Supporting The Design Of Automated Container Terminals With The Multiple Worlds Concept

摘要

Automation in maritime container terminals is gaining momentum as the advantages in terms of productivity and costs have become apparent. Automated container terminals differ from manual ones by robotized vehicles transporting the containers instead of man-driven vehicles. The design of an automated container terminal remains a daunting task due to the large solution space. In previous work, we introduced the multiple worlds concept to support the design of complex systems. By applying the multiple worlds formalism on the case of automated container terminals, we are able to explore the large solution space in a structured way and have the ability to select the most robust design. In order to use the concept however, a specific component library has to be developed that can be used in a multiple worlds environment. This component library has different abstraction levels that can be used throughout the design process. During the design process, different alternatives are explored by going from a high abstracted model to a more concrete model. At the end of the design process, different concrete models are available. From these concrete models, a thorough selection can be made to finally maintain the most robust design. In this paper, the concept will be discussed and the component library will be presented.