EN100-web

Research and Innovation
Dynacargo: An Urban Solid
Waste Collection
Information System
by Artemios G. Voyiatzis and John Gialelis
The aim of the Dynamic Cargo Routing on-the-go
(Dynacargo) project is to optimize the fleet operation for
the city waste collection through urban-scale sensor
networks, delay-tolerant networking, citizen
participation, and dynamic routing.
The Dynamic Cargo Routing on-the-go (Dynacargo) project
aims to develop a state-of-art waste collection information
system that is capable of dynamically optimizing the service
plans of the garbage trucks (vehicle routes) based on the collection
of waste bin fill level information. The project
involves the TEI of Western Greece as a lead partner and the
Industrial Systems Institute of R.C. “Athena” as scientific
partners, two innovative SMEs from the ICT sector
(Mindware and OrasysID), and the Municipality of
Nafpaktia, Greece. The system is tested in the historical city
of Nafpaktos (Lepanto). The project started in September
2013 and concludes in June 2015.
The efficient collection of urban solid waste is a growing
problem for cities and urban areas. Optimized service plans
can save money, reduce emissions, and improve a city’s
image. However, waste bins are still emptied by experience
and ‘a good guess approach’ although the advantages of utilizing
‘actual status information’ are evident [1].
In the Dynacargo project, we seek for applicable solutions at
the whole chain of information collection and diffusion
(Figure 1). At the bin level, we research sensors, mainly
ultrasound, that cope with the harsh environment and can
provide accurate fill level information while randomlyplaced
solid objects of different shapes are placed in the bin.
Given that the bins are installed in the roads or pavements,
battery operation must be assumed and strategies for
longevity must be devised.
At an urban scale of operation, thousands of sensors are
sparsely deployed in the city terrain. System installation and
maintenance, ensuring radio coverage, and retaining network
formation can become an unmanageable task. The
Dynacargo project opts for low-range, point-to-point communications
based on RFID technology so as to cope with
these issues. Vehicles roaming around the city and equipped
with readers collect the information from the bins. In order to
cope with increased telecommunication costs and infrastructure
upgrades, these mobile sinks defer transmissions until
an Internet connection becomes available. The Delay
Tolerant Networking paradigm ensures that the information
is retained in the bins, until a mobile sink passes nearby and
then in the sinks, until an Internet connection is available.
At the information system in the backend, the information
from the mobile sinks is received and stored, along with historical
data and information regarding the status of the
garbage truck fleet and the city infrastructure. Artificial intelligence
techniques are used to estimate missing fill level
reports from the waste bins. The service plan for the fleet is
modelled as a Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem
(CVRP). The Dynacargo route optimization module computes
optimized service plans while the fleet is on-the-go.
Figyure 1: Dynacargo information collection and diffusion: roaming vehicles collect bin information and transmit from nearby hotspots to the
backend system. Service plan (green line) of garbage truck is updated on-the-go (red line) based on processed information.
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ERCIM NEWS 100 January 2015