Abstract
This paper examines the application of neural networks as a construction heuristic for the examination timetabling problem. Building on the heuristic ordering technique, where events are ordered by decreasing scheduling difficulty, the neural network allows a novel dynamic, multi-criteria approach to be developed. The difficulty of each event to be scheduled is assessed on several characteristics, removing the dependence of an ordering based on a single heuristic. Furthermore, this technique allows the ordering to be reviewed and modified as each event is scheduled; a necessary step since the timetable and constraints are altered as events are placed. Our approach uses a Kohonen self organising neural network and is shown to have wide applicability. Results are presented for a range of examination timetabling problems using standard benchmark datasets.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Burke, E.K., Jackson, K.S., Kingston, J.H., Weare, R.F.: Automated Timetabling: The State of the Art. The Computer Journal 40(9), 565–571 (1997)
Carter, M.W., Laporte, G.: Recent developments in practical examination timetabling. In: Burke, E.K., Ross, P. (eds.) PATAT 1995. LNCS, vol. 1153, pp. 3–21. Springer, Heidelberg (1996)
Burke, E.K., Petrovic, S.: Recent research directions in automated timetabling. European Journal of Operational Research 140, 266–280 (2002)
Thompson, J.M., Dowsland, K.A.: A Robust Simulated Annealing Based Examination Timetabling System. Computers and Operations Research 25(7-8), 637–648 (1998)
White, G.M., Xie, B.S.: Examination Timetables and Tabu Search with Longer-Term Memory. In: Burke, E., Erben, W. (eds.) PATAT 2000. LNCS, vol. 2079, pp. 85–103. Springer, Heidelberg (2001)
Burke, E.K., Newall, J.P.: Enhancing Timetable Solutions with Local Search Methods. In: Burke, E.K., De Causmaecker, P. (eds.) PATAT 2002. LNCS, vol. 2740, pp. 195–206. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)
Burke, E.K., Newall, J.P., Weare, R.F.: A Memetic Algorithm for University Exam Timetabling. In: Burke, E.K., Ross, P. (eds.) PATAT 1995. LNCS, vol. 1153, pp. 241–250. Springer, Heidelberg (1996)
Corne, D., Fang, H.L., Mellish, C.: Solving the Modular Exam Scheduling Problem with Genetic Algorithms. In: Proc of the 6th International Conference on Industrial and Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Expert systems, pp. 370–373 (1993)
Ross, P., Corne, D., Fang, H.L.: Improving Evolutionary Timetabling and Delta Evaluation and Directed Mutation. In: Davidor, Y., Schwefel, H.P., Manner, R. (eds.) Parallel Program Solving in Nature, vol. III, pp. 565–566. Springer, Berlin (1994)
Burke, E.K., Newall, J.P., Weare, R.F.: Initialisation Strategies and Diversity in Evolutionary Timetabling. Evolutionary Computation 6(1), 81–103 (1998)
Burke, E.K., Newall, J.P.: A Multi-Stage Evolutionary Algorithm for the Timetabling Problem. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation 3(1), 63–74 (1999)
Burke, E.K., Bykov, Y., Petrovic, S.: A Multi-Criteria Approach to Examination Timetabling. In: Burke, E., Erben, W. (eds.) PATAT 2000. LNCS, vol. 2079, pp. 118–131. Springer, Heidelberg (2001)
Merlot, L.T.G., Boland, N., Hughes, B.D., Stuckey, P.J.: A Hybrid Algorithm for the Examination Timetabling Problem. In: Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling IV, pp. 207–231. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)
Burke, E.K., Petrovic, S., Qu, R.: Case Based Heuristic Selection for Timetabling Problems. Journal of Scheduling 9(2), 115–132 (2006)
Burke, E.K., McCollum, B., Meisels, A., Petrovic, S., Qu, R.: A Graph-Based Hyper-Heuristic for Timetabling Problems. European Journal of Operational Research (to appear, 2006) (accepted for publication)
Asmuni, H., Burke, E.K., Garibaldi, J.M., McCollum, B.: Fuzzy Multiple Heuristic Ordering for Examination Timetabling. In: Burke, E.K., Trick, M.A. (eds.) PATAT 2004. LNCS, vol. 3616, pp. 334–353. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)
Burke, E.K., Newall, J.P.: Solving Examination Timetabling Problems through the Adaption of Heuristic Orderings. Annals of Operational Research 129, 107–134 (2004)
Haykin, S.S., Saher, S.: Neural Networks: a comprehensive foundation, 2nd edn. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1998)
Burke, E.K., Elliman, D.G., Ford, P., Weare, R.F.: Examination Timetabling in British Universities: A survey. In: Burke, E.K., Ross, P. (eds.) PATAT 1995. LNCS, vol. 1153, pp. 76–90. Springer, Heidelberg (1996)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Corr, P.H., McCollum, B., McGreevy, M.A.J., McMullan, P. (2006). A New Neural Network Based Construction Heuristic for the Examination Timetabling Problem. In: Runarsson, T.P., Beyer, HG., Burke, E., Merelo-Guervós, J.J., Whitley, L.D., Yao, X. (eds) Parallel Problem Solving from Nature - PPSN IX. PPSN 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4193. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11844297_40
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11844297_40
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-38990-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-38991-0
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)