A general modeling and simulation framework for dynamic vehicle routing

IF 2.1 Q2 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics Pub Date : 2025-01-01 DOI:10.1016/j.ejtl.2025.100159

Markó Horváth , Tímea Tamási

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In dynamic vehicle routing problems (DVRPs), some part of the information is revealed or changed on the fly, and the decision maker has the opportunity to re-plan the vehicle routes during their execution, reflecting on the changes. Accordingly, the solution to a DVRP is a flexible policy rather than a set of fixed routes. A policy is a problem-specific algorithm that is invoked at various decision points in the planning horizon and returns a decision according to the current state. Since DVRPs involve dynamic decision making, a simulator is an essential tool for dynamically testing and evaluating the policies. Despite this, there are few tools available that are specifically designed for this purpose. To fill this gap, we have developed a simulation framework that is suitable for a wide range of dynamic vehicle routing problems and allows to dynamically test different policies for the given problem. In this paper, we present the background of this simulation tool, for which we proposed a general modeling framework suitable for formalizing DVRPs independently of simulation purposes. Our open source simulation tool is already available, easy to use, and easily customizable, making it a useful tool for the research community.

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一个通用的车辆动态路径建模与仿真框架

在动态车辆路线问题（dvrp）中，部分信息是动态暴露或变化的，决策者有机会在执行过程中重新规划车辆路线，反映这些变化。因此，DVRP的解决方案是灵活的策略，而不是一组固定的路由。策略是特定于问题的算法，可在规划范围内的各个决策点调用，并根据当前状态返回决策。由于dvrp涉及动态决策制定，因此模拟器是动态测试和评估策略的必要工具。尽管如此，很少有专门为此目的设计的可用工具。为了填补这一空白，我们开发了一个模拟框架，该框架适用于各种动态车辆路线问题，并允许针对给定问题动态测试不同的策略。在本文中，我们介绍了该仿真工具的背景，为此我们提出了一个通用的建模框架，适用于独立于仿真目的的形式化dvrp。我们的开源仿真工具已经可用，易于使用，易于定制，使其成为研究社区的有用工具。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics Multiple-

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

129 days

期刊介绍： The EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics promotes the use of mathematics in general, and operations research in particular, in the context of transportation and logistics. It is a forum for the presentation of original mathematical models, methodologies and computational results, focussing on advanced applications in transportation and logistics. The journal publishes two types of document: (i) research articles and (ii) tutorials. A research article presents original methodological contributions to the field (e.g. new mathematical models, new algorithms, new simulation techniques). A tutorial provides an introduction to an advanced topic, designed to ease the use of the relevant methodology by researchers and practitioners.