An agent-based approach to optimizing modular vehicle fleet operation

Abstract

Modularity in military vehicle designs facilitates assembly, disassembly, and the reconfiguration (ADR) of vehicles, which can be beneficial in promoting fleet adaptability and life cycle cost savings. This paper illustrates an agent-based approach to the optimal management of fleet operation and to control the resupply, demand prediction, and scheduling process. The agent-based approach is customized for modularized military vehicle fleets and applied to explore the feasibility and flexibility of modularity for various mission scenarios. Given deterministic field demands with operation stochasticity, we compare the performance of a modular fleet to a conventional fleet in equivalent operation strategies and also compare the fleet performance when driven by heuristic rules or optimization. Several indicators are selected to quantify fleet performance including operation costs, total resupplied resources, and fleet readiness. Then, the model is applied to the military Joint Tactical Transport System (JTTS). The results indicate that fleet modularity can reduce the total resources supplied without significant loss of fleet readiness. Additionally, the benefits of fleet modularity can be amplified through a real-time optimized operation strategy. A parametric study is performed to show the impact of ADR capacity on modular fleet performance. Finally, we provide practical suggestions for modular vehicle designs based on the analysis.