Quantum Model for CVRPTW

TL;DR

This paper introduces a quantum algorithm based on Grover Search for solving the CVRPTW, leveraging a qubit-efficient model suitable for NISQ devices to improve solution quality over classical methods.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel quantum algorithm for CVRPTW that overcomes classical decomposition limitations using a qubit-efficient approach suitable for current quantum hardware.

Findings

Quantum algorithm improves solution quality for CVRPTW.

Qubit-efficient model enables handling of time windows and capacity constraints.

Implementation demonstrated on gate-based quantum computers.

Abstract

This paper proposes a quantum algorithm for the capacitated vehicle routing problem with time windows (CVRPTW) based on Grover Search framework. This problem is often faced by Postal services in the context of package delivery or other time-sensitive operations. We provide an implementation on gate based quantum computer of a model inspired by classical route first, cluster second technique. The quantum paradigm allows to overcome suboptimality inherent property of this decomposition. In the current NISQ (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) era, the most important limitation is the number of available qubits which makes time windows and capacity constraints hard to tackle. We introduce a qubit-efficient split-inspired modeling which adds only a linear number of decision qubits to standard quantum formulations for Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP).