A LOOK-AHEAD DISPATCHING METHOD FOR AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLES IN AUTOMATED PORT CONTAINER TERMINALS

Different types of container handling equipment must operate harmoniously to reduce delay in ship operations in automated container terminals. Delivery operations by automated guided vehicles (AGVs) play an important role for synchronizing operations of container cranes with yard cranes. This study discusses how to dispatch AGVs by using information about locations and times of future delivery tasks. A mixed-integer programming method is provided for assigning optimal delivery tasks to AGVs. A heuristic algorithm is suggested for overcoming the excessive computational time needed for solving the mathematical model. Objective values and computational times of the heuristic algorithm are compared with those of the optimizing method. To test performances of the heuristic algorithm, a simulation study is performed by considering the uncertainties of various operation times and the number of future delivery tasks for looking ahead. Also, the performance of the heuristic algorithms is compared with those of other dispatching rules. Results show that the proposed algorithm had advantages over conventional dispatching rules in both deterministic and stochastic environments.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1767714
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)

  901 Elkridge Landing Road, Suite 400
  Linthicum, MD  United States  21090-2909
• Authors:
  • Kim, K H
  • Bae, J W
• Publication Date: 2004-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 224-234
• Serial:
  • Transportation Science
  • Volume: 38
  • Issue Number: 2
  • 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: Algorithms; Automated guided vehicle systems; Container handling; Container terminals; Cranes; Forecasting; Heuristic methods; Marine terminals; Mathematical models; Mixed integer programming; Optimization; Ship operations
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00974042
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 20 2004 12:00AM