On solving the bi-objective aircraft cargo loading problem

In this paper, we present a bi-objective aircraft cargo loading problem arising in the field of air cargo transportation. The problem deals with packing a set of items into a minimum number of containers to be then stowed into a predefined number of compartments specifically designed for an aircraft under consideration. Two objectives have to be concurrently maximized: the total weight and the total priority of the loaded cargo. In order to satisfy safety and stability requirements, load balancing constraints are taken into account and expressed in terms of the deviation between the gravity center after loading and its ideal position. To tackle the problem, we apply a multi-objective particle swarm optimization approach adapted to a real-world case study. An experimental investigation based on a large test bed instances in order to show that the proposed algorithm is a promising approach for solving the bi-objective aircraft cargo loading problem.