Time-dependent optimization for sustainable transportation (PRIN2022)

Project: Time-dependent optimization for sustainable transportation

TOTAL INVESTMENT OF THE PROJECT: 251.000€ (total cost) -  150.000€ (MUR funding)

FUNDED BY:  EU NextGenerationEU, Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca (MUR)

The project has started in September 2023 and ended in February 2026.

LEADER OF THE PARTNERSHIP:

Unibs

PROJECT PARTNER:

Bologna University

La Sapienza University

DESCRIPTION:

This project aimed at developing, implementing, and validating a set of time-dependent optimization tools that embrace different facets of mobility in urban areas. These tools are based on new mathematical programming models and optimization algorithms, and aim at supporting the decisions of mobility players in the context of sustainable mobility, taking advantage of the availability of dynamic time-dependent data. 

More in details, the project:

- tackles the problem of determining an optimal deployment of charging stations for electric vehicles, by studying the variation during the day of recharging needs and the impact on the solutions of different urban layouts; 

-addresses the problem of bike rebalancing in bike-sharing systems by employing machine learning techniques to forecast user demand; 

-studies a new problem in freight delivery where an automated truck, along with a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, is employed; 

-studies the problem of coordinating, in a dynamic setting, the directions to give to vehicles with the goal of reducing traffic congestion. 

The algorithms to solve these problems are based on the solution, as sub-problems, of basic shortest path and routing problems. Hence, the project has developed efficient algorithms for the solution of constrained and time-dependent variants of the latter problems.