Shipment Scheduling and Routing Protocols in Cyber-Physical Internet for Prefabricated Construction Modules Logistics

This paper explores the application of Cyber-physical Internet (CPI) in prefabricated construction logistics to enhance module shipment efficiency through a new scheduling framework. Drawing parallels between the TCP/IP model’s data transmission process and the physical shipment of construction modules, the study identifies inefficiencies in current logistics practices, including obstructed information sharing and collaboration among practitioners. To address these challenges, the paper proposes a suite of CPI protocols, like the internet protocols, to standardize information sharing, scheduling & routing rules among logistics practitioners and nodes. Based on the CPI protocols, a hierarchical and decentralized shipment decision framework is proposed to govern how the routing decisions and shipment scheduling decisions are made at each logistics node. A set of numerical experiments is conducted based on a real-life shipment case of construction modules in the Greater Bay Area to exhibit the great efficiency and resilience of the proposed protocol-based decision framework. And a case study is designed to show how the proposed protocols influence the decision process. The study’s contributions are threefold: demonstrating CPI application in a logistics scenario, developing protocols for efficient information sharing, and proposing a new decision framework for resilient and timely scheduling in complex logistics networks.