BluePrint: Vehicle Routing

Introduction

The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), tries to optimise the transportation of resources from a warehouse, to various other shelters, based on a variety of factors.

Another motivation of this module, is to provide an appropriate planning mechanism, for the users involved.

The main aim, of this module, is to get rid of any manual calculations, during this optimisation.

This solution results in:

• Better management of routing vehicles
• Route planning for resources

This module is basically an extension of this problem: ​http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_routing_problem

Stakeholders

Users

• Supplier (Warehouse) (includes Warehouse Manager, Fleet Manager, Finance Officer)
• Shelter (includes Volunteers at Shelter)
• Transport Staffers (Driver)

Who are affected?

• Sahana Developers - Few of the models, should be tweaked
• Warehouse - Extra information to be provided about capacity of vehicles
• Transport Staffers - Additional communication about routes to be taken
• Volunteers at Shelter - Additional data, about arrival time(s) of resources

User Stories

<​http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_story> <A good User Story should answer the following questions:> <* Who the user is> <* What they want the solution to do for them?> <* Why they want it to do that? (goal)> <eg. A <type of user> wants the solution to <do something for them> so that <can achieve a goal>.>

Requirements

<Group requirements in subsections, e.g. _{etc.> <​http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requirements_analysis requirements> <Identify different types of requirements:>}

Functional

Non-functional

​http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-functional_requirements

Interoperability

Standards

System Constraints

Design

<Where relevant include alternative design options>

Data Model

(e.g. EER or class diagrams)

Workflows

<Diagrams or Pseudocode>

Site Map

<for User Interface solutions>

Wireframes

<for User Interface solutions>

Technologies

Current Implementation

<Leave open for a list of existing implementation of this solution in Sahana Eden:> <*a brief description of the implementation (date/time, name, design options chosen)> <*a link to the code> <*list of deployments of the implementation> <*links to case studies> <*short analysis of achievements/problems>

Planned Implementation

<List of goals for your implementations which you (include your name/github repo/IRC handle) are currently working on>

Base case:

Known/Given:

• a transportation network with known status of availability
• a set of suppliers, having a fleet of vehicles of given capacities, and a warehouse of goods
• a set of demands (who, what, when)

Assumptions:

• sufficient vehicles
• sufficient drivers
• sufficient fuel
• vehicles transport all the fuel they need for transport

Goal:

• satisfy all demands within their time windows
• minimize total distance (assume for the moment that this also minimizes delivery time)

Future Extensions

<List of features which could be included, but are outside of the scope of this extension>

Potential features:

i) delivery time windows (I have already included them into the base case)

ii) minimize fuel consumption

iii) maximize the number of demands satisfied

iv) handle routes that suddenly become unavailable

v) re-optimization of plan if routes become available again, without sending vehicles home

vi) handle different types of routes (street, air, water, protection required, ...)

vii) handle case of too few vehicles to transport all in one shot

viii) low fuel at start

ix) low fuel availability within the network to refuel vehicle

x) handle time for loading/unloading

xi) handle breakdowns of vehicles

xii) online version with new demands coming in over time

xiii) assignment of drivers to vehicles

Outstanding Questions

<Questions about the features or design that haven't been (and need to be) answered>

References

<Links to external resources>

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BluePrint