A Learnheuristic Algorithm Based on Thompson Sampling for the Heterogeneous and Dynamic Team Orienteering Problem

The team orienteering problem (TOP) is a well-studied optimization challenge in the field of Operations Research, where multiple vehicles aim to maximize the total collected rewards within a given time limit by visiting a subset of nodes in a network. With the goal of including dynamic and uncertain...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Rodríguez Uguina, Antonio|||0009-0001-5506-1674, Gómez González, Juan Francisco|||0000-0001-7692-9922, Panadero, Javier|||0000-0002-3793-3328, Martínez-Gavara, Anna|||0000-0001-9995-010X, Juan, Ángel A|||0000-0003-1392-1776
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:304583
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/304583
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3390/math12111758
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Combinatorial optimization
Learnheuristics
Reinforcement learning
Team orienteering problem
SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Descripción
Sumario:The team orienteering problem (TOP) is a well-studied optimization challenge in the field of Operations Research, where multiple vehicles aim to maximize the total collected rewards within a given time limit by visiting a subset of nodes in a network. With the goal of including dynamic and uncertain conditions inherent in real-world transportation scenarios, we introduce a novel dynamic variant of the TOP that considers real-time changes in environmental conditions affecting reward acquisition at each node. Specifically, we model the dynamic nature of environmental factors-such as traffic congestion, weather conditions, and battery level of each vehicle-to reflect their impact on the probability of obtaining the reward when visiting each type of node in a heterogeneous network. To address this problem, a learnheuristic optimization framework is proposed. It combines a metaheuristic algorithm with Thompson sampling to make informed decisions in dynamic environments. Furthermore, we conduct empirical experiments to assess the impact of varying reward probabilities on resource allocation and route planning within the context of this dynamic TOP, where nodes might offer a different reward behavior depending upon the environmental conditions. Our numerical results indicate that the proposed learnheuristic algorithm outperforms static approaches, achieving up to 25% better performance in highly dynamic scenarios. Our findings highlight the effectiveness of our approach in adapting to dynamic conditions and optimizing decision-making processes in transportation systems.