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Air refueling tanker allocation based on a multi-objective zero-one integer programming model

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Abstract

The need to refuel aircraft traveling long distances is important because fuel tank capacities limit the range of aircraft, and landing to refuel may not be practical or even possible. To overcome this difficulty, aerial refueling can be performed en route along the aircraft’s travel path to extend its range. This paper considers the problem of identifying the locations along an aircraft flight path at which to conduct aerial refueling, given a limited number of refueling stations. Due to the inherent uncertainty of real-world cases, the cost of refueling is considered as an interval number, and the problem is mathematically presented as an interval multi-objective zero-one integer programming model. To solve the model, a new version of the modified label-correcting method and a genetic algorithm are proposed. Moreover, the applicability and efficiency of the proposed solution approaches are examined and compared using some randomly generated test problems.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the reviewers’ valuable comments and suggestions that helped them improve and clarify the paper. They would also like to express their gratitude to Dr. S. Niroomand and Dr. M. Hladik for editing this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mathematics, Shiraz University of Technology, Shiraz, 71557-13876, Iran

    Farzaneh Ferdowsi & Hamid Reza Maleki

  2. Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Shariati Ave, Babol, 47148-71167, Iran

    Sanaz Rivaz

Authors
  1. Farzaneh Ferdowsi
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  2. Hamid Reza Maleki
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  3. Sanaz Rivaz
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Correspondence to Hamid Reza Maleki.

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Ferdowsi, F., Maleki, H.R. & Rivaz, S. Air refueling tanker allocation based on a multi-objective zero-one integer programming model. Oper Res Int J 20, 1913–1938 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-018-0402-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-018-0402-5

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