Adaptive Optimization in Dynamic Environments

Project: Research cooperation

Project Details

Abstract

The Josef Ressel Centre for Adaptive Optimisation in Dynamic Environments (JRC AdaptOp) identifies new applications in dynamic real-world environments and aims at the development of planning approaches that can cope with continuously changing conditions. Dynamic optimisation problems (DOPs) in domains such as warehousing, production, and transportation are primarily addressed in this context. The workloads of gantry cranes, heavy-duty vehicles, and glass production lines are subject to optimisation. New DOPs within these domains will be formulated and new benchmarks will be created. The goal is to build a framework for open-ended adaptive methods, facilitating the detection of changes in the environment and the reaction to them. The integration of machine learning techniques to predict the occurrence of future events, devise potential future scenarios, and select and configure promising algorithms is also a major research focus. Finally, the methods' performances will be studied and compared within controlled simulation experiments and evaluated within real-world test environments at the JRC's industrial partners Industrie-Logistik-Linz GmbH (ILL), LiSEC Austria GmbH (LiSEC), Logistik Service GmbH (LogServ), and voestalpine Stahl GmbH (voestalpine).
The University of Vienna, as an external module of the JRC, studies the transportation and intermediate storage of semi-finished casting products, so-called steel slabs, inside a steel-producing plant. Within the scope of intra logistical optimisation efforts, the research emphasis is threefold. First, solve a pickup and delivery problem that addresses the transportation of steel slabs as they pass multiple production stages, all of which are carried out at different locations inside the plant. Second, address the storage of work-in-process materials during the time they are buffered in large (outdoor) storage yards, waiting to be fed into the next stage of the production process. As the storage yards are organised in rows and function as two-dimensional stacking areas, consisting of stacks built up by steel slabs being located on top of each other, it is of utmost importance to ensure that the stacks remain organised while being manipulated during steel slab pickups or deliveries. Third, increase productivity by pre-marshalling slab yard stacks. This refers to the reorganisation of stacks such that varietal purity of stacks is maintained by making sure that slabs of a certain order or type are stored closely together in a desired sequence.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/10/1930/09/24

Collaborative partners