Abstract

This paper presents a new approach to solve rostering, planning and resource management problems. This is achieved by transforming several kinds of finite domain constraints of a given constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) into a set of regular membership constraints; and then these regular membership constraints are combined together to a more specific regular membership constraint. The purpose of this approach is to improve the speed of CSPs resolution and to remove undesirable redundant constraints (constraints which slow down the resolution speed) by replacing part of or all constraints of a CSP with a set of regular membership constraints followed by the combination of multiple regular membership constraints into a new, more precise regular membership constraint. A concise rostering example has demonstrated that our approach enables a significant improvement of the performance of the CSP resolution due to the pruning of the search tree.

Highlights

  • Constraint programming is a powerful method to model and solve NP-complete problems in a declarative way

  • A constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) in practical can be described in various ways; and the problem can be modeled by different combinations of constraints, which results in the diversity of resolution speed and behavior

  • This paper presents a way to model planning, scheduling and resource management problems using a regular CSP and discusses the use of the transformation from a CSP to a regular CSP

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Summary

Introduction

Constraint programming is a powerful method to model and solve NP-complete problems in a declarative way. A CSP in practical can be described in various ways; and the problem can be modeled by different combinations of constraints, which results in the diversity of resolution speed and behavior. This phenomenon mainly caused by different propagators used by different constraints. This paper presents a way to model planning, scheduling and resource management problems using a regular CSP and discusses the use of the transformation from a CSP to a regular CSP.

Basic Principles of Constraint Programming
Theoretical Considerations
Transformations From Special Global Constraints Into Regular Constraints
Advantages and Disadvantages
A Rostering Example
Conclusion
Full Text
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