AUTOMATIC CARGO LOAD PLANNING

The aircraft loading problem is a real-world combinatorial optimisation problem highly constrained. Indeed, loading the aircraft so the gross weight is less than the maximum allowable is not enough. This weight must be distributed to keep the centre of gravity (CG) within specified limits. Balance control refers to the location of the CG. Both lateral and longitudinal balances are important in order to minimize fuel consumption and to satisfy stability and safety requirements. Moreover, an aircraft has usually several cargo compartments with specific contours and structural limitations such as floor loading, combined load limits and cumulative load limitations. The topic of this talk is the description of a mixed integer linear program for the problem of loading a set of Unit Loading Devices (ULDs) and bulk into an aircraft. An ULD can be a container or a pallet and is characterised by the type, contour, weight and height. Experimental results for real data sets show that the model achieves better balanced solutions in only a few seconds compared to the solution obtained by load masters.