Replacing nonidentical vital components to extend system life

We consider a system that depends on a single vital component. If this component fails, the system life will terminate. If the component is replaced before its failure then the system life may be extended; however, there are only a finite number of spare components. In addition, the lifetimes of these spare components are not necessarily identically distributed. We propose a model for scheduling component replacements so as to maximize the expected system survival. We find the counterintuitive result that when comparing components' general lifetime distributions based on stochastic orderings, not even the strongest ordering provides an a priori guarantee of the optimal sequencing of components. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

反恐兵力分配运筹方法辅助决策研究

将影响兵力分配决策的各主要因素及其相互关系抽象为线性规划数学模型,通过数学模型的求解,可确定最佳兵力分配方案。模型的建立过程可灵活地体现所有主要的现实需要和考虑因素,因而具有广泛的适用性。计算机软件的引入,可瞬问求得最优解,满足实际作战需要。     

利用分数抽头均衡器快速定时同步

建立了分数抽头均衡器(FSE)与定时同步相结合的信号模型,分析了定时误差对于均衡性能的影响,提出了一种新的基于FSE的快速定时同步算法。在未知参考序列相位的情况下,利用循环均衡快速收敛并建立同步。在相位跟踪阶段,利用抽头增益跟踪定时相位误差,通过对采样数据进行抽取或插值以及均衡器抽头的移位操作控制相位误差。仿真表明,该算法能在长度为均衡器抽头数的符号周期内快速建立同步,通过采样率的选择可以精确地控制定时相位误差。     

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.     

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。     

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     

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。     

基于Virtools的洞库工程维护管理虚拟训练系统

为了解决洞库工程教学训练缺乏直观性和实践性的难题,利用Revit,Sketch Up和3D Max软件进行三维模型构建,以漫游中的基本图形变换和位置实时显示技术为例介绍了相关数学原理及Virtools编程实现过程,实现预定功能后发布了洞库工程维护管理虚拟训练系统。该虚拟训练系统具有功能演示、虚拟漫游、虚拟施工、维护管理虚拟训练和考核评估等功能,可以让学员身临其境地学习洞库工程维护管理的相关知识,有效地提高了教学效果。     

Balancing stability and efficiency in team formation as a generalized roommate problem

The assignment of personnel to teams is a fundamental managerial function typically involving several objectives and a variety of idiosyncratic practical constraints. Despite the prevalence of this task in practice, the process is seldom approached as an optimization problem over the reported preferences of all agents. This is due in part to the underlying computational complexity that occurs when intra-team interpersonal interactions are taken into consideration, and also due to game-theoretic considerations, when those taking part in the process are self-interested agents. Variants of this fundamental decision problem arise in a number of settings, including, for example, human resources and project management, military platooning, ride sharing, data clustering, and in assigning students to group projects. In this article, we study an analytical approach to “team formation” focused on the interplay between two of the most common objectives considered in the related literature: economic efficiency (i.e., the maximization of social welfare) and game-theoretic stability (e.g., finding a core solution when one exists). With a weighted objective across these two goals, the problem is modeled as a bi-level binary optimization problem, and transformed into a single-level, exponentially sized binary integer program. We then devise a branch-cut-and-price algorithm and demonstrate its efficacy through an extensive set of simulations, with favorable comparisons to other algorithms from the literature.