We present a general heuristic technique that solves a timetabling problem, such as school timetabling. It is based on a Hopfield-type neural network, whose complexity was significantly reduced by incorporating a genetic algorithm into a very first stage of the timetabling process. The goal of the GA was to initialize the network so that the number of neurons and their connections decreased, an...

Examination timetabling is a well-studied combinatorial optimization problem. We present a new hybrid algorithm for examination timetabling, consisting of three phases: a constraint programming phase to develop an initial solution, a simulated annealing phase to improve the quality of solution, and a hill climbing phase for further improvement. The examination timetabling problem at the Univers...

This work presents the application of Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) based algorithms to the High School Timetabling Problem. The addressed model of the problem was proposed by the Third International Timetabling Competition (ITC 2011), which released many instances from educational institutions around the world and attracted seventeen competitors. Some of the VNS algorithm variants were ab...

A number of modelling languages for timetabling have been proposed to standardise the specification of problems, solutions and their data formats. These languages have not been adopted as standard due to not simplifying the modelling process, lack of features and offering little advantage over traditional programming languages. In contrast to this approach we propose a new language-independent ...

Ametaheuristic-based algorithm is presented for the post enrolment-based course timetabling problem used in track-2 of the Second International Timetabling Competition (ITC2007). The featured algorithm operates in three distinct stages – a constructive phase followed by two separate phases of simulated annealing – and is time dependent, due to the fact that various run-time parameters are calcu...

Examination timetabling problems are often solved by a two-phase procedure combining a sequential construction heuristic with a metaheuristic improvement search. There can be many combinations of pairing candidate construction heuristics with a metaheuristic. Different pairings are known to produce solutions of varying quality. In this paper we propose a Case Based Reasoning methodology for sel...

In this paper, we study the multi-machine scheduling problem with earliness and tardiness penalties and sequence dependent setup times. This problem can be decomposedinto two subproblems sequencing and timetabling. Sequencing focuses on assigning each job to a fixed machine and determine the job sequence on each machine. We call such assignment a semi-schedule. Timetabling focuses on finding an...

Timetabling tasks form a widely studied type of resource scheduling problem, with important real-world applications in schools, universities and other educational settings. In this work, we focus on postenrollment course timetabling, the problem that was covered by Track 2 of the recent 2nd International Timetabling Competition (ITC2007). Following an approach that makes strong use of automated...

In manufacturing systems, generally employee timetabling and job shop scheduling is considered to be too hard and complex. To achieve an integrated manufacturing environment, the integration of employee timetabling and job shop scheduling is essential. It is a process of assigning employees into work slots in a pattern according to the hierarchy level of the employee, job allotment, individual ...

The university timetabling, examination and course, are known to be highly constrained optimization problems. Metaheuristic approaches, and their hybrids, have successfully been applied to solve the problems. This paper presents three artificial immune algorithms, the algorithms inspired by the immune system, for university timetabling; clonal selection, immune network and negative selection. T...