Premium
A large‐scale linear programming model for finding optimal container inspection strategies
Author(s) -
Boros E.,
Fedzhora L.,
Kantor P. B.,
Saeger K.,
Stroud P.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
naval research logistics (nrl)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1520-6750
pISSN - 0894-069X
DOI - 10.1002/nav.20349
Subject(s) - container (type theory) , computer science , linear programming , scale (ratio) , operations research , integer programming , mathematical optimization , algorithm , engineering , mathematics , physics , mechanical engineering , quantum mechanics
Cargo ships arriving at US ports are inspected for unauthorized materials. Because opening and manually inspecting every container is costly and time‐consuming, tests are applied to decide whether a container should be opened. By utilizing a polyhedral description of decision trees, we develop a large‐scale linear programming model for sequential container inspection that determines an optimal inspection strategy under various limitations, improving on earlier approaches in several ways: (a) we consider mixed strategies and multiple thresholds for each sensor, which provide more effective inspection strategies; (b) our model can accommodate realistic limitations (budget, sensor capacity, time limits, etc.), as well as multiple container types; (c) our model is computationally more tractable allowing us to solve cases that were prohibitive in preceding models, and making it possible to analyze the potential impact of new sensor technologies. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009