Unisys experts to present quantum findings to the American Physical Society  

How fast can vehicles complete a delivery route? What if it starts raining? Or traffic on the interstate slows down? Each stop along a delivery route can make or break on-time delivery expectations.

During the American Physical Society March Meeting, Unisys' team of quantum experts will share their solution to the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) — a version of the classic traveling salesperson problem. Scheduled for March 3-8, 2024, the scientific research conference brings together more than 13,000 physicists worldwide to showcase their work, connect with others and discover groundbreaking physics research. 

During the conference, Alan Mott, a Unisys next-gen computing quantum senior research associate, will present the team’s recently published scholarly article, “Performance of Commercial Quantum Annealing Solvers for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem.” The article explores the quality of solutions a commercial quantum annealing platform provides, using the CVRP as a real-world case study.

The paper dispels preconceptions about quantum annealing's limitations and highlights its potential to revolutionize real-world problem-solving. One of the paper’s key findings is that the problem's complexity (constraint density) is pivotal and more critical than problem size in the quantum solution quality.

The paper is based on the effort of Unisys’ quantum computing experts — led by Salvatore Sinno, vice president of Innovation, Enterprise Computing Solutions — and their experience with the D-Wave quantum annealing platform. These efforts have resulted in a new AI- and quantum-enabled service for airlines and freight forwarders. But the work continues. An Innovate UK grant is supporting this team’s ongoing research efforts to explore how the air cargo industry can load pallets optimally. 

Download a copy of the paper here. To learn more about Mott’s presentation, visit the conference’s website.

Learn more about how Unisys is helping logistics organizations commercialize quantum by exploring Unisys Logistics Optimization^TM visit us online or contact us today.