An efficient ant colony system based on receding horizon control for the aircraft arrival sequencing and scheduling problem

The aircraft arrival sequencing and scheduling (ASS) problem is a salient problem in air traffic control (ATC), which proves to be nondeterministic polynomial (NP) hard. This paper formulates the ASS problem in the form of a permutation problem and proposes a new solution framework that makes the first attempt at using an ant colony system (ACS) algorithm based on the receding horizon control (RHC) to solve it. The resultant RHC-improved ACS algorithm for the ASS problem (termed the RHC-ACS-ASS algorithm) is robust, effective, and efficient, not only due to that the ACS algorithm has a strong global search ability and has been proven to be suitable for these kinds of NP-hard problems but also due to that the RHC technique can divide the problem with receding time windows to reduce the computational burden and enhance the solution's quality. The RHC-ACS-ASS algorithm is extensively tested on the cases from the literatures and the cases randomly generated. Comprehensive investigations are also made for the evaluation of the influences of ACS and RHC parameters on the performance of the algorithm. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is further enhanced by using a two-opt exchange heuristic local search. Experimental results verify that the proposed RHC-ACS-ASS algorithm generally outperforms ordinary ACS without using the RHC technique and genetic algorithms (GAs) in solving the ASS problems and offers high robustness, effectiveness, and efficienc

An ant colony optimization approach for maximizing the lifetime of heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

Maximizing the lifetime of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a challenging problem. Although some methods exist to address the problem in homogeneous WSNs, research on this problem in heterogeneous WSNs have progressed at a slow pace. Inspired by the promising performance of ant colony optimization (ACO) to solve combinatorial problems, this paper proposes an ACO-based approach that can maximize the lifetime of heterogeneous WSNs. The methodology is based on finding the maximum number of disjoint connected covers that satisfy both sensing coverage and network connectivity. A construction graph is designed with each vertex denoting the assignment of a device in a subset. Based on pheromone and heuristic information, the ants seek an optimal path on the construction graph to maximize the number of connected covers. The pheromone serves as a metaphor for the search experiences in building connected covers. The heuristic information is used to reflect the desirability of device assignments. A local search procedure is designed to further improve the search efficiency. The proposed approach has been applied to a variety of heterogeneous WSNs. The results show that the approach is effective and efficient in finding high-quality solutions for maximizing the lifetime of heterogeneous WSNs

An Integrated Road Construction and Resource Planning Approach to the Evacuation of Victims From Single Source to Multiple Destinations

This paper presents our study on the emergency resource-planning problem, particularly on the development of a new approach to resource planning through contraflow techniques with consideration of the repair of damaged infrastructures. The contraflow technique is aimed at reversing traffic flows in one or more inbound lanes of a divided highway for the outbound direction. As opposed to the current literature, our approach has the following salient points: (1) simultaneous consideration of contraflow and repair of repair of roads; (2) classification of victims in terms of their problems and urgency in sending them to a safe place or place to be treated; and (3) consideration of multiple destinations for victims. A simulated experiment is also described by comparing our approach with some variations of our approach. The experimental results show that our approach can lead to a reduction in evacuation time by more than 50%, as opposed to the original resource operation on the damaged transportation network, and by about 20%, as opposed to the approach with resource replanning (only) on the damaged network. In addition, the multiobjective optimization algorithm to solve our model can be generalized to other network resource-planning problems under infrastructure damage

Heavy metal and Pb isotopic compositions of aquatic organisms in the Pearl River Estuary, South China

Author name used in this publication: C. C. M. IpAuthor name used in this publication: X. D. LiAuthor name used in this publication: G. ZhangAuthor name used in this publication: C. S. C. WongAuthor name used in this publication: W. L. Zhang2005-2006 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Modifying Epoxy Resins to Resist Both Fire and Water

In this work, we converted inherently hydrophilic and flammable epoxy resins to resist both fire and water. This was achieved by integrating surface modified flame-retardant CoFe2O4 nanoparticles into the epoxy resin. The modified CoFe2O4 nanoparticles reduce the peak heat release rate, peak smoke production release and CO production in the CoFe2O4/epoxy resin nanocomposite by 39.6, 41.6, and 61.3%, respectively. The obtained flame retardant CoFe2O4/EP items demonstrate excellent durability with constant superhydrophobicity even after high external pressure, knife-scratch, and mechanical abrasion. In addition, the obtained items demonstrate outstanding robust water-repellent properties after facing long-term exposure to extremely corrosive liquids and also show self-cleaning properties in air and under oil

Analysis of feedback mechanisms with unknown delay using sparse multivariate autoregressive method

This paper discusses the study of two interacting processes in which a feedback mechanism exists between the processes. The study was motivated by problems such as the circadian oscillation of gene expression where two interacting protein transcriptions form both negative and positive feedback loops with long delays to equilibrium. Traditionally, data of this type could be examined using autoregressive analysis. However, in circadian oscillation the order of an autoregressive model cannot be determined a priori. We propose a sparse multivariate autoregressive method that incorporates mixed linear effects into regression analysis, and uses a forward-backward greedy search algorithm to select nonzero entries in the regression coefficients, the number of which is constrained not to exceed a pre-specified number. A small simulation study provides preliminary evidence of the validity of the method. Besides the circadian oscillation example, an additional example of blood pressure variations using data from an intervention study is used to illustrate the method and the interpretation of the results obtained from the sparse matrix method. These applications demonstrate how sparse representation can be used for handling high dimensional variables that feature dynamic, reciprocal relationships

A new fast sub-optimal search method for closed-loop transmit diversity system with limited number of feedback bits

IEEE Radio and Wireless Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 19-22 September 2004In this paper, we present a fast sub-optimal searching algorithm for the closed-loop transmit diversity scheme used in wireless system. Under the low mobility condition and with perfect channel knowledge at the receiving end, our proposed searching algorithm can use a limited number of feedback bits to provide a sub-optimal solution that can achieve the SNR values close to the optimal solution with a greatly reduced complexity and outperform other sub-optimal schemes. The scheme also works well under the presence of feedback errors. © 2004 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Novel search algorithm for closed-loop transmit diversity system with limited number of feedback bits

We propose two simple closed-loop transmit diversity schemes with a fixed number of feedback bits being allocated for each transmit antenna. Under a low mobility condition and with perfect channel knowledge at the receiver, we show that our proposed schemes can achieve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values close to the optimal solution but with greatly reduced complexity. We also show that our methods outperform other suboptimal schemes such as the co-phasing method. © 2004 IEEE.published_or_final_versionIEEE 60th Vehicular Technology Conference 2004-Fall (VTC2004-Fall), "Wireless Technologies for Global Security", Los Angeles, CA, USA, 26-29 September 2004. In IEEE - VTS Vehicular Technology Conference Proceedings, 2004, v. 60 n. 3, p. 1849-185

Evacuation Planning Based on the Contraflow Technique With Consideration of Evacuation Priorities and Traffic Setup Time

Evacuation planning with the contraflow technique is a complex planning problem. The problem is further complicated when more realistic situations such as evacuation priorities and the setup time for the contraflow operation are considered. Such a complex problem has yet to be discussed in the present literature. In this paper, we present a multipleobjective optimization model for this problem and a two-layer algorithm to solve this model. Experiments on three transportation networks with different network scales are presented to show the excellent performance of the proposed model and algorithm.published_or_final_versio

Trace metal distribution in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary and the surrounding coastal area, South China

Author name used in this publication: Carman C. M. IpAuthor name used in this publication: Onyx W. H. Wai2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe