17 April 2012, 6:30pm
Routing Military Convoys, Andy Verity-Harrison (Atkins)
Abstract
Current military operations emphasise the need for mobility more than ever. Thus, routing convoys so that they reach their correct destinations in the shortest time is important. However, the planning itself can be considerable and must be carried out quickly if operational tempo is to be maintained. With this in mind the military planning problem of simultaneously routing multiple convoys between multiple origin and destination locations was formulated as a combinatorial optimisation problem and used as a benchmark problem for investigating the applicability of a variety of optimisation methods to military decision making.
In this talk, I shall take you through the journey from initial formulation and the use of classical optimisation methods through the use of metaheuristic methods and the gained obtained by reformulation. Along the way I shall highlight the broader significance of observations made in tackling this problem and conclude by discussing the fragility of optimal solutions when implemented in the messy “real world”.
Venue: The Axis, 10 Holliday Street, Birmingham B1 1TF
No charge is made to attend meetings and non-members are welcome.
