Particle transport through an open, discrete one-dimensional channel against a mechanical or chemical bias is analyzed within a master equation approach. The channel, externally driven by time-dependent site energies, allows multiple occupation due to the coupling to reservoirs. Performance criteria and optimization of active transport in a two-site channel are discussed as a function of reservoir chemical potentials, the load potential, interparticle interaction strength, driving mode, and driving period. Our results, derived from exact rate equations, are used in addition to test a previously developed time-dependent density functional theory, suggesting a wider applicability of that method in investigations of many particle systems far from equilibrium.
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