Vehicle routing problem considering reconnaissance and transportation

Abstract

Troop movement involves transporting military personnel from one location to another using available means. To minimize damage from enemies, the military simultaneously uses reconnaissance and transportation units during troop movements. This thesis proposes vehicle routing problem considering reconnaissance and transportation (VRPCRT) for troop movements in wartime. VRPCRT is formulated as a mixed-integer programming model for minimizing the completion time of wartime troop movements. For this thesis, an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm for the VRPCRT was also developed and computational experiments were conducted to compare the performance of the ACO algorithm and that of the mixed-integer programming model. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis of the change in the number of reconnaissance and transportation vehicles was performed, and the effects of each type of vehicle on troop movement were analyzed.