Research on Real-Time Optimal Path Planning Model and Algorithm for Ship Block Transportation in Shipyard

Abstract

Special vehicles called transporters are used to deliver heavy blocks in the shipyard. With the development and application of information and communication technology in shipyards, the real-time positioning and ship blocks online scheduling system for transporters are being developed. The real-time path planning of transporters is important for maintaining the overall production schedule of ship blocks. Because of the large volume and heavy weight of ship blocks, there may be some problems, such as high energy consumption, block deformation and other security issues, when transporters loading a block make a turn. So, fewer turns of the transporters are also important to make a block transportation schedule. The minimum driving distance and fewer turns are considered simultaneously for transporter real-time path planning in this paper. A hybrid model considering the number of turns and the optimal path of the transporter is constructed. Moreover, the optimal scheduling model, considering path missing, is also discussed. Several shortest path algorithms are analyzed, which show that the Dijkstra algorithm is the best way to solve this model. From the attained simulation results, we demonstrate that the proposed model and algorithm have the ability to effectively solve real-time path planning for the ship block transportation in shipyards.