Exploiting fruitful regions in dynamic routing using evolutionary computation

Abstract

We introduce the concept of fruitful regions in a dynamic routing context: regions that have a high potential of generating loads to be transported. The objective is to maximise the number of loads transported, while keeping to capacity and time constraints. Loads arrive while the problem is being solved, which makes it a real-time routing problem. The solver is a self-adaptive evolutionary algorithm that ensures feasible solutions at all times. We investigate under what conditions the exploration of fruitful regions improves upon the effectiveness of the evolutionary algorithm. A technique called anticipatory routing is used with the aim to increase the number of successfully transported loads with respect to time and capacity constraints. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.