Approximation Algorithms for Mixed, Windy, and Capacitated Arc Routing Problems

We show that any alpha(n)-approximation algorithm for the n-vertex metric asymmetric Traveling Salesperson problem yields O(alpha(C))-approximation algorithms for various mixed, windy, and capacitated arc routing problems. Herein, C is the number of weakly-connected components in the subgraph induced by the positive-demand arcs, a number that can be expected to be small in applications. In conjunction with known results, we derive constant-factor approximations if C is in O(log n) and O(log(C)/log(log(C)))-approximations in general

New Heuristic Algorithms for the Windy Rural Postman Problem

[EN] In this paper we deal with the windy rural postman problem. This problem generalizes several important arc routing problems and has interesting real-life applications. Here, we present several heuristics whose study has lead to the design of a scatter search algorithm for the windy rural postman problem. Extensive computational experiments over different sets of instances, with sizes up to 988 nodes and 3952 edges, are also presented. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Benavent, E.; Corberán, A.; Piñana, E.; Plana. I.; Sanchís Llopis, JM. (2005). New Heuristic Algorithms for the Windy Rural Postman Problem. Computers & Operations Research. 32(12):3111-3128. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2004.04.007S31113128321

09261 Abstracts Collection -- Models and Algorithms for Optimization in Logistics

From June 21 to June 26, 2009 the Dagstuhl Seminar Perspectives Workshop 09261 ``Models and Algorithms for Optimization in Logistics \u27\u27 was held in Schloss Dagstuhl~--~Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

A Balanced Route Design for Min-Max Multiple-Depot Rural Postman Problem (MMMDRPP): a police patrolling case

Providing distributed services on road networks is an essential concern for many applications, such as mail delivery, logistics and police patrolling. Designing effective and balanced routes for these applications is challenging, especially when involving multiple postmen from distinct depots. In this research, we formulate this routing problem as a Min-Max Multiple-Depot Rural Postman Problem (MMMDRPP). To solve this routing problem, we develop an efficient tabu-search-based algorithm and propose three novel lower bounds to evaluate the routes. To demonstrate its practical usefulness, we show how to formulate the route design for police patrolling in London as an MMMDRPP and generate balanced routes using the proposed algorithm. Furthermore, the algorithm is tested on multiple adapted benchmark problems. The results demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithm in generating balanced routes

Efficient routing of snow removal vehicles

This research addresses the problem of finding a minimum cost set of routes for vehicles in a road network subject to some constraints. Extensions, such as multiple service requirements, and mixed networks have been considered. Variations of this problem exist in many practical applications such as snow removal, refuse collection, mail delivery, etc. An exact algorithm was developed using integer programming to solve small size problems. Since the problem is NP-hard, a heuristic algorithm needs to be developed. An algorithm was developed based on the Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) heuristic, in which each replication consists of applying a construction heuristic to find feasible and good quality solutions, followed by a local search heuristic. A simulated annealing heuristic was developed to improve the solutions obtained from the construction heuristic. The best overall solution was selected from the results of several replications. The heuristic was tested on four sets of problem instances (total of 115 instances) obtained from the literature. The simulated annealing heuristic was able to achieve average improvements of up to 26.36% over the construction results on these problem instances. The results obtained with the developed heuristic were compared to the results obtained with recent heuristics developed by other authors. The developed heuristic improved the best-known solution found by other authors on 18 of the 115 instances and matched the results on 89 of those instances. It worked specially better with larger problems. The average deviations to known lower bounds for all four datasets were found to range between 0.21 and 2.61%

An updated annotated bibliography on arc routing problems

The number of arc routing publications has increased significantly in the last decade. Such an increase justifies a second annotated bibliography, a sequel to Corberán and Prins (Networks 56 (2010), 50–69), discussing arc routing studies from 2010 onwards. These studies are grouped into three main sections: single vehicle problems, multiple vehicle problems and applications. Each main section catalogs problems according to their specifics. Section 2 is therefore composed of four subsections, namely: the Chinese Postman Problem, the Rural Postman Problem, the General Routing Problem (GRP) and Arc Routing Problems (ARPs) with profits. Section 3, devoted to the multiple vehicle case, begins with three subsections on the Capacitated Arc Routing Problem (CARP) and then delves into several variants of multiple ARPs, ending with GRPs and problems with profits. Section 4 is devoted to applications, including distribution and collection routes, outdoor activities, post-disaster operations, road cleaning and marking. As new applications emerge and existing applications continue to be used and adapted, the future of arc routing research looks promising.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio