(A) vehicle routing problem in a military service

Abstract

Many research articles in the literature have dealt with the problem of finding an optimal tour such as the traveling salesman problem (TSP) and vehicle routing problem (VRP) and they have been applicable to various distribution systems according as gradual increase of the importance of logistics for customer satisfaction. This paper addresses a vehicle routing problem in a military service. The main objective is to minimize the total dissatisfaction of customers (maximize the total satisfaction of customers). To solve this problem, we developed the mathematical model and proposed a one-step genetic algorithm and a heuristic algorithm. Genetic algorithms are proposed as a new learning paradigm for combinational optimization that models a natural evolution mechanism. We attempt applying genetic algorithms to the vehicle routing problem. As a result, it is found that one-step genetic algorithm is able to effectively find optimum tours. Though the total the objective value of heuristic algorithm is a little worse than that of the established genetic algorithm method, since the computation time of the heuristic algorithm is very short, it can be well used for the commander``s decision in the military situation.