GRU-integrated constrained soft actor-critic learning enabled fully distributed scheduling strategy for residential virtual power plant

In this study,a novel residential virtual power plant(RVPP)scheduling method that leverages a gate recurrent unit(GRU)-integrated deep reinforcement learning(DRL)algorithm is proposed.In the proposed scheme,the GRU-integrated DRL algorithm guides the RVPP to participate effectively in both the day-ahead and real-time markets,lowering the electricity purchase costs and consumption risks for end-users.The Lagrangian relaxation technique is introduced to transform the constrained Markov decision process(CMDP)into an unconstrained optimization problem,which guarantees that the constraints are strictly satisfied without determining the penalty coefficients.Furthermore,to enhance the scalability of the constrained soft actor-critic(CSAC)-based RVPP scheduling approach,a fully distributed scheduling architecture was designed to enable plug-and-play in the residential distributed energy resources(RDER).Case studies performed on the constructed RVPP scenario validated the performance of the proposed methodology in enhancing the responsiveness of the RDER to power tariffs,balancing the supply and demand of the power grid,and ensuring customer comfort.

Research on Scheduling Strategy of Flexible Interconnection Distribution Network Considering Distributed Photovoltaic and Hydrogen Energy Storage

Distributed photovoltaic(PV)is one of the important power sources for building a new power system with new energy as the main body.The rapid development of distributed PV has brought new challenges to the operation of distribution networks.In order to improve the absorption ability of large-scale distributed PV access to the distribution network,the AC/DC hybrid distribution network is constructed based on flexible interconnection technology,and a coordinated scheduling strategy model of hydrogen energy storage(HS)and distributed PV is established.Firstly,the mathematical model of distributed PV and HS system is established,and a comprehensive energy storage system combining seasonal hydrogen energy storage(SHS)and battery(BT)is proposed.Then,a flexible interconnected distribution network scheduling optimization model is established to minimize the total active power loss,voltage deviation and system operating cost.Finally,simulation analysis is carried out on the improved IEEE33 node,the NSGA-II algorithm is used to solve specific examples,and the optimal scheduling results of the comprehensive economy and power quality of the distribution network are obtained.Compared with the method that does not consider HS and flexible interconnection technology,the network loss and voltage deviation of this method are lower,and the total system cost can be reduced by 3.55%,which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A Pre-Selection-Based Ant Colony System for Integrated Resources Scheduling Problem at Marine Container Terminal

Marine container terminal(MCT)plays a key role in the marine intelligent transportation system and international logistics system.However,the efficiency of resource scheduling significantly influences the operation performance of MCT.To solve the practical resource scheduling problem(RSP)in MCT efficiently,this paper has contributions to both the problem model and the algorithm design.Firstly,in the problem model,different from most of the existing studies that only consider scheduling part of the resources in MCT,we propose a unified mathematical model for formulating an integrated RSP.The new integrated RSP model allocates and schedules multiple MCT resources simultaneously by taking the total cost minimization as the objective.Secondly,in the algorithm design,a pre-selection-based ant colony system(PACS)approach is proposed based on graphic structure solution representation and a pre-selection strategy.On the one hand,as the RSP can be formulated as the shortest path problem on the directed complete graph,the graphic structure is proposed to represent the solution encoding to consider multiple constraints and multiple factors of the RSP,which effectively avoids the generation of infeasible solutions.On the other hand,the pre-selection strategy aims to reduce the computational burden of PACS and to fast obtain a higher-quality solution.To evaluate the performance of the proposed novel PACS in solving the new integrated RSP model,a set of test cases with different sizes is conducted.Experimental results and comparisons show the effectiveness and efficiency of the PACS algorithm,which can significantly outperform other state-of-the-art algorithms.

Shift scheduling strategy development for parallel hybrid construction vehicles

The shift scheduling system of the transmission has an important effect on the dynamic and economic performance of hybrid vehicles. In this work, shift scheduling strategies are developed for parallel hybrid construction vehicles. The effect of power distribution and direction on shift characteristics of the parallel hybrid vehicle with operating loads is evaluated, which must be considered for optimal shift control. A power distribution factor is defined to accurately describe the power distribution and direction in various parallel hybrid systems. This paper proposes a Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm optimized neural network shift scheduling strategy. The methodology contains two objective functions, it is a dynamic combination of a dynamic shift schedule for optimal vehicle acceleration, and an energy-efficient shift schedule for optimal powertrain efficiency. The study is performed on a test bench under typical operating conditions of a wheel loader. The experimental results show that the proposed strategies offer effective and competitive shift performance.

Operator scheduling strategy for LBS-based intelligent transportation system

With the development of location technologies, advanced LBS-based ITS increasingly requires the capability of database technologies to manage the continuously arrived vehicles’ location, traffic jam and other interrelated information of large amounts of traffic in the following years. And some burst arrival stream data will challenge the real-time performance and the allocation of limited resource. However, choosing a desirable database operator scheduling strategy can significantly improve the performance of the system. The path capability strategy was chosen and improved as ITS’ operator scheduling strategy to meet the real-time response and the minimal memory requirement of the system.

A Scheduling Strategy of Light Supplement in Agricultural Greenhouse Based on the Displacement of Light Source Group

LED can effectively promote the growth of crops and improve the yield of crops. In order to make the crops grow evenly in the agricultural greenhouse, the uniformity of illumination is very important. Because of the importance of illumination uniformity to the growth of crops, this paper intends to establish the illuminance model of light source without considering the influence factors such as the difference of each light source group and air scattering. On this basis, the reasonable layout of each light source position in the light source group is considered. Therefore, a light replenishment scheduling strategy based on the displacement of light source group is proposed in this paper Improve the uniformity of illumination in agricultural greenhouse and reduce its operation cost. Experiments show that the strategy is effective.

Urban Drainage Network Scheduling Strategy Based on Dynamic Regulation: Optimization Model and Theoretical Research

With the acceleration of urbanization in China,the discharge of domestic sewage and industrial wastewater is increasing,and accidents of sewage spilling out and polluting the environment occur from time to time.Problems such as imperfect facilities and backward control methods are com-mon in the urban drainage network systems in China.Efficient drainage not only strengthens infrastructure such as rain and sewage diversion,pollution source monitoring,transportation,drainage and storage but also urgently needs technical means to monitor and optimize production and operation.Aiming at the optimal control of single-stage pumping stations and the coordinated control between two-stage pumping stations,this paper studies the modelling and optimal control of drainage network systems.Based on the Long Short Term Memory(LSTM)water level prediction model of the sewage pumping stations,and then based on the mechanism analysis of drainage pipe network,the factors that may cause the water level change of pumping station are obtained.Grey correlation analysis is carried out on these influencing factors,and the prediction model is established by taking the factors with a high correlation degree as input.The research results show that compared with the traditional prediction model,the LSTM model not only has higher prediction accuracy but also has better inflection point tracking ability.

Parallel scheduling strategy of web-based spatial computing tasks in multi-core environment

In order to improve the concurrent access performance of the web-based spatial computing system in cluster,a parallel scheduling strategy based on the multi-core environment is proposed,which includes two levels of parallel processing mechanisms.One is that it can evenly allocate tasks to each server node in the cluster and the other is that it can implement the load balancing inside a server node.Based on the strategy,a new web-based spatial computing model is designed in this paper,in which,a task response ratio calculation method,a request queue buffer mechanism and a thread scheduling strategy are focused on.Experimental results show that the new model can fully use the multi-core computing advantage of each server node in the concurrent access environment and improve the average hits per second,average I/O Hits,CPU utilization and throughput.Using speed-up ratio to analyze the traditional model and the new one,the result shows that the new model has the best performance.The performance of the multi-core server nodes in the cluster is optimized;the resource utilization and the parallel processing capabilities are enhanced.The more CPU cores you have,the higher parallel processing capabilities will be obtained.

Multi-objective integrated optimization based on evolutionary strategy with a dynamic weighting schedule

The evolutionary strategy with a dynamic weighting schedule is proposed to find all the compromised solutions of the multi-objective integrated structure and control optimization problem, where the optimal system performance and control cost are defined by H2 or H∞ norms. During this optimization process, the weights are varying with the increasing generation instead of fixed values. The proposed strategy together with the linear matrix inequality （LMI） or the Riccati controller design method can find a series of uniformly distributed nondominated solutions in a single run. Therefore, this method can greatly reduce the computation intensity of the integrated optimization problem compared with the weight-based single objective genetic algorithm. Active automotive suspension is adopted as an example to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Cross-regional emergency scheduling planning for petroleum based on the supernetwork model

Petroleum, the most important energy source in the world, plays an essential role in securing economic development. If a petroleum shortage happens, it will severely disrupt production and life. Cross-regional emergency scheduling can effectively alleviate a petroleum shortage and further enhance the efficiency of the emergency response. Considering the general lack of focus on cross-regional petroleum dispatching management, we propose a three-layer emergency scheduling network for petroleum based on a supernetwork model that can increase the regional emergency correlation by adding a transfer management process. Then, we compare the total demand for petroleum and the emergency costs considered in the petroleum emergency scheduling supernetwork model（the single-region and the cross-region scenarios）.The result shows that the cross-regional emergency scheduling pattern can effectively enhance the efficiency of the emergency preparations and reduce the emergency costs in most cases. However, when the vulnerabilities in the crossregional link grow or the regional linkage decreases, the effect of single-regional scheduling is better. In addition, the advantages of the cross-regional emergency scheduling network will be strengthened with an increase in its maximum emergency capability. Nonetheless, this advantage will disappear when the petroleum demand in the crisis layer reaches the maximum emergency response capacity. Finally, according to the comparative analysis simulation among scenarios,certain strategic policy recommendations are suggested to improve the petroleum emergency scheduling ability in regions.These recommendations include strengthening the cross-regional coordination mechanism, increasing the modes of petroleum transportation and enhancing the carrying capacity of regional emergency routes.

Research on Flexible Flow⁃Shop Scheduling Problem with Lot Streaming in IOT⁃Based Manufacturing Environment

It is urgent to effectively improve the production efficiency in the running process of manufacturing systems through a new generation of information technology.According to the current growing trend of the internet of things(IOT)in the manufacturing industry,aiming at the capacitor manufacturing plant,a multi-level architecture oriented to IOT-based manufacturing environment is established for a flexible flow-shop scheduling system.Next,according to multi-source manufacturing information driven in the manufacturing execution process,a scheduling optimization model based on the lot-streaming strategy is proposed under the framework.An improved distribution estimation algorithm is developed to obtain the optimal solution of the problem by balancing local search and global search.Finally,experiments are carried out and the results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Service Scheduling Based on Edge Computing for Power Distribution IoT

With the growing amounts of multi-micro grids,electric vehicles,smart home,smart cities connected to the Power Distribution Internet of Things(PD-IoT)system,greater computing resource and communication bandwidth are required for power distribution.It probably leads to extreme service delay and data congestion when a large number of data and business occur in emergence.This paper presents a service scheduling method based on edge computing to balance the business load of PD-IoT.The architecture,components and functional requirements of the PD-IoT with edge computing platform are proposed.Then,the structure of the service scheduling system is presented.Further,a novel load balancing strategy and ant colony algorithm are investigated in the service scheduling method.The validity of the method is evaluated by simulation tests.Results indicate that the mean load balancing ratio is reduced by 99.16%and the optimized offloading links can be acquired within 1.8 iterations.Computing load of the nodes in edge computing platform can be effectively balanced through the service scheduling.

A novel hybrid estimation of distribution algorithm for solving hybrid flowshop scheduling problem with unrelated parallel machine

The hybrid flow shop scheduling problem with unrelated parallel machine is a typical NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem, and it exists widely in chemical, manufacturing and pharmaceutical industry. In this work, a novel mathematic model for the hybrid flow shop scheduling problem with unrelated parallel machine(HFSPUPM) was proposed. Additionally, an effective hybrid estimation of distribution algorithm was proposed to solve the HFSPUPM, taking advantage of the features in the mathematic model. In the optimization algorithm, a new individual representation method was adopted. The(EDA) structure was used for global search while the teaching learning based optimization(TLBO) strategy was used for local search. Based on the structure of the HFSPUPM, this work presents a series of discrete operations. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid algorithm compared with other algorithms.

Genetic algorithm for short-term scheduling of make-and-pack batch production process

This paper considers a scheduling problem in industrial make-and-pack batch production process. This process equips with sequence-dependent changeover time, multipurpose storage units with limited capacity, storage time, batch splitting, partial equipment connectivity and transfer time. The objective is to make a production plan to satisfy all constraints while meeting demand requirement of packed products from various product families. This problem is NP-hard and the problem size is exponentially large for a realistic-sized problem. Therefore,we propose a genetic algorithm to handle this problem. Solutions to the problems are represented by chromosomes of product family sequences. These sequences are decoded to assign the resource for producing packed products according to forward assignment strategy and resource selection rules. These techniques greatly reduce unnecessary search space and improve search speed. In addition, design of experiment is carefully utilized to determine appropriate parameter settings. Ant colony optimization and Tabu search are also implemented for comparison. At the end of each heuristics, local search is applied for the packed product sequence to improve makespan. In an experimental analysis, all heuristics show the capability to solve large instances within reasonable computational time. In all problem instances, genetic algorithm averagely outperforms ant colony optimization and Tabu search with slightly longer computational time.

A Grafted Genetic Algorithm for the Job-Shop Scheduling Problem

The standard genetic algorithm has limitations of a low convergence rate and premature convergence in solving the job-shop scheduling problem.To overcome these limitations,this paper presents a new improved hybrid genetic algorithm on the basis of the idea of graft in botany.Through the introduction of a grafted population and crossover probability matrix,this algorithm accelerates the convergence rate greatly and also increases the ability to fight premature convergence.Finally,the approach is tested on a set of standard instances taken from the literature and compared with other approaches.The computation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Local Search Algorithm with Hybrid Neighborhood and Its Application to Job Shop Scheduling Problem

A new local search method with hybrid neighborhood for Job shop scheduling problem is developed. The proposed hybrid neighborhood is not only efficient in local search, but also can help overcome entrapments while search procedure get trapped at local optima and carry the search to areas of the feasible set with better prospect. New strategies used for breaking out of entrapments are presented and they are helpful for the procedure to improve local optima. A performance comparison of the proposed method with some best-performing algorithms on all 10-job, 10-machine benchmark problems and the other two problems generated by Fisher and Thompson (ie., FT6 and FT20)is made. The experiment results show the better optimal performance of the proposed algorithm.

Bayes Theorem Based Virtual Machine Scheduling for Optimal Energy Consumption

This paper proposes an algorithm for scheduling Virtual Machines(VM)with energy saving strategies in the physical servers of cloud data centers.Energy saving strategy along with a solution for productive resource utilizationfor VM deployment in cloud data centers is modeled by a combination of“VirtualMachine Scheduling using Bayes Theorem”algorithm(VMSBT)and Virtual Machine Migration(VMMIG)algorithm.It is shown that the overall data center’sconsumption of energy is minimized with a combination of VMSBT algorithmand Virtual Machine Migration(VMMIG)algorithm.Virtual machine migrationbetween the active physical servers in the data center is carried out at periodicalintervals as and when a physical server is identified to be under-utilized.In VMscheduling,the optimal data centers are clustered using Bayes Theorem and VMsare scheduled to appropriate data center using the selection policy that identifiesthe cluster with lesser energy consumption.Clustering using Bayes rule minimizesthe number of server choices for the selection policy.Application of Bayestheorem in clustering has enabled the proposed VMSBT algorithm to schedule thevirtual machines on to the physical server with minimal execution time.The proposedalgorithm is compared with other energy aware VM allocations algorithmsviz.“Ant-Colony”optimization-based(ACO)allocation scheme and“min-min”scheduling algorithm.The experimental simulation results prove that the proposedcombination of‘VMSBT’and‘VMMIG’algorithm outperforms othertwo strategies and is highly effective in scheduling VMs with reduced energy consumptionby utilizing the existing resources productively and by minimizing thenumber of active servers at any given point of time.

An Improved Multi-Objective Hybrid Genetic-Simulated Annealing Algorithm for AGV Scheduling under Composite Operation Mode

This paper presents an improved hybrid algorithm and a multi-objective model to tackle the scheduling problem of multiple Automated Guided Vehicles(AGVs)under the composite operation mode.The multi-objective model aims to minimize the maximum completion time,the total distance covered by AGVs,and the distance traveled while empty-loaded.The improved hybrid algorithm combines the improved genetic algorithm(GA)and the simulated annealing algorithm(SA)to strengthen the local search ability of the algorithm and improve the stability of the calculation results.Based on the characteristics of the composite operation mode,the authors introduce the combined coding and parallel decoding mode and calculate the fitness function with the grey entropy parallel analysis method to solve the multi-objective problem.The grey entropy parallel analysis method is a combination of the grey correlation analysis method and the entropy weighting method to solve multi-objective solving problems.A task advance evaluation strategy is proposed in the process of crossover and mutation operator to guide the direction of crossover and mutation.The computational experiments results show that the improved hybrid algorithm is better than the GA and the genetic algorithm with task advance evaluation strategy(AEGA)in terms of convergence speed and solution results,and the effectiveness of the multi-objective solution is proved.All three objectives are optimized and the proposed algorithm has an optimization of 7.6%respectively compared with the GA and 3.4%compared with the AEGA in terms of the objective of maximum completion time.

Optimal integration of solar home systems and appliance scheduling for residential homes under severe national load shedding

In developing countries like South Africa,users experienced more than 1030 hours of load shedding outages in just the first half of 2023 due to inadequate power supply from the national grid.Residential homes that cannot afford to take actions to mitigate the challenges of load shedding are severely inconvenienced as they have to reschedule their demand involuntarily.This study presents optimal strategies to guide households in determining suitable scheduling and sizing solutions for solar home systems to mitigate the inconvenience experienced by residents due to load shedding.To start with,we predict the load shedding stages that are used as input for the optimal strategies by using the K-Nearest Neighbour(KNN)algorithm.Based on an accurate forecast of the future load shedding patterns,we formulate the residents’inconvenience and the loss of power supply probability during load shedding as the objective function.When solving the multi-objective optimisation problem,four different strategies to fight against load shedding are identified,namely(1)optimal home appliance scheduling(HAS)under load shedding;(2)optimal HAS supported by solar panels;(3)optimal HAS supported by batteries,and(4)optimal HAS supported by the solar home system with both solar panels and batteries.Among these strategies,appliance scheduling with an optimally sized 9.6 kWh battery and a 2.74 kWp panel array of five 550 Wp panels,eliminates the loss of power supply probability and reduces the inconvenience by 92%when tested under the South African load shedding cases in 2023.

Trust Based Meta-Heuristics Workflow Scheduling in Cloud Service Environment

Cloud computing has emerged as a new style of computing in distributed environment. An efficient and dependable Workflow Scheduling is crucial for achieving high performance and incorporating with enterprise systems. As an effective security services aggregation methodology, Trust Work-flow Technology (TWT) has been used to construct composite services. However, in cloud environment, the existing closed network services are maintained and functioned by third-party organizations or enterprises. Therefore service-oriented trust strategies must be considered in workflow scheduling. TWFS related algorithms consist of trust policies and strategies to overcome the threats of the application with heuristic workflow scheduling. As a significance of this work, trust based Meta heuristic workflow scheduling (TMWS) is proposed. The TMWS algorithm will improve the efficiency and reliability of the operation in the cloud system and the results show that the TMWS approach is effective and feasible.