A Clustering Based Approach for Periodic Vehicle Routing Problems

클러스터링을 이용한 주기적 차량운행경로 문제 해법

In this paper, we address a real-world periodic vehicle routing problem with time windows (PVRPTW). In addition to the general requirements of single-day vehicle routing problem, each stop has required number of visits within a cycle period in PVRPTW. Thus, we need to determine optimized days of visit for each stop with consideration of the cycle-period days together. The problem also requires consistent vehicle assignment to the stops. We developed a clustering based 3-phase approach for this problem: 1) stop-route assignment, 2) stop-day assignment, and 3) stop sequencing within a single-day route. Using the approach, we could reduce the number of routes and improve the routing efficiency for several real-world problems.