Solving optimal facility placement problems in terms of life-support systems of the population

Project author. National Mining University, Department of System Analysis and Control, Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine).

Project objective. Developing new models and methods solving to solve location-allocation problems and providing the basis of efficient algorithms allowing taking coordinated decisions in terms of facility placement on a given area.

Project background. There are many important problems arising while caring out practical activity, related to the problem of optimal facility location in a given region and partitioning this region on service areas. Such tasks are widespread in practice, because the location area can have a different structure and the term "facility" can be interpreted broadly. The examples of such tasks are the location of various service points (hospitals, shops, fire stations, financial institutions, schools, businesses of various types, etc.),engineering of the wireless networks, irrigation problems, the developing of enterprise master  plans; PCB layout, engineering of aircraft, etc.

The placement criteria can be also different. The following parameters should be considered: distance to maintenance facility, time product (services) delivery, ecological and technological safety, distance to competitors’ service points, etc. Morevere, solving these problems require considerating natural and artificial constrains, including the lack of human and resource potential, the complexity of decision-making conditions, the significance of decision and possible consequences of its implementation.

Therefore, the development of new models and solution methods of these tasks remains an urgent problem.

The expected outcomes of the research are new mathematical models of facility location problems and their solution algorithms. Such algorithms provide the basis for the development of decision support systems and their software   implementation. Using mentioned technology can improve management processes, including their analysis and optimization; provide automated support for decision-making in terms of facility placement, in particular, life-support systems of the population.