Abstract
Timetabling problem is a complex task that is performed by a number of institutions worldwide, which has been usually addressed as an optimization problem where every approach considers the particular constraints of each institution under consideration. In this paper, we describe, model, and propose a solution to the timetabling problem at the División Académica de Ciencias y Tecnologías de la Información of the Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (UJAT), México. We modeled the specific constraints of this problem instance using the Object Constraint Language (OCL) of the Unified Modeling Language (UML), and we validated the model while using the state-of-the-art tool USE: UML-based Specification Environment. The solution strategy tackles the problem in two stages: (1) ACA: academic assignments, i.e., assign lectures to professors and (2) TTP: the timetabling process. We developed a Tabu Search customization named Tabu Search with Probabilistic Aspiration Criterion (TS-PAC) in order to solve the timetabling problem, and we developed a software prototype to test our proposal. Two feasible timetables for two different semesters were obtained according to the modeled constraints.
Highlights
Resource allocation is a widespread problem that is faced day by day, from organizing cashiers per shift in a supermarket to the tasking of air assets in an airport
In this paper, we solve a representative case of the University Course Timetabling problem (UCTP) at the División Académica deCiencias y
Before starting the optimization process, data preprocessing is performed in order to obtain useful information to improve the performance of the Tabu Search algorithm, and the data structures to facilitate satisfying the hard constraints are created:
Summary
Resource allocation is a widespread problem that is faced day by day, from organizing cashiers per shift in a supermarket to the tasking of air assets in an airport. Timetabling is an NP-Complete problem [1], so there is no deterministic algorithm that finds an optimal solution in a reasonable time. It is possible to use alternative strategies in order to obtain acceptable solutions in a reasonable time. These problems represent a challenge in Computer science, so there is a significant interest in finding efficient methods to solve these problems while using the least amount of resources, i.e., time and computational cost, while providing solutions that are close to the global optimum. There are different variants of the timetabling problem in the literature, generally differing on the type of institution and its related constraints. In this paper, we solve a representative case of the University Course Timetabling problem (UCTP) at the División Académica deCiencias y
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