Agent-based flight planning system for enhancing the competitiveness of the air cargo industry

Authors:
Chi-Kong Chan;Harry K. H. Chow;Sunny K. P. So;Henry C. B. Chan
Affiliations:
Department of Computing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China;Faculty of Management and Administration, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China;Department of Computing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China;Department of Computing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Venue:
Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal
Year:
2012

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Abstract

In this paper, we propose a multi-agent-based framework to facilitate process automation for the air cargo industry. The focus is on enhancing two labor-intensive flight planning processes, namely cargo consolidation and equalization. By employing a software agent-based flight planning module, which is linked with an RFID-based warehouse management system, air cargo items received at a freight forwarder's warehouse can be processed more efficiently and flight plans can be generated automatically. In particular, we employ agents equipped with simulated annealing optimization engines to handle the time-consuming tasks of optimization. By doing so, the latest flight plans can be generated more efficiently. The system has been evaluated experimentally by both simulated and real-life data. The results are encouraging. For example, operation steps that normally require over 30minutes to complete can now be carried out in as quickly as two minutes, and produce a better solution.