Multiobjective Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem and Time Seed Based Solution Using Particle Swarm Optimization

Abstract

A multiobjective dynamic vehicle routing problem (M-DVRP) has been identified and a time seed based solution using particle swarm optimization (TS-PSO) for M-DVRP has been proposed. M-DVRP considers five objectives, namely, geographical ranking of the request, customer ranking, service time, expected reachability time, and satisfaction level of the customers. The multiobjective function of M-DVRP has four components, namely, number of vehicles, expected reachability time, and profit and satisfaction level. Three constraints of the objective function are vehicle, capacity, and reachability. In TS-PSO, first of all, the problem is partitioned into smaller size DVRPs. Secondly, the time horizon of each smaller size DVRP is divided into time seeds and the problem is solved in each time seed using particle swarm optimization. The proposed solution has been simulated in ns-2 considering real road network of New Delhi, India, and results are compared with those obtained from genetic algorithm (GA) simulations. The comparison confirms that TS-PSO optimizes the multiobjective function of the identified problem better than what is offered by GA solution.