Automatic aircraft cargo load planning

Abstract

The goal of this paper is the development of a new mixed integer linear program designed for optimally loading a set of containers and pallets into a compartmentalised cargo aircraft. It is based on real-world problems submitted by a professional partner. This model takes into account strict technical and safety constraints. In addition to the standard goal of optimally positioning the centre of gravity, we also propose a new approach based on the moment of inertia. This double goal implies an increase in aircraft efficiency and a decrease in fuel consumption. Cargo loading generally remains a manual, or at best a computer-assisted, and time-consuming task. A fully automatic software was developed to quickly compute optimal solutions. Experimental results show that our approach achieves better solutions than manual planning, within only a few seconds.

Vehicle routing problems with loading constraints: state-of-the-art and future directions

“…Amiouny et al 1992;Gehring and Bortfeldt 1997;Davies and Bischoff 1999;Bortfeldt and Wäscher 2013;Paquay et al 2013). Limbourg et al (2012) propose an approach for loading ULDs (unit loading devices) into an aircraft. To ensure its balance, the authors not only take the center of gravity into consideration, but also minimize the moment of inertia.…”

“…To ensure its balance, the authors not only take the center of gravity into consideration, but also minimize the moment of inertia. The minimization of the moment of inertia leads to a more dense packing of the load around the CG, which reduces stress on the aircraft structure and leads to better aircraft manoeuvrability (Limbourg et al 2012). Although weight distribution is an important issue in practice (Davies and Bischoff 1999), to our knowledge, it is only considered once in combination with routing problems.…”

Air Cargo Loading Management System for Logistics Forwarders

“…Constraint (4) ensures that in every pallet, there are no 2 cartons released in more than 2 days later than each other. Constraint (5) ensures that the weight of any ULD is equal to sum of weight of carton packed inside it. Constraint (6) describes if any carton is assigned to an ULD, the ULD is considered used.…”

“…The forwarder makes their bookings in terms of Unit Load Devices (ULDs). A ULD is an assembly of components consisting of a container or of a pallet covered with a net, whose purpose is to provide standardized size units for individual pieces of baggage or cargo, and to allow for rapid loading and unloading [5]. ULDs have some special shapes and measurements which are subject to the operation conditions of the individual airline company.…”

MIP-based constructive heuristics for the three-dimensional Bin Packing Problem with transportation constraints

“…Indeed, in this context, bins are called Unit Load Devices (ULD). A ULD is an assembly of components consisting of a container, or pallet covered with a net, which provides standardised size units for individual pieces of baggage or cargo, and allows for rapid loading and unloading (Limbourg et al (2012)). ULDs may have specific shapes to fit inside aircraft, as shown in Figure 1.…”