Route Optimization of Mobile Medical Unit with Reinforcement Learning

Shruti Maheshwari (), Pramod Kumar Jain and Ketan Kotecha
Additional contact information
Shruti Maheshwari: Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, Pune 412115, Maharashtra, India
Pramod Kumar Jain: Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University Campus, Varanasi 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India
Ketan Kotecha: Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, Pune 412115, Maharashtra, India

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a solution for optimizing the routes of Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) in the domain of vehicle routing and scheduling. The generic objective is to optimize the distance traveled by the MMUs as well as optimizing the associated cost. These MMUs are located at a central depot. The idea is to provide improved healthcare to the rural people of India. The solution is obtained in two stages: preparing a mathematical model with the most suitable parameters, and then in the second phase, implementing an algorithm to obtain an optimized solution. The solution is focused on multiple parameters, including the number of vans, number of specialists, total distance, total travel time, and others. The solution is further supported by Reinforcement Learning, explaining the best possible optimized route and total distance traveled.

Keywords: vehicle routing problem; healthcare; mobile medical unit; reinforcement learning; heuristics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/3937/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/3937/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:3937-:d:1076001

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().