Solving a timetabling problem using hybrid genetic algorithms

All over the world, human resources are used on all kinds of different scheduling problems, many of which are time-consuming and tedious. Scheduling tools are thus very welcome. This paper presents a research project, where Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are used as the basis for solving a timetabling problem concerning medical doctors attached to an emergency service. All the doctors express personal preferences, thereby making the scheduling rather difficult. In its natural form, the timetabling problem for the emergency service is stated as a number of constraints to be fulfilled. For this reason, it was decided to compare the strength of a Co-evolutionary Constraint Satisfaction (CCS) technique with that of two other GA approaches. Distributed GAs and a simple special-purpose hill climber were introduced, to improve the performance of the three algorithms. Finally, the performance of the GAs was compared with that of some standard, nonGA approaches. The distributed hybrid GAs were by far the most successful, and one of these hybrid algorithms is currently used for solving the timetabling problem at the emergency service. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A genetic algorithm for a university weekly courses timetabling problem

The timetabling problem is concerned with the allocation, subject to constraints, of given resources to objects in space and time in such way as to satisfy as nearly as possible a set of desirable objectives. This problem is known to be NP–complete and as such only combinatorial optimization methods can guarantee an optimal timetable. In this paper we propose a sector–based genetic algorithm for solving a university weekly courses timetabling problem. Preliminary experimental results indicate that the algorithm is promising.     

分组遗传算法优化大学考试时间表

大学考试时间表是一个多约束条件下的优化问题。传统遗传算法寻优的计算量是指数级的规模,而寻优的操作有可能会破坏时间表的硬约束条件,从而最终得到的解并不一定理想甚至不可行。该文从某高校的实际应用出发,对用图着色模型得到的已经满足了硬约束条件的初始考试时间表,用改进的分组遗传算法在既不破坏硬约束条件也不延长考试周的条件下扩大并平均分配了学生的复习时间,并且还大大减少了寻优的计算量。     

采用改进的混合遗传算法求解高校排课问题

为了解决一个存在大量合班现象的高校排课问题,建立了相应的数学模型并采用改进的混合遗传算法进行了求解。在产生初始种群的过程中进行了乱序处理,以提高初始种群中个体的多样性,避免早熟收敛现象的发生;为了防止种群的退化,引入了保留最优个体策略和竞争机制;根据问题的特点设计了与之相适应的遗传算子;为了提高种群进化的效率,交叉概率和变异概率都使用了自适应参数;为了提高算法的局部搜索能力,在交叉操作阶段采用了模拟退火算法。通过Matlab与Access混合编程,实现了对大规模数据的高效处理。实例结果表明,该算法能够有效地解决存在合班现象的高校排课问题。     

An effective hybrid algorithm for university course timetabling

The university course timetabling problem is an optimisation problem in which a set of events has to be scheduled in timeslots and located in suitable rooms. Recently, a set of benchmark instances was introduced and used for an ‘International Timetabling Competition’ to which 24 algorithms were submitted by various research groups active in the field of timetabling. We describe and analyse a hybrid metaheuristic algorithm which was developed under the very same rules and deadlines imposed by the competition and outperformed the official winner. It combines various construction heuristics, tabu search, variable neighbourhood descent and simulated annealing. Due to the complexity of developing hybrid metaheuristics, we strongly relied on an experimental methodology for configuring the algorithms as well as for choosing proper parameter settings. In particular, we used racing procedures that allow an automatic or semi-automatic configuration of algorithms with a good save in time. Our successful example shows that the systematic design of hybrid algorithms through an experimental methodology leads to high performing algorithms for hard combinatorial optimisation problems.     

Solving the high school timetabling problem using a hybrid cat swarm optimization based algorithm

In this contribution we present the application of a hybrid cat swarm optimization (CSO) based algorithm for solving the school timetabling problem. This easy to use, efficient and fast algorithm is a hybrid variation of the classic CSO algorithm. Its efficiency and performance is demonstrated by conducting experiments with real-world input data. This data, collected from various high schools in Greece, has also been used as test instances by many other researchers in their publications. Results reveal that this hybrid CSO based algorithm, applied to the same school timetabling test instances using the same evaluation criteria, exhibits better performance in less computational time compared to the majority of other existing approaches, such as Genetic Algorithms (GAs), Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs), Simulated Annealing (SA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Artificial Fish Swarm (AFS). The algorithm's main process constitutes a variation of the classic CSO algorithm, properly altered so as to be applied for solving the school timetabling problem. This process contains the main algorithmic differences of the proposed approach compared to other algorithms presented in the respective literature.     

货架分配问题的一个有效混合遗传算法

针对货架分配问题提出了一个遗传算法与模拟退火算法及一个局部搜索算法混合的算法。首先,设计了一种比较直观的编码方法,用一个矩阵作为一种货架分配方案。第二,设计了与编码相应的杂交和变异算子,并且杂交、变异都能生成可行解,不需要对解进行修正。第三,为了能够生成好的初始种群,定义了一个阀值,这个阀值不仅反映了解的适应值的信息,而且还反映解的结构的信息。第四,为了增加算法的局部搜索能力,同时又尽量不增加计算的复杂度,让模拟退火算法和一种局部搜索算法并行作用于相应的子群。通过大量的数据模拟实验及与其他的几种算法模拟结果进行比较,实验显示,该算法不论是计算结果还是算法的稳定性都优于其他算法。     

基于混合遗传模拟退火算法求解TSP问题

TSP问题是典型的NP-hard组合优化问题,遗传算法是求解此类问题的一种方法,但它存在如何较快地找到全局最优解,并防止“早熟”收敛的问题。针对上述问题并结合TSP问题的特点,提出将遗传算法与模拟退火算法相结合形成遗传模拟退火算法。为了解决群体的多样性和收敛速度的矛盾,采用了部分近邻法来生成初始种群,生成的初始种群优于随机产生初始种群。仿真实验结果证明,该算法相对于基本遗传算法的收敛速度、搜索质量和最优解输出概率方面有了明显的提高。     

混合整数非线性规划问题的改进差分进化算法*

提出一种改进差分进化算法求解混合整数非线性规划问题。该算法利用同态映射方法,解决差分进化算法无法直接处理整数决策变量问题;提出改进的自适应交替变异算子,提高算法的搜索性能;提出一种自适应保留不可行解的方法处理约束条件,并对差分进化算法的选择算子进行改进,提出一种直接处理约束条件的新选择算子。六个常用的混合整数非线性规划问题的实验结果表明了该方法的有效性和适用性。     

大学自动排考算法设计与实现

提出了一种应用于高等院校的自动排考算法.该算法结合了启发式算法的特点,同时建立静态冲突图来降低算法复杂程度,算法充分利用了应用领域经验和规则的优势,提高了自动排考的资源搜索能力.通过在实际工程中应用,表明该算法在解决复杂的高校排考问题时有较好的效果.     

A genetic algorithm for solving economic lot size scheduling problem

The purpose of this research is to determine an optimal batch size for a product and purchasing policy of associated raw materials. Like most other practical situation, this manufacturing firm has a limited storage space and transportation fleet of known capacity. The mathematical formulation of the problem indicates that the model is a constrained nonlinear integer program. Considering the complexity of solving such model, we investigate the use of genetic algorithms (GAs) for solving this model. We develop GA code with three different penalty functions usually used for constraint optimizations. The model is also solved using an existing commercial optimization package to compare the solution. The detailed computational results are presented.     

An exact algorithm for the bilevel mixed integer linear programming problem under three simplifying assumptions

We present an exact algorithm for the bilevel mixed integer linear programming (BMILP) problem under three simplifying assumptions. Although BMILP has been studied for decades and widely applied to various real world problems, there are only a few BMILP algorithms. Compared to these existing ones, our new algorithm relies on fewer and weaker assumptions, explicitly considers finite optimal, infeasible, and unbounded cases, and is proved to terminate finitely and correctly. We report results of our computational experiments on a small library of BMILP test instances, which we created and made publicly available online.     

多式联运运输问题的混合遗传算法

多式联运运输方式的选择关系到货物运输所需费用、时间等。该文对需经过多式联运过程的运输问题进行了研究。首先分析了多式联运运输问题的数学模型;其次通过引入关于运输量及运输方式的混合编码,结合两种混合遗传算子,提出了一种求解多式联运运输问题的混合遗传算法;最后用数值例子对算法的有效性进行了验证。     

背包问题混合遗传算法在电力恢复中的应用

文章把电力系统的负荷恢复问题建模为带众多约束条件的0-1背包问题,并设计了一种将贪心算法与改进遗传算法结合起来的改进混合遗传算法来对此问题进行求解.该算法的主要特点是具有群体爬山性和利用了郭涛算子的非凸组合技术使算法具有搜索的遍历性.采用此算法可以得到负荷恢复的某一阶段可恢复的最大的负荷量.求解的过程保证了求得的解是满足系统的约束条件,所以系统的负荷恢复过程是安全的.算例的结果表明了该算法的有效性.     

A hybrid multi-population genetic algorithm for the dynamic facility layout problem

Due to inherent complexity of the dynamic facility layout problem, it has always been a challenging issue to develop a solution algorithm for this problem. For more than one decade, many researchers have proposed different algorithms for this problem. After reviewing the shortcomings of these algorithms, we realize that the performance can be further improved by a more intelligent search. This paper develops an effective novel hybrid multi-population genetic algorithm. Using a proposed heuristic procedure, we separate solution space into different parts and each subpopulation represents a separate part. This assures the diversity of the algorithm. Moreover, to intensify the search more and more, a powerful local search mechanism based on simulated annealing is developed. Unlike the available genetic operators previously proposed for this problem, we design the operators so as to search only the feasible space; thus, we save computational time by avoiding infeasible space. To evaluate the algorithm, we comprehensively discuss the parameter tuning of the algorithms by Taguchi method. The perfectly tuned algorithm is then compared with 11 available algorithms in the literature using well-known set of benchmark instances. Different analyses conducted on the results, show that the proposed algorithm enjoys the superiority and outperformance over the other algorithms.     

A hybrid self-adaptive bees algorithm for examination timetabling problems

A hybrid self-adaptive bees algorithm is proposed for the examination timetabling problems. The bees algorithm (BA) is a population-based algorithm inspired by the way that honey bees forage for food. The algorithm presents a type of neighbourhood search that includes a random search that can be used for optimisation problems. In the BA, the bees search randomly for food sites and return back to the hive carrying the information about the food sites (fitness values); then, other bees will select the sites based on their information (more bees are recruited to the best sites) and will start a random search. We propose three techniques (i.e. disruptive, tournament and rank selection strategies) for selecting the sites, rather than using the fitness value, to improve the diversity of the population. Additionally, a self-adaptive strategy for directing the neighbourhood search is added to further enhance the local intensification capability. Finally, a modified bees algorithm is combined with a local search (i.e. simulated annealing, late acceptance hill climbing) to quickly descend to the optimum solution. Experimental results comparing our proposed modifications with each other and with the basic BA show that all of the modifications outperform the basic BA; an overall comparison has been made with the best known results on two examination timetabling benchmark datasets, which shows that our approach is competitive and works well across all of the problem instances.     

求解0-1整数规划问题的混沌遗传算法*

针对一类特殊的0-1整数规划求解问题提出一种混沌遗传算法。该算法采用幂函数载波技术提高混沌搜索的充分性与遍历性,以混沌搜索算法得出的优化个体作为遗传算法的新群体进行交叉、变异等操作,提高种群质量,同时增加种群多样性,改善遗传算法的早熟问题。该算法被用于解决片上网络映射A3MAP(architecture-aware analytic mapping) 0-1整数规划问题。实验仿真证明,该算法的收敛速度和解的精度均优于A3MAP-GA。     

A practical three‐phase ILP approach for solving the examination timetabling problem

A practical mathematical programming based approach is introduced for solving the examination timetabling problem at the German Jordanian University (GJU), whereby the complex process of acquiring a feasible examination timetable is simplified by subdividing it into three smaller sub‐problems (phases). Accordingly, the exams are initially allocated to time slots in phase one, the time slots are then allotted to days in phase two, and finally in phase three the exams are assigned to rooms based on the number of students taking each exam and capacities of the rooms. The solution for each phase is acquired based on an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation, while satisfying a set of hard constraints that ensure comfortable exam timetables for all students and meet the desired requirements set by GJU administrative staff. Furthermore, the solver can be controlled and launched from a student information system named MyGJU Admin, which enabled registrars at the university to easily, quickly, and accurately generate final exam timetables in several standard formats. Moreover, the approach was validated based on recent GJU registration information as well as real‐world benchmark data.     

一种求解三维集装箱装箱问题的混合遗传算法

在遗传算法的基础上结合传统启发式装箱算法,设计了一个混合遗传算法,该算法既继承了遗传算法的全局搜索好的优点,也克服了遗传算法局部搜索能力差的缺点,能够较好地解决集装箱这类多目标多约束的空间三维分布的问题。     

混合遗传算法求解配送车辆调度问题

车辆调度优化是物流配送的关键环节。针对有时间窗的车辆调度问题,综合考虑了路网中的交通状况,提出改进的车辆调度模型。并针对这个模型,设计了混合遗传算法,采用自适应策略调整交叉和变异概率,引进有效的交叉和变异算子,并结合模拟退火算法缓解遗传算法的选择压力,避免早熟收敛。仿真结果表明该算法与标准遗传算法相比有更好的性能。