Simulation of a Traveling Repairman Problem

Abstract

When a system with many stations at widespread physical locations has to be maintained, there arises a question regarding the policies the repair crew should use in determining the station to repair next. This problem is known as "the traveling repairman problem." Although this paper discusses a simulation model that is being used to formulate the traveling repairman's policies for a specific system, the aspect of interest is the unconventional manner in which General Purpose Simulation System (GPSS) is used. The system has been modeled not by simulating the physical events or devices but rather by simulating conceptual paperwork. Failure notices and the log of the repair vehicle's positions are the elements that are modeled rather than observation stations or the repair vehicle itself.