Methods to reduce dimensionality and identify candidate solutions in multi-objective signal timing problems

Adjusting traffic signal timings is a practical way for agencies to manage urban traffic without the need for significant infrastructure investments. Signal timings are generally selected to minimize the total control delay vehicles experience at an intersection, particularly when the intersection is isolated or undersaturated. However, in practice, there are many other potential objectives that might be considered in signal timing design, including: total passenger delay, pedestrian delays, delay inequity among competing movements, total number of stopping maneuvers, among others. These objectives do not tend to share the same relationships with signal timing plans and some of these objectives may be in direct conflict. The research proposes the use of a new multi-objective optimization (MOO) visualization technique—the mosaic plot—to easily quantify and identify significant tradeoffs between competing objectives using the set of Pareto optimal solutions that are normally provided by MOO algorithms. Using this tool, methods are also proposed to identify and remove potentially redundant or unnecessary objectives that do not have any significant tradeoffs with others in an effort to reduce problem dimensionality. Since MOO procedures will still be needed if more than one objective remains and MOO algorithms generally provide a set of candidate solutions instead of a single final solution, two methods are proposed to rank the set of Pareto optimal solutions based on how well they balance between the competing objectives to provide a final recommendation. These methods rely on converting the objectives to dimensionless values based on the optimal value for each specific objectives, which allows for direct comparison between and weighting of each. The proposed methods are demonstrated using a simple numerical example of an undersaturated intersection where all objectives can be analytically obtained. However, they can be readily applied to other signal timing problems where objectives can be obtained using simulation outputs to help identify the signal timing plan that provides the most reasonable tradeoff between competing objectives.     

城市轨道交通常态与非常态短期客流预测方法研究

城市轨道交通客流特征除表现为常态的周期性、季节性及高峰性外,还会因节假日、体育赛事、城市大型活动、突发事件、特殊天气等因素表现出差异性和特殊性,本文对较为成熟的常态及研究较少的非常态客流预测方法进行了实验.首先利用通用的ARIMA时间序列预测算法分析样本历史数据实现常态日客流预测;其次针对客流特殊因素提出时间序列及回归分析的组合模型,同时引进虚拟变量和结合相似日样本数据进一步改进,实现非常态预测问题的高精度求解.仿真计算结果表明,本文方法对解决短期客流预测具有良好的适用度,尤其同样本同预测周期条件下的非常态组合改进模型和常用单一时间序列模型的对比,证明改进模型可以很好地应用在客流特征既包括随时间固有不变的性质又表现出特殊因素的研究中,具有较强的自适应性和更好的预测精度.     

考虑动态定价的煤炭调运方案优化研究

煤炭坑口价格的变化与市场供求有重要联系.本文在煤炭坑口价格动态定价的基础上,以煤炭产地和消费地间的煤炭调运量为决策变量,以煤炭流通过程中的总费用最小化为目标,分别构建了煤炭调运系统优化模型和考虑消费者竞争的煤炭调运优化模型,设计了遗传算法和Floyd算法相结合的求解算法.以我国内地煤炭调运问题为案例,分析了价格变化特性、可调出量与消费量比例等因素对煤炭调运方案的影响.结果表明,考虑消费者竞争时煤炭流通广义费用更低;随着煤炭可调出量与消费量比的增加,动态价格较固定价格的煤炭流通广义费用下降更快.     

An optimal data-splitting algorithm for aircraft scheduling on a single runway to maximize throughput

In this research, we present a data-splitting algorithm to optimally solve the aircraft sequencing problem (ASP) on a single runway under both segregated and mixed-mode of operation. This problem is formulated as a 0–1 mixed-integer program (MIP), taking into account several realistic constraints, including safety separation standards, wide time-windows, and constrained position shifting, with the objective of maximizing the total throughput. Varied scenarios of large scale realistic instances of this problem, which is NP-hard in general, are computationally difficult to solve with the direct use of commercial solver as well as existing state-of-the-art dynamic programming method. The design of the algorithm is based on a recently introduced data-splitting algorithm which uses the divide-and-conquer paradigm, wherein the given set of flights is divided into several disjoint subsets, each of which is optimized using 0–1 MIP while ensuring the optimality of the entire set. Computational results show that the difficult instances can be solved in real-time and the solution is efficient in comparison to the commercial solver and dynamic programming, using both sequential, as well as parallel, implementation of this pleasingly parallel algorithm.     

Foldable container in empty container repositioning in intermodal transportation network of Belt and Road Initiative: strengths and limitations

In 2013, the concept of the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road)’ was initiated by the Chinese government, which involves Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas. Logistics plays a core role in such a large framework of economy and trade. In recent years, China, European Union, and Southeast Asia pay much attention to the design and development of the intermodal transportation network towards both economic and environmental efficiency. In this paper, we propose an empty container repositioning model in the intermodal transportation network of Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative by considering both standard and foldable containers. In this model, empty containers are repositioned from the inland of the original area, such as China, to other areas of B&R Initiative related countries and regions, such as European Union and Southeast Asia. We develop a mixed integer linear programming model to determine the optimal repositioning of empty containers via the intermodal transportation network. An Artificial Bee Colony algorithm is developed to solve large size problems in practice and numerical experiments are conducted to show the efficiency of our proposed algorithm. We provide managerial insights regarding the impact on the network performance of foldable containers transportation.     

客车捎带模式下高铁快捷货物输送方案研究

以提高高铁快运当日达产品的时效性、收益率为核心,对既有载客动车组捎带模式下的快捷货物输送方案进行优化。借助时空网络以列车运行成本与时间惩罚费用之和最小为目标,同时满足货主时限、列车容量以及列车停站方案等约束,建立输送方案优化模型,通过匈牙利算法,并借助Matlab的Yalmip工具箱求解模型。以兰州西站至天水南站、宝鸡南站及西安北站部分时间段的快捷货物运输需求为背景进行算例分析,验证模型的有效性。结果表明合理估算列车装载容量及货物的延迟时限对输送方案的选择起重要作用。     

技术站间货物列车协同配流方案研究

技术站间货物列车协同作业组织模式，可实现各站获益，整体加强，对提升铁路运输生产效率具有重要意义.本文建立技术站间货物列车协同配流模型.模型以最大化两技术站的正点出发列车数作为目标函数，采用启发式遗传算法进行寻优，得到货物列车解编顺序和配流方案.最后，通过对算例进行实验分析，验证协同配流模型的实用性.结果表明，技术站间协同配流作业明显压缩车辆在站总停留时间，增加了阶段计划内正点出发列车数，进而提高了技术站内线路使用能力.     

考虑收益管理的高铁平行车次动态差别定价

基于RP(Revealed Preference)和SP(Stated Preference)调查数据，利用潜在类别模型对高铁旅客进行细分，得到旅客对平行车次不同服务属性，如列车运行时间、发车时段和舒适度的偏好程度，并对其进行量化；引入收益管理，以多列车整体收益最大为目标，构建平行车次动态差别定价模型，并设计模拟退火算法进行求解；最后，通过京沪高铁进行实例验证.结果表明：与固定票价进行客票销售相比，所提方案能够适应高峰期和平峰期不同客流特点，提高铁路客票总收益，为高铁平行车次灵活定价提供参考.     

快速路可变限速与匝道控制协同优化策略

可变限速控制和匝道控制是快速路交通控制的主要手段,本文对两者的协同优化策略进行了研究.借助智能车路协同系统强大的信息感知能力,通过引入微观交通流信息,对经典METANET模型进行了改造,构建了可变限速控制影响下的微观METANET模型,实现了一种新的可变限速控制策略,同时,采用ALINEA算法,对入口匝道进行了优化控制,实现了两者的协同优化.最后,基于实际道路和交通流数据搭建了仿真平台,对微观METANET模型和协同优化策略的有效性进行了验证.仿真结果表明,微观METANET模型具有良好的交通流预测效果,协同优化策略能有效地改善快速路交通流状态.     

基于特征熵权与样本加权的大跨桥梁多车道交通荷载聚类模型

为满足交通流荷载作用下大跨桥梁结构评估的需要，研究了基于荷载参数特征的交通流状态划分方法。首先，基于实测交通流数据，按照车道属性统计分析得到交通流的单位小时特征参数样本，选择单位小时内车型比例、车头间距及交通流速度作为交通流状态划分的参考特征；其次，改进经典k-means聚类算法以增强其对高维、复杂交通流荷载分类的鲁棒性，即通过引入特征熵值来表征各特征参数对聚类效果的重要性，同时计算样本点与周围样本点的接近程度来赋予样本点权值，以削弱样本离散性对聚类质量的不利影响；最后，通过聚类算法得到11种具有不同参数特征的交通流荷载，分析了其作用下某大跨斜拉桥拉索应力响应及造成的疲劳损伤。结果表明：改进算法的聚类质量指标比原始k-means算法提高了40%以上，对交通流状态划分具有良好的适用性；通过算法得到的不同类别的交通流荷载的特征参数差异性明显，其占有率也大不相同，同一类别的交通流荷载各样本特征参数聚拢效果良好；同车道内不同类别的交通流荷载的拉索等效应力差别较大，其变异系数均在0.2以上，尤其在考虑了不同交通流荷载模型的占有率后，这种差异性进一步增大。上述结果表明该交通流荷载聚类与模拟方法是有效、准确的，对相关大跨桥梁结构安全及耐久性评估有一定的参考价值。