Precise constraint satisfaction modeling requires specific knowledge acquired from multiple past cases. We address this issue with a general branch-and-bound algorithm that learns the parameters of a given global constraint from a small set of positive solutions. The idea is to cleverly explore the possible combinations taken by the constraint’s parameters without explicitly enumerating all com...

This paper describes a case study on a generalpurpose Constraint Relaxation Problem solver, COASTOOL. Using COASTOOL,~ problem can be solved merely by declaring “what is the problem,” without programming “how to solve it.” The problem is solved by a novel method that generates a high-quality initial assignment using arc-consistency, and refines it using hillclimbing. This approach has been eval...

This work arises from the research of the Metaheuristics Network on the University Course Timetabling Problem. In a first phase straightforward implementations of different metaheuristics were compared on a common local search framework [4]. In a second phase problem specific knoweldge was exploited and several alternatives for local search and metaheuristics were considered. Many possibilities...

This paper introduces a Grammar-based Genetic Programming Hyper-Heuristic framework (GPHH) for evolving constructive heuristics for timetabling. In this application GP is used as an online learning method which evolves heuristics while solving the problem. In other words, the system keeps on evolving heuristics for a problem instance until a good solution is found. The framework is tested on so...

Arranging a lecture/tutorial/lab timetable in a large university department or school is a hard problem faced continually in educational establishments. We describe how this problem has been solved in one institution via the use of evolutionary algorithms. The technique extends easily and straightforwardly to any lecture timetabling problem. Although there may be more eeective ways to handle pa...

The International Timetabling Competition 2019 (ITC 2019) posed a university timetabling problem involving assigning classes to times and rooms for an entire semester while students required classes. We propose new mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation of the problem. MIP takes advantage different graph structures in conflict graphs construct strong constraints. In addition, we introduce ...

The university course timetabling problem is a typical combinatorial optimization problem. This paper tackles the multi-objective university course timetabling problem (MOUCTP) and proposes a guided search non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm to solve the MOUCTP. The proposed algorithm integrates a guided search technique, which uses a memory to store useful information extracted from previo...

This paper explores one aspect of the high school timetabling problem, namely the assignment of resources, such as teachers and rooms, to meetings after times are assigned. Several algorithms, with run times of just a few seconds, are presented and tested on real-world data. The best of these is currently in operation within KTS, a free, public web site for high school timetabling created by th...

This paper describes the University Course Timetabling Problem (UCTP) used in the International Timetabling Competition 2003 organized by the Metaheuristics Network and presents a state-of-the-art heuristic approach towards the solution of the competition instances. It is a greatly improved version of the winning competition entry. The heuristic is divided into three phases: at first, a feasibl...

This paper investigates the integration of the employee timetabling and production scheduling problems. At the first level, we manage a classical employee timetabling problem. At the second level, we aim at supplying a feasible production schedule for a set of interruptible tasks with qualification requirements and time-windows. Instead of hierarchically solving these two problems as in the cur...