Multi-vessel placement in multi-chamber inland waterway transport locks using switching Max-Plus algebra

This paper presents a novel scheduling approach for inland waterway transport (IWT) vessels that must pass through multi-chamber locks. A switching max-plus linear (SMPL) model is built to determine, for each vessel, the most appropriate route, the arrival times at relevant waypoints as well as at t...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Segovia Castillo, Pablo|||0000-0003-3593-907X, Ummels, Raphael, van den Boom, Ton, Reppa, Vasso
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/450680
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/450680
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.123414
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palabra clave:Inland waterborne transport
Intelligent transportation systems
Lock scheduling
Multi-chamber locks
Multi-vessel chambers
Max-plus algebra
Switching max-plus linear systems
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Infraestructures i modelització dels transports::Transport multimodal
Descripción
Sumario:This paper presents a novel scheduling approach for inland waterway transport (IWT) vessels that must pass through multi-chamber locks. A switching max-plus linear (SMPL) model is built to determine, for each vessel, the most appropriate route, the arrival times at relevant waypoints as well as at the destination, the relative order in which it moves through the network with respect to other vessels, its assignment to certain lock chambers together with other vessels, and its position inside each chamber. The SMPL constraints are translated to mixed integer linear programming (MILP) constraints for the optimization problem to be solvable, and objectives minimizing arrival times or arrival time offsets are defined. The proposed approach is tested on a multi-lock waterway, and its performance is compared to the current state of practice using relevant key performance indicators (KPIs), which allows to demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed approach.