Learning and Cooperating Multi-Agent Scheduling Repair Using a Provenance-Centred Approach

The timetabling problem is to find a timetable solution by assigning time and resources to sessions that satisfy a set of constraints. Traditionally, research has focused on optimization towards a final solution but this paper focuses on minimizing disturbance impact due to changing conditions. A Mu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tan, Terence, Tan, Tele, West, Geoff, Low, S.
Other Authors: Not known
Format: Conference Paper
Published: IEEE 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26518
Description
Summary:The timetabling problem is to find a timetable solution by assigning time and resources to sessions that satisfy a set of constraints. Traditionally, research has focused on optimization towards a final solution but this paper focuses on minimizing disturbance impact due to changing conditions. A Multi-Agent System (MAS) is proposed in which users are represented as autonomous agents negotiating with one another to repair a timetable. From repeated negotiations, agents learn to develop a model of other agent's preferences. The MAS is simulated on a factorial experiment set up and varying the cooperation level, learning model and selection strategy. A provenance-centred approach is adopted to improve the human aspect of timetabling to allow users to derive the steps towards a solution and make changes to influence the solution.