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Local Probing Applied to Scheduling

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Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP 2002 (CP 2002)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2470))

Abstract

This paper describes local probing, an algorithm hybridization form that combines backtrack search enhanced with local consistency techniques (BT+CS) with local search (LS) via probe backtracking. Generally BT+CS can be effective at finding solutions for (or proving the infeasibility of) tightly constrained problems with complex and overlapping constraints, but lacks good optimization characteristics. By contrast, LS can be superior at optimizing problems that are loosely constrained, or that have constraints which are satisfiable by simple neighbourhood procedures, but it also has several weaknesses of its own. It is weaker on problems with a complex constraint satisfaction element, and cannot prove problem infeasibility, causing prolonged execution times and ambiguous search outcomes for even trivially infeasible problems.

We show these divergent characteristics on a general resource constrained scheduling problem class, extended with a widely applicable objective function. We then detail a local probing hybrid that marries the strengths of constraint satisfaction techniques, including good satisfaction characteristics and proofs of problem infeasibility, with the superior optimization characteristics of LS. This local probing hybrid achieves satcompleteness, without incorporating all the constraints into the LS neighbourhood function. Finally, we discuss the principal questions that must be answered in creating local probing hybrids for other problems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IC-Parc Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    Olli Kamarainen & Hani El Sakkout

Authors
  1. Olli Kamarainen
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  2. Hani El Sakkout
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Brown University, Box 1910, Providence, RI, 02912, USA

    Pascal Van Hentenryck

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Kamarainen, O., Sakkout, H.E. (2002). Local Probing Applied to Scheduling. In: Van Hentenryck, P. (eds) Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP 2002. CP 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2470. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46135-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46135-3_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-44120-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-46135-7

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