Extended CNP framework for the dynamic pickup and delivery problem solving

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate in the applicability of the Contract Net Protocol negotiation (CNP) in the field of the dynamic transportation. We address the optimization of the Dynamic Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows also called DPDPTW. This problem is a variant of the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) that may be described as the problem of finding the least possible dispatching cost of requests concerning the picking of some quantity of goods from a pickup to a delivery location while most of the requests continuously occur during the day. The use of contract nets in dynamic and uncertain domains such as ours has been proved to be more fruitful than the use of centralized problem solving [9]. We provide a new automated negotiation based on the CNP. Negotiation process is adjusted to deal intelligently with the uncertainty present in the concerned problem. © 2009 International Federation for Information Processing.