Title: An intelligent vehicle routing system for family farming collective organisations

Authors: Edilson Ferneda; Bernardo A. Mello; Janaína D.A.S. Diniz; Adelaide S. Figueiredo

Addresses: Graduate Program in Knowledge and Information Technology Management, Catholic University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil. ' Institute of Physics, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil. ' Undergraduate Course of Agribusiness Management, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil. ' Graduate Program in Knowledge and Information Technology Management, Catholic University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil

Abstract: This paper presents an implementation of the Ant Colony Algorithm for the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). For the calculation of the best way between two adjacent points in the route, the classical algorithm of Dijkstra was used. Field activities and tests were carried out in different collective organisations, and collection and distribution route maps were created for each pilot-organisation. During the development of the system, some processes were revised in order to better adjust the routes, after considering the parameters related to cost, time and sales volume. The main difficulties in the development of this system were related to the adaptation of the standards proposed by urban routing systems to a rural context. Also, concerning the future trends of the model, many efforts have been made to improve the geographical interface and to test other VRP algorithms, like VRP with time windows and Dynamic VRP.

Keywords: knowledge systems; ant colony optimisation; ACO; logistics; VRP; vehicle routing; intelligent routing; family farming; farming collectives; collective farms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRIS.2012.046498

International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems, 2012 Vol.4 No.1/2, pp.108 - 116

Published online: 10 Apr 2012 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article