Determination of the optimal distribution for loading cargo vehicles using the IBM Qiskit VQE algorithm

Abstract

This paper presents a solution of the problem of determining the optimal configuration of maximizing the loading of cargo vehicles –subject to appropriate constraints – using quantum algorithms that was proposed at the Airbus Quantum Computing Challenge. Two constrains are considered: Maximum Volume available, and Maximum possible Weight. The solution uses the Variational Quantum Eigensolver and extends a previous proposal to solve the knapsack problem enlarging the Hamiltonian employed. The solution developed was implemented in IBM Qiskit environment.