2001 Volume 37 Issue 6 Pages 557-566
This paper deals with applicability of an autonomous decentralized algorithm for a loading problem. This problem is an optimization problem for loading several kinds of boxes on three pallets in a motor truck by taking account of safety, availability of capacity and easiness of carrying in and out. The goal of the problem is to attain the most favorite arrangement of boxes on three pallets for various constraints. In the problem formulation, some constraints are treated explicitly, and the others are included in the objective as the penalty functions. This loading problem has two important requests. One is to level the top of boxes loaded, in consideration of safety. The other is to load boxes up to the height of a truck, in consideration of easiness of carrying in and out. Two algorithms are proposed for the respective requests. Numerical results are shown to investigate the performance of these algorithms.
