Orientador: Paulo Morelato França / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T05:57:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Usberti_FabioLuiz_M.pdf: 37565259 bytes, checksum: cddb8b852bd82318a8c784f1f223a076 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Esse trabalho se dedicou ao estudo dos algoritmos para roteamento de leituristas, incluindo propostas de alteração que resultem na melhoria da qualidade dos resultados. A motivação é proveniente da alta demanda por soluções computacionais para esse problema, ainda pouco estudado devido às peculiaridades que lhe são inerentes. Encontram-se na literatura duas heurísticas, de estratégias distintas e antagônicas para esse problema. Uma das heurísticas procura construir a rota ignorando a restrição de capacidade, para posterior particionamento dessa rota em subrotas, cada qual destinada a um leiturista (¿route first, cluster second¿). A outra heurística, em uma abordagem inversa, primeiramente subdivide a região de trabalho dos leituristas, para posterior roteamento dessas partições (¿cluster first, route second¿). Essas duas heurísticas foram testadas exaustivamente, tornando possível localizar aspectos sujeitos à melhoria, dando origem a duas novas heurísticas. Foi gerada uma base de testes contendo 144 instâncias que simulam as condições reais de trabalho dos leituristas, classificadas de acordo com o tamanho e dificuldade. A partir das soluções provenientes dos quatro algoritmos foi possível analisá-los comparativamente, avaliando o melhor em um âmbito geral (envolvendo todos os algoritmos) e específico (algoritmos de mesmo tipo, ¿route first cluster second¿ ou ¿cluster first route second¿), segundo critérios de qualidade pré-definidos: número de rotas, tempo de percurso, violação da carga horária e tempo computacional. Os resultados revelam que os novos algoritmos foram melhores tanto na comparação específica quanto na comparação geral / Abstract: This work¿s main study object consists on algorithms for routing meter readers, from which proposals towards solution¿s improvement are made. The demand for computational results concerning this problem, added to literature little attention due to its inherited peculiarities, has been the outmost motivation. Two preexisting heuristics from literature, with distinct and antagonic strategies, are pointed out. One of these heuristics atempt to create a single route, dismissing the capacity restriction, and then partitionates this route into subroutes, each of them destinated to one meter reader (route first, cluster second). The other heuristic, in an inverse approach, first splits the meter reader¿s working area, and only then routes each of these partitions (cluster first, route second). The two heuristics were tested to exaustion, allowing enumeration of weak aspects subject to improvement. Therefore, two new heuristics were developed, based upon the originals, however adapted in order to outperform solution¿s quality. A testing base containing 144 instances was generated, simulating meter readers realistic labor¿s conditions, classified by size and difficulty. Through solutions provided by the four algorithms, comparison analyses have taken place, evaluating in a general (involving all algorithms) and specific manner (same kind algorithms, i.e., route first, cluster second or cluster first, route second), considering four predefined quality criteria: number of routes, deadheading time, violation of shiftwork time and computational time. Results revealed that the new algorithms achieved better solutions on specific and general comparisons / Mestrado / Automação / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

This thesis explores the use of a column generation method, a subgradient method, and a logic-based Benders decomposition method on a minimized makespan K-rural postman problem. The K-rural postman problem here describes a search and rescue mission using multiple identical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to cover an area, represented as a complete graph. Each decomposition method has a separate problem for each UAV. In the subgradient and column generation case, a heuristic is used to find an improved upper bound for the makespan. This upper bound can in turn be used to decrease the feasible regions of the subproblems. Moreover, because the subproblems are slow to solve, a maximum calculation time is used, resulting in a feasible solution and a lower bound for each subproblem. These two modifications to the decomposition methods result in a non-standard behaviour.  Multiple fictional problem instances of different sizes and numbers of UAVs were generated and used for evaluating the methods. A maximal time limit is used in these instances. We conclude that solving the original, non-decomposed, problem for smaller instances with a standard solver is faster and gives better results than the decomposition methods. For larger instances, solving the non-decomposed model led to memory issues on several occasions. However, the suggested subgradient and column generation methods can solve every problem. The logic-based Benders decomposition method performed best on instances with multiple UAVs, but had issues when fewer UAVs are utilized. / Den här masteruppsatsen utforskar användningen av en kolumngenereringsmetod, en subgradientmetod och en logikbaserad Benders dekompositionsmetod på en variant av lantbrevbärarproblemet. Vårat brevbärarprolem beskriver sök- och räddningsuppdrag där $K$ drönare används för att avsöka ett område med målfunktionen att minimera flygtiden för den långsammaste drönaren. Varje dekompositionsmetod använder sig av ett problem för varje drönare. I subgradient- och kolumngenereringsmetoden användes en heuristik för att hitta en bättre övre begränsning till drönarnas flygtid. Den förbättrade övre begränsningen kunde sedan användas för att minska det tillåtna området för de mindre problemen. Eftersom de mindre problem var svårlösta, användes en maximal beräkningstid vilket resulterade i att en tillåten lösning och undre gräns gavs för varje mindre problem. Dessa två modifikationer resulterade i icke typiska beteenden.  Metoderna utvärderades på flera fiktiva testinstanser av olika storlekar där antalet drönare varierar. En tidsbegränsning används på varje probleminstans. Slutsatserna från uppsatsen är de original brevbärare problemet ger bäst lösning och snabbast lösningstid i de mindre instanserna. Vid lösning av större probleminstanser, gav original problemet flerfaldiga gånger minnesproblem. Subgradient- och kolumngenereringsmetoden kunde däremot lösa varje probleminstans inom tidsbegränsningen, vilket gjorde de mer pålitliga. Logikbaserade Benders dekompositionsmetoden presterade bättre i instanser med flera drönare, men stötte på problem i instanser med färre drönare.