The challenge is over! Congratulations to 'DEV' and 'miLoa'!
Planning a public transportation system is a complex process, which has traditionally been broken down in several phases, performed in sequence. Most often, the trips required to cover a service with the desired frequency are decided early on, while the vehicles needed to cover these trips are determined at a later stage. This potentially leads to requiring a larger number of vehicles (and, therefore, drivers) than would be possible if the two decisions were performed simultaneously.
The MINOA Research Challenge is about solving one specific version of the problem of planning trips and vehicles simultaneously, developed by M.A.I.O.R, and called the (non-periodic) Integrated Time Table and Vehicle Scheduling Problem. With respect to the original version, the problem of the challenge requires to take into account the extra complexity due to use of Electric Vehicles, that have shorter ranges and need longer recharge times than ordinary Internal Combustion Engine ones.
Three different versions of the problem are proposed for three different categories (Junior, Senior and Professionals). The winning teams (one for category) will receive an all-expenses-paid trip (at most 2500 Euro per team) to visit FAU, where they will discuss their solutions, explore possibilities for future collaboration or careers, and present their work at the next Long Night of Sciences in FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. Pay attention to important dates and in particular to submission deadline!
As said, there are three different categories (Junior, Senior, Professional) for participating teams. The detailed descriptions of rules and problems can be found here. (Updated May, 27th 2021)
If you want to participate - alone or in a group - the challenge is open only for registered teams, compile form and subscribe now! (Expired May, 15th 2021)
A set of trial instances and a toy example with a corresponding feasible (not necessarily optimal) solution are provided, along with a validator to check the feasibility of your solution, along with the TT and VS cost of it.
For trial instances, and to use the validator, click here. (Updated June, 9th 2021)
Registered teams can now submit their report on the algorithmic implementation and [optionally] the source code of their challenge solutions here.
Registered teams can now download here the input instances for the challenge and submit their solutions here! (Updated May, 27th 2021)
If you have any question please take a look at FAQs or at Q&A. (Updated May, 20th 2021)
If you have any question regarding technical information - such as how to register or you need help with downloading the files - please feel free to contact us via technical info form.
If you have any question regarding the content of the challenge, please feel free to contact us via challenge info form.
For general discussion, you can look and subscribe at Minoa Research Challenge Forum.