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Competitive analysis for dynamic multiperiod uncapacitated routing problems
Author(s) -
Angelelli Enrico,
Grazia Speranza M.,
Savelsbergh Martin W.P.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.977
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1097-0037
pISSN - 0028-3045
DOI - 10.1002/net.20180
Subject(s) - computer science , routing (electronic design automation) , operations research , set (abstract data type) , service (business) , time horizon , competitive analysis , simple (philosophy) , mathematical optimization , mathematics , computer network , upper and lower bounds , business , marketing , mathematical analysis , philosophy , epistemology , programming language
We study a dynamic multiperiod routing problem where, at the beginning of each time period, a set of orders arrive that have to be fulfilled either that time period or the next. Thus, in each time period there are customers that have to be served and customers whose service may be postponed. Once it has been decided which customers to serve, an optimal route is constructed and executed. The objective of the problem is to minimize the total distance traveled during the planning horizon. Deciding which customers to serve in a time period is done on the basis of incomplete information, analyzing simultaneously customers in two consecutive periods. No knowledge is available about customers requiring service in future time periods. We introduce simple algorithms, ones which naturally arise in practice, and analyze these algorithms by studying their competitive ratio. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 49(4), 308–317 2007