Facility Layout Problem (FLP) aims to optimize arrangement of facilities to enhance productivity and minimize costs. Traditional methods face challenges in dealing with the complexity and non-linearity of modern manufacturing environments. This study introduced an approach combining Reinforcement Learning (RL) and simulation to optimize manufacturing line layouts. Deep Q-Network (DQN) learns to reduce unused space, improve path efficiency, and maximize space utilization by optimizing facility placement and material flow. Simulations were used to validate layouts and evaluate performance based on production output, path length, and bending frequency. This RL-based method offers a more adaptable and efficient solution for FLP than traditional techniques, addressing both physical and operational optimization.

In this paper, we propose a deep Q-network-based resource allocation method for efficient communication between a base station and multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in environments with limited wireless resources. This method focused on maximizing the throughput of UAV to Infrastructure (U2I) links while ensuring that UAV to UAV (U2U) links could meet their data transmission time constraints, even when U2U links share the wireless resource used by U2I links. The deep Q-network agent uses the Channel State Information (CSI) of both U2U and U2I links, along with the remaining time for data transmission, as state, and determines optimal Resource Block (RB) and transmission power for each UAV. Simulation results demonstrated that the proposed method significantly outperformed both random allocation and CSI-based greedy algorithms in terms of U2I link throughput and the probability of meeting U2U link time constraints.

Environmental issues have become a global concern recently. Countries worldwide are making efforts for carbon neutrality. In the automotive industry, focus has shifted from internal combustion engine vehicle to eco-friendly vehicles such as Electric Vehicles (EVs), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs). For driving strategy, research on vehicle driving method that can reduce vehicle energy consumption, called eco-driving, has been actively conducted recently. Conventional cruise mode driving control is not considered an optimal driving strategy for various driving environments. To maximize energy efficiency, this paper conducted research on eco-driving strategy for EVs-based on reinforcement learning. A longitudinal dynamics-based electric vehicle simulator was constructed using MATLAB Simulink with a road slope. Reinforcement learning algorithms, specifically Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) and Deep QNetwork (DQN), were applied to minimize energy consumption of EVs with a road slope. The simulator was trained to maximize rewards and derive an optimal speed profile. In this study, we compared learning results of DDPG and DQN algorithms and confirmed tendencies by parameters in each algorithm. The simulation showed that energy efficiency of EVs was improved compared to that of cruise mode driving.

In recent years, research on machine learning techniques that can be integrated with existing suspension control algorithms for enhanced control effects has advanced considerably. Machine learning, especially involving neural networks, often requires many samples, which makes maintaining robust performance in diverse, changing environments challenging. The present study applied reinforcement learning, which can generalize complex situations not previously encountered, to overcome this obstacle and is crucial for suspension control under varying road conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed control method was evaluated on different road conditions using the quarter-vehicle model. The impact of training data was assessed by comparing models trained under two distinct road conditions. In addition, a validation exercise on the performance of the control method that utilizes reinforcement learning demonstrated its potential for enhancing the adaptability and efficiency of suspension systems under various road conditions.

Deep reinforcement learning (RL) has attracted research interest in the manufacturing area in recent years, but real implemented applications are rarely found. This is because agents have to explore the given environments many times until they learn how to maximize the rewards for actions, which they provide to the environments. While training, random actions or exploration from agents may be disastrous in many real-world applications, and thus, people usually use computer generated simulation environments to train agents. In this paper, we present a RL experiment applied to temperature control of a chamber for ultra-precision machines. The RL agent was built in Python and PyTorch framework using a Deep Q-Network (DQN) algorithm and its action commands were sent to National Instruments (NI) hardware, which ran C codes with a sampling rate of 1 Hz. For communication between the agent and the NI data acquisition unit, a data pipeline was constructed from the subprocess module and Popen class. The agent was forced to learn temperature control while reducing the energy consumption through a reward function, which considers both temperature bounds and energy savings. Effectiveness of the RL approach to a multi-objective temperature control problem was demonstrated in this research.