, discharged, and replaced over time. The authors present theoretical proofs for the monotonicity of the value function and monotone structure of an optimal policy for special SAIRP cases. Because of the curses of dimensionality, the authors develop a new monotone approximate dynamic programming (ADP) method, which intelligently initializes a value function approximation using regression. In computational tests, the authors demonstrate the superior performance of the new regression-based monotone ADP method compared with exact methods and other monotone ADP methods. Furthermore, with the tests, the authors deduce policy insights for drone swap stations.

• Record URL:
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2021.1108
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1767714
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstracts reprinted with permission of INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, http://www.informs.org).
• Authors:
  • Asadi, Amin
  • Pinkley, Sarah Nurre
• Publication Date: 2022-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 1085-1110
• Serial:
  • Transportation Science
  • Volume: 56
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
  • ISSN: 0041-1655
  • Serial URL: http://transci.journal.informs.org/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Drones; Dynamic programming; Electric batteries; Electric vehicles; Inventory; Operations; Scheduling; Service stations
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Energy; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Terminals and Facilities; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01857492
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 12 2022 10:24AM