A parallel machine replacement model

This paper considers a finite horizon parallel machine replacement problem where a fixed number of machines is in operation at all times. The operating cost for a machine goes up as the machine gets older. An older machine may have to be replaced by a new one when its operating cost becomes too high. There is a fixed order cost associated with the purchase of new machines. Machine purchase prices and salvage values may depend on the period in which they were purchased. The objective is to find a replacement plan that minimizes the total discounted cost over the problem horizon. We believe that the costs in our model are more commonly observed in practice than those previously used in the literature. The paper develops properties of optimal solutions and an efficient forward‐time algorithm to find an optimal replacement plan. A dominance property is developed that further limits the options to be considered, and a simple forecast horizon result is also presented. Future research possibilities are mentioned. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 49: 275–287, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (http://www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/nav.10012     

A model of supply-chain decisions for resource sharing with an application to ventilator allocation to combat COVID-19

We present a stochastic optimization model for allocating and sharing a critical resource in the case of a pandemic. The demand for different entities peaks at different times, and an initial inventory for a central agency are to be allocated. The entities (states) may share the critical resource with a different state under a risk-averse condition. The model is applied to study the allocation of ventilator inventory in the COVID-19 pandemic by FEMA to different U.S. states. Findings suggest that if less than 60% of the ventilator inventory is available for non-COVID-19 patients, FEMA's stockpile of 20 000 ventilators (as of March 23, 2020) would be nearly adequate to meet the projected needs in slightly above average demand scenarios. However, when more than 75% of the available ventilator inventory must be reserved for non-COVID-19 patients, various degrees of shortfall are expected. In a severe case, where the demand is concentrated in the top-most quartile of the forecast confidence interval and states are not willing to share their stockpile of ventilators, the total shortfall over the planning horizon (until May 31, 2020) is about 232 000 ventilator days, with a peak shortfall of 17 200 ventilators on April 19, 2020. Results are also reported for a worst-case where the demand is at the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval. An important finding of this study is that a central agency (FEMA) can act as a coordinator for sharing critical resources that are in short supply over time to add efficiency in the system. Moreover, through properly managing risk-aversion of different entities (states) additional efficiency can be gained. An additional implication is that ramping up production early in the planning cycle allows to reduce shortfall significantly. An optimal timing of this production ramp-up consideration can be based on a cost-benefit analysis.     

遗传算法在非线性回归模型辨识中的应用

对遗传算法在非线性回归模型辨识中的应用进行了探讨,切削温度回归模型辨识的实例表明,该方法是有效的.     

具有吞吐量和时延约束的软件无线电波形部署决策算法

针对当前具有吞吐量和时延约束的软件无线电波形部署决策算法在内存开销方面考虑的不足,提出一个更为通用的波形部署决策系统模型,将波形的处理开销、内存开销和通信带宽开销都纳入到波形部署决策过程中,并设计了一种基于动态规划的波形部署决策算法以最小化波形对平台各种计算资源的占用总和。仿真结果表明,内存对波形部署决策具有重要影响,与未考虑内存开销的解决方案相比,平台支持的平均最大波形数目和平均处理资源利用率均下降40%左右。     

Environmental regulation in project‐based industries

We study the environmental regulation of industrial activities that are organized as projects. Applications arise in construction, ship and aircraft building, and film making, among other industries. Relative to manufacturing, environmental regulation is different in project‐based industries, due to the uniqueness and geographical diversity of projects, and a lack of product takeback programs. Because the amount of waste and pollution generated by project companies can be large, regulators need environmental policies to ensure reduction of waste and pollution. We consider a regulator who attempts to maximize social welfare. We model this problem as a bilevel nonlinear program. The upper level regulator specifies waste reduction targets, which the lower level project companies meet using waste stream reduction and remediation of pollution, while attempting to control their project costs. We find that high waste diversion targets lead to outcomes with little pollution, but excessive project costs and only modest waste stream reduction. Projects that have lower task precedence density, or that have pollutants with different environmental impacts, show larger increases in project cost and time resulting from regulation. We describe a subsidy for waste stream reduction that coordinates the system, and we estimate the value of coordination. We also describe a bonus that encourages truthful reporting by project companies, and evaluate the relative cost and effectiveness of the subsidy and the bonus. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 62: 228–247, 2015     

A decomposition heuristic for the twin robots scheduling problem

This article provides an efficient heuristic based on decomposition for the twin robots scheduling problem (TRSP). TRSP concerns two moving robots executing storage and retrieval requests in parallel along a shared pathway. The depots are located at both ends of the line and a dedicated robot is assigned to each of them. While moving goods between their respective depots and some storage locations on the line, noncrossing constraints among robots need to be considered. Our heuristic uses a dynamic programming framework to determine the schedule of one robot while keeping the other one's fixed. It finds near‐optimal solutions even for large problem instances with hundreds of jobs in a short time span. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 62:16–22, 2015     

Modeling and solution for the ship stowage planning problem of coils in the steel industry

We consider a ship stowage planning problem where steel coils with known destination ports are to be loaded onto a ship. The coils are to be stowed on the ship in rows. Due to their heavy weight and cylindrical shape, coils can be stowed in at most two levels. Different from stowage problems in previous studies, in this problem there are no fixed positions on the ship for the coils due to their different sizes. At a destination port, if a coil to be unloaded is not at a top position, those blocking it need to be shuffled. In addition, the stability of ship has to be maintained after unloading at each destination port. The objective for the stowage planning problem is to minimize a combination of ship instability throughout the entire voyage, the shuffles needed for unloading at the destination ports, and the dispersion of coils to be unloaded at the same destination port. We formulate the problem as a novel mixed integer linear programming model. Several valid inequalities are derived to help reducing solution time. A tabu search (TS) algorithm is developed for the problem with the initial solution generated using a construction heuristic. To evaluate the proposed TS algorithm, numerical experiments are carried out on problem instances of three different scales by comparing it with a model‐based decomposition heuristic, the classic TS algorithm, the particle swarm optimization algorithm, and the manual method used in practice. The results show that for small problems, the proposed algorithm can generate optimal solutions. For medium and large practical problems, the proposed algorithm outperforms other methods. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 62: 564–581, 2015     

胶泥缓冲器的非线性刚度的控制机理研究

为了改善履带车辆悬挂系统在各种路面的平顺性和缓冲性,对悬挂系统匹配了一款具有非线性刚度的粘弹性胶泥缓冲器。为了定量地研究胶泥缓冲器的非线性刚度控制机理,建立了非线性悬挂系统的动力学方程组。提出了一种无条件稳定的线性加速度逐步积分法对非线性方程组进行数值求解的新方法,最后用冲击实验验证该方法的可靠性。该研究为胶泥缓冲器的优化设计和车辆悬挂悬挂系统的动力学匹配提供了理论指导。     

随机布阵条件下同时数字多波束干扰优化设计方法

针对现有方法普遍存在的波束形成算法效率低、难以形成多频点多方向的同时多波束干扰、不适用于随机布阵条件下的波束形成等缺点,提出了一种基于二阶锥规划(SOCP,Second-Order Cone Programming)理论的同时数字多波束干扰形成方法。首先,给出了在随机布阵条件下干扰多波束优化设计问题的数学描述;其次,以范数准则为例,将随机布阵条件下干扰多波束设计问题的解析形式转化为相应的SOCP形式;再次,利用现有的原-对偶内点算法工具箱Se Du Mi或者CVX进行快速求解。最后,仿真结果表明该方法可以较好地解决随机布阵条件下的多频率多方向雷达目标同时多波束干扰优化设计问题。     

舰载机多机一体化机务保障调度研究

针对舰载机多机一体化机务保障调度问题,以出树、入树的形式描述实际保障过程中并行工序的约束关系,以最大保障完工时间和资源负载均衡性为目标,构建了舰载机多机一体化机务保障非线性多目标混合流水车间调度模型,并设计了一种结合基于Insert的动态邻域爬山搜索策略和并行工序的同步化修正的Memetic算法求解该模型。最后通过实例仿真验证了模型和所提算法的可行性和有效性。