Vehicle Dispatch Planning with Weighted Energy Functions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle dispatch systems struggle to adapt to dynamic changes in customer requests, failing to optimize vehicle dispatching in real-time due to predefined delivery objects and trucks.
Innovation Solution
An operation plan formulating device that calculates an optimal vehicle dispatch plan using an energy function equation, balancing restriction conditions and target events, prioritizing passenger waiting time, vehicle deployment, and depot placement, to respond to changing situations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional vehicle dispatch systems use predefined delivery objects and trucks, then the system structure is simple and easy to manage, but the system cannot respond to dynamic changes in customer requests and real-time situations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic vehicle dispatch by enabling vehicles to change their destination dynamically based on real-time customer requests and situations. The system allows vehicles to switch between different destinations (pickup locations, drop-off locations, or depots) rather than following fixed predefined routes, making the dispatch system adaptable to changing conditions while maintaining manageable complexity through structured decision-making frameworks.
2Reliability
If the system prioritizes restriction conditions with high weighting, then operational constraints are strictly satisfied, but the optimization of target events such as passenger waiting time and vehicle deployment efficiency may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs parameter changes by dynamically adjusting the weighting coefficients of different objective functions in the optimization model. The system can modify the relative importance of restriction conditions versus target events based on current operational contexts, allowing flexible balancing between satisfying constraints and optimizing performance metrics like passenger waiting time and vehicle utilization efficiency.
3Productivity
If the system defines delivery objects and trucks in advance, then the planning process is simple and fast, but the system cannot adapt to moment-to-moment situation changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-defining the structure of the optimization model, including the set of possible destinations for vehicles (pickup locations, drop-off locations, and depots) and the framework for evaluating different dispatch options. This preliminary setup enables fast plan formulation when combined with real-time data input, as the system only needs to evaluate specific dispatch decisions against the pre-established optimization framework rather than building the entire planning system from scratch.
Data Source
AI summary
An operation plan formulating device includes: an acquisition unit configured to acquire an energy function equation defined as a sum of objective functions relating to an operation plan of the vehicles; and a calculation unit configured to calculate an operation plan minimizing an energy function as an optimal solution, in which the objective functions include one or more first objective functions based on whether or not restriction conditions are satisfied and one or more second objective functions for evaluating a degree of achievement of a target event, the restriction conditions include that a destination of the vehicle is one place, the energy function equation obtains a weighted sum of the first objective functions and the second objective functions, and a weighting assigned to the first objective functions is larger than a weighting assigned to the second objective functions with such a degree.