Abstract
This research effort presents a tabu search algorithm to solve the dynamic airlift loading problem. Given a set of palletized cargo items which require transportation from an aerial port of embarkation to an aerial port of debarkation within a pre-specified time frame, the dynamic airlift loading problem seeks to partition the pallets into aircraft loads, select an efficient and effective subset of aircraft from available aircraft, and assign the pallets to allowable positions on those aircraft. The dynamic airlift loading problem differs from many partitioning and packing problems described in the literature because, in addition to spatial constraints, factors such as allowable cabin load, balance restrictions, and temporal restrictions on cargo and aircraft are included. The algorithm developed in this research, the dynamic airlift loading problem-tabu search, was tested on a variety of problem instances. Since real-world solutions are hand generated by subject matter experts and no previous research effort has solved this specific problem, the algorithmic results are compared to compute lower bounds on the number of aircraft trips required.
Highlights
Power projection, which is the capability to transport military power in an expeditionary manner, represents a large portion of United States (US) military activities
Where n is the total number of pallets loaded on trip k of aircraft j; TCBj is the target center of balance point for the given cargo load; Wijk is the weight of pallet i loaded on trip k of aircraft j; DiðLongÞj is the longitudinal distance of pallet i from the associated reference line of aircraft j; Ajk is 1 if trip k of aircraft j is used and 0 otherwise; and Yjk is 1 if the aircraft’s CB is within the upper and lower CB bounds and 0 otherwise
A decision maker may decide that airlift effectiveness is more important than efficiency; the scaling factor associated with Eq (6), cargo temporal violations would be increased relative to Eqs. (1) and (2), aircraft usage and aircraft loading, respectively
Summary
Power projection, which is the capability to transport military power in an expeditionary manner, represents a large portion of United States (US) military activities. Transportation of personnel and equipment in this endeavor is the responsibility of the US Transportation Command, whose airlift component is air mobility command [40]. US Transportation Command operates in 75 % of the world’s countries, conducting over 1900 air missions [40]. A consortium between the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Air Force Institute of Technology
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