Optimized Multi-Agent Routing in Guidepath Networks

This paper describes a heuristic algorithm for minimizing the makespan required to route a set of agents inhabiting a shared guidepath network from their initial locations to their respective destinations. The work is motivated by the operations taking place in the context of some unit-load material handling systems, like the zone-controlled AGV systems, and in quantum computers. This document presents a description of the considered problem and of the inner workings of the proposed algorithm, a complexity analysis of this algorithm, and a set of computational results that reveal the efficacy of the derived solutions. The paper concludes with some directions for future research on the considered problem and the further development of the presented results. (C) 2017, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights