Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems

This paper presents a case-based heuristic selection approach for automated university course and exam timetabling. The method described in this paper is motivated by the goal of developing timetabling systems that are fundamentally more general than the current state of the art. Heuristics that wor...

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Main Authors: Burke, Edmund, Petrovic, Sanja, Qu, Rong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/373/
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author Burke, Edmund
Petrovic, Sanja
Qu, Rong
author_facet Burke, Edmund
Petrovic, Sanja
Qu, Rong
author_sort Burke, Edmund
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper presents a case-based heuristic selection approach for automated university course and exam timetabling. The method described in this paper is motivated by the goal of developing timetabling systems that are fundamentally more general than the current state of the art. Heuristics that worked well in previous similar situations are memorized in a case base and are retrieved for solving the problem in hand. Knowledge discovery techniques are employed in two distinct scenarios. Firstly, we model the problem and the problem solving situations along with specific heuristics for those problems. Secondly, we refine the case base and discard cases which prove to be non-useful in solving new problems. Experimental results are presented and analyzed. It is shown that case based reasoning can act effectively as an intelligent approach to learn which heuristics work well for particular timetabling situations. We conclude by outlining and discussing potential research issues in this critical area of knowledge discovery for different difficult timetabling problems.
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spelling nottingham-3732021-05-31T14:47:47Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/373/ Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems Burke, Edmund Petrovic, Sanja Qu, Rong This paper presents a case-based heuristic selection approach for automated university course and exam timetabling. The method described in this paper is motivated by the goal of developing timetabling systems that are fundamentally more general than the current state of the art. Heuristics that worked well in previous similar situations are memorized in a case base and are retrieved for solving the problem in hand. Knowledge discovery techniques are employed in two distinct scenarios. Firstly, we model the problem and the problem solving situations along with specific heuristics for those problems. Secondly, we refine the case base and discard cases which prove to be non-useful in solving new problems. Experimental results are presented and analyzed. It is shown that case based reasoning can act effectively as an intelligent approach to learn which heuristics work well for particular timetabling situations. We conclude by outlining and discussing potential research issues in this critical area of knowledge discovery for different difficult timetabling problems. 2006 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/373/1/6rxqJOS.pdf Burke, Edmund, Petrovic, Sanja and Qu, Rong (2006) Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems. Journal of Scheduling, 9 (2). pp. 99-113. (In Press) case based reasoning course timetabling exam timetabling graph heuristics knowledge discovery meta-heuristics
spellingShingle case based reasoning
course timetabling
exam timetabling
graph heuristics
knowledge discovery
meta-heuristics
Burke, Edmund
Petrovic, Sanja
Qu, Rong
Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems
title Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems
title_full Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems
title_fullStr Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems
title_full_unstemmed Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems
title_short Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems
title_sort case based heuristic selection for timetabling problems
topic case based reasoning
course timetabling
exam timetabling
graph heuristics
knowledge discovery
meta-heuristics
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/373/