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Problem difficulty of real instances of convoy planning

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  • A L Tuson

    (City University)

  • S A Harrison

    (Dstl, Malvern Technology Centre)

Abstract

Moving men and materials in large numbers and quantities is a long-standing military problem faced by all arms. An important part of this is the routing of convoys so that they reach their correct destinations in the shortest time. The optimization problem at the heart of this problem is referred to as the convoy movement problem. Previous work on the convoy movement problem has made the assumption that the problem is difficult in practice because of the NP-hardness of the problem in combination with the limited success of early approaches based on genetic algorithms. As a result subsequent work has focused on mathematical programming-based methods, principally Lagrangian relaxation. In this paper, we demonstrate that a straightforward reformulation of the problem renders the real-world like instances, used to benchmark previous approaches, amenable to solution by simple heuristics. The main lessons learnt from this work is that analysis of the problem in conjunction with simple algorithms can, in practice, yield surprisingly effective solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • A L Tuson & S A Harrison, 2005. "Problem difficulty of real instances of convoy planning," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 56(7), pages 763-775, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jorsoc:v:56:y:2005:i:7:d:10.1057_palgrave.jors.2601863
    DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601863
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kwon, Oh Kyoung & Martland, Carl D. & Sussman, Joseph M., 1998. "Routing and scheduling temporal and heterogeneous freight car traffic on rail networks," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 101-115, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. R Gopalan & N S Narayanaswamy, 2009. "Analysis of algorithms for an online version of the convoy movement problem," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(9), pages 1230-1236, September.
    2. Bhoopalam, Anirudh Kishore & Agatz, Niels & Zuidwijk, Rob, 2018. "Planning of truck platoons: A literature review and directions for future research," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 212-228.
    3. Azar Sadeghnejad-Barkousaraie & Rajan Batta & Moises Sudit, 2017. "Convoy movement problem: a civilian perspective," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(1), pages 14-33, January.
    4. Alan J. Maniamkot & P. N. Ram Kumar & Mohan Krishnamoorthy & Hamid Mokhtar & Sridharan Rajagopalan, 2022. "Hybridised ant colony optimisation for convoy movement problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 315(2), pages 847-866, August.
    5. Leo Lopes & Kate Smith-Miles, 2013. "Generating Applicable Synthetic Instances for Branch Problems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 61(3), pages 563-577, June.
    6. Kishore Bhoopalam, A. & Agatz, N.A.H. & Zuidwijk, R.A., 2017. "Planning of Truck Platoons: a Literature Review and Directions for Future Research," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2017-010-LIS, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    7. Ram Gopalan, 2015. "Computational complexity of convoy movement planning problems," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 82(1), pages 31-60, August.
    8. Mokhtar, Hamid & Krishnamoorthy, Mohan & Dayama, Niraj Ramesh & Kumar, P.N. Ram, 2020. "New approaches for solving the convoy movement problem," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).

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    Keywords

    military; convoys; heuristics;
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