Guest Editorial Special Section on Advances in Automation and Optimization for Sustainable Transportation and Energy Systems

This special section of the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE) focuses on new models, methods, and technologies for energy efficiency and sustainability in transportation and energy systems. In this section, the focus is thus on articles considering sustainable transportation, such as electric vehicles (EVs), integrated with the smart grid requirements. As guest editors, we are very pleased to present the selected 12 papers, whose topics are specifically related to optimal planning of charging stations (CSs), sustainable transportation and mobility, EVs integration in smart grids, reliability, reduction of consumption, demand response and smart grid modeling, optimal scheduling, routing and charging of fleets of EVs, as well as smart parkin

A Tabu Search Based Metaheuristic for Dynamic Carpooling Optimization

International audienceThe carpooling problem consists in matching a set of riders' requests with a set of drivers' offers by synchronizing their origins, destinations and time windows. The paper presents the so-called Dynamic Carpooling Optimization System (DyCOS), a system which supports the automatic and optimal ridematching process between users on very short notice or even en-route. Nowadays, there are numerous research contributions that revolve around the carpooling problem, notably in the dynamic context. However, the problem's high complexity and the real time aspect are still challenges to overcome when addressing dynamic carpooling. To counter these issues, DyCOS takes decisions using a novel Tabu Search based metaheuristic. The proposed algorithm employs an explicit memory system and several original searching strategies developed to make optimal decisions automatically. To increase users' satisfaction, the proposed metaheuristic approach manages the transfer process and includes the possibility to drop off the passenger at a given walking distance from his destination or at a transfer node. In addition, the detour concept is used as an original aspiration process, to avoid the entrapment by local solutions and improve the generated solution. For a rigorous assessment of generated solutions , while considering the importance and interaction among the optimization criteria, the algorithm adopts the Choquet integral operator as an aggregation approach. To measure the effectiveness of the proposed method, we develop a simulation environment based on actual carpooling demand data from the metropolitan area of Lille in the north of France

A Control Strategy for Smart Energy Charging of Warehouse Material Handling Equipment

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A coloured petri net models for automated storage and retrieval systems serviced by rail-guided vehicles: a control perspective

Abstract-An Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) automatically stores incoming material and retrieves stored parts with no direct human handling. This paper proposes a modular and unified modelling framework for heterogeneous automated storage and retrieval systems, comprising rail guided vehicles and narrow aisle cranes. We employ coloured timed Petri nets, representing a concise and computationally efficient tool for modelling the system dynamic behaviour, particularly suitable for real time control implementation. Indeed, the model can be utilized in a discrete event simulation to apply control policies in order to solve scheduling problems, as well as to avoid deadlock and collision occurrences

A metamodelling approach for performance evaluation of intermodal transportation networks

The paper proposes a metamodelling procedure devoted to provide a reference model to be used by decision makers in the performance evaluation of Intermodal Transportation Network (ITN). In order to obtain a generic model describing a nonspecific ITN from the structural and behavioural point of view, the metamodelling approach consists in applying a top down and modular procedure. The model is specified by the well known Unified Modelling Language (UML), a graphic and textual modelling formalism intended to describe systems from structural and dynamics viewpoints. Hence, the paper models a generic ITN starting from the network description and shows by a case study the metamodel of one of the most important nodes that compose it: the port subsystem. Moreover, the case study model is translated in a simulation software and the performance measures obtained by the simulation results are shown

Parcel delivery with drones: multi-criteria analysis of trendy system architectures

New technologies, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), are transforming facilities and vehicles into intelligent systems that will significantly modify logistic deliveries in any organization. With the appearance of automated vehicles, drones offer multiple new technological solutions that might trigger different delivery networks or boost new delivery services. Differently from the related works, where a single specific delivery system model is typically addressed, this paper deals with the use of UAVs for logistic deliveries focusing on a multi-criteria analysis of trendy drone-based system architectures. In particular, using the cross-efficiency Data Envelopment Analysis approach, a comparative analysis among three different delivery systems is performed: the classic system based on trucks only, the drone-only system using a fleet of drones, and the hybrid truck and drone system combining trucks and drones. The proposed technique constitutes an effective decision-making tool aimed at helping delivery companies in selecting the optimal delivery system architecture according to their specific needs. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is shown by a simulation analysis based on a realistic data case study that pertains to the main logistic service providers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio