82,606 research outputs found
A generic method for energy-efficient and energy-cost-effective production at the unit process level
Multi-objective model for optimizing railway infrastructure asset renewal
Trabalho inspirado num problema real da empresa Infraestruturas de Portugal, EP.A multi-objective model for managing railway infrastructure asset renewal is presented. The model aims to optimize three objectives, while respecting operational constraints: levelling investment throughout multiple years, minimizing total cost and minimizing work start postponements. Its output is an optimized intervention schedule. The model is based on a case study from a Portuguese infrastructure management company, which specified the objectives and constraints, and reflects management practice on railway infrastructure. The results show that investment levelling greatly influences the other objectives and that total cost fluctuations may range from insignificant to important, depending on the condition of the infrastructure. The results structure is argued to be general and suggests a practical methodology for analysing trade-offs and selecting a solution for implementation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Persistent Monitoring of Events with Stochastic Arrivals at Multiple Stations
This paper introduces a new mobile sensor scheduling problem, involving a
single robot tasked with monitoring several events of interest that occur at
different locations. Of particular interest is the monitoring of transient
events that can not be easily forecast. Application areas range from natural
phenomena ({\em e.g.}, monitoring abnormal seismic activity around a volcano
using a ground robot) to urban activities ({\em e.g.}, monitoring early
formations of traffic congestion using an aerial robot). Motivated by those and
many other examples, this paper focuses on problems in which the precise
occurrence times of the events are unknown {\em a priori}, but statistics for
their inter-arrival times are available. The robot's task is to monitor the
events to optimize the following two objectives: {\em (i)} maximize the number
of events observed and {\em (ii)} minimize the delay between two consecutive
observations of events occurring at the same location. The paper considers the
case when a robot is tasked with optimizing the event observations in a
balanced manner, following a cyclic patrolling route. First, assuming the
cyclic ordering of stations is known, we prove the existence and uniqueness of
the optimal solution, and show that the optimal solution has desirable
convergence and robustness properties. Our constructive proof also produces an
efficient algorithm for computing the unique optimal solution with time
complexity, in which is the number of stations, with time
complexity for incrementally adding or removing stations. Except for the
algorithm, most of the analysis remains valid when the cyclic order is unknown.
We then provide a polynomial-time approximation scheme that gives a
-optimal solution for this more general, NP-hard problem
A distributed multi-agent framework for shared resources scheduling
Nowadays, manufacturers have to share some of their resources with partners due to the competitive economic environment. The management of the availability periods of shared resources causes a problem because it is achieved by the scheduling systems which assume a local environment where all resources are on the same site. Therefore, distributed scheduling with shared resources is an important research topic in recent years. In this communication, we introduce the architecture and behavior of DSCEP framework (distributed, supervisor, customer, environment, and producer) under shared resources situation with disturbances. We are using a simple example of manufacturing system to illustrate the ability of DSCEP framework to solve the shared resources scheduling problem in complex systems
Low-complexity medium access control protocols for QoS support in third-generation radio access networks
One approach to maximizing the efficiency of
medium access control (MAC) on the uplink in a future wideband
code-division multiple-access (WCDMA)-based third-generation
radio access network, and hence maximize spectral efficiency,
is to employ a low-complexity distributed scheduling control
approach. The maximization of spectral efficiency in third-generation
radio access networks is complicated by the need to
provide bandwidth-on-demand to diverse services characterized
by diverse quality of service (QoS) requirements in an interference
limited environment. However, the ability to exploit the full
potential of resource allocation algorithms in third-generation
radio access networks has been limited by the absence of a metric
that captures the two-dimensional radio resource requirement,
in terms of power and bandwidth, in the third-generation radio
access network environment, where different users may have
different signal-to-interference ratio requirements. This paper
presents a novel resource metric as a solution to this fundamental
problem. Also, a novel deadline-driven backoff procedure has
been presented as the backoff scheme of the proposed distributed
scheduling MAC protocols to enable the efficient support of
services with QoS imposed delay constraints without the need
for centralized scheduling. The main conclusion is that low-complexity
distributed scheduling control strategies using overload
avoidance/overload detection can be designed using the proposed
resource metric to give near optimal performance and thus maintain
a high spectral efficiency in third-generation radio access
networks and that importantly overload detection is superior to
overload avoidance
Automated mixed traffic vehicle control and scheduling study
The operation and the expected performance of a proposed automatic guideway transit system which uses low speed automated mixed traffic vehicles (AMTVs) were analyzed. Vehicle scheduling and headway control policies were evaluated with a transit system simulation model. The effect of mixed traffic interference on the average vehicle speed was examined with a vehicle pedestrian interface model. Control parameters regulating vehicle speed were evaluated for safe stopping and passenger comfort. Some preliminary data on the cost and operation of an experimental AMTV system are included. These data were the result of a separate task conducted at JPL, and were included as background information
Revenue Maximization in an Optical Router Node Using Multiple Wavelengths
In this paper, an optical router node with multiple wavelengths is
considered. We introduce revenue for successful transmission and study the
ensuing revenue maximization problem. We present an efficient and accurate
heuristic procedure for solving the NP-hard revenue maximization problem and
investigate the advantage offered by having multiple wavelengths
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