Reformulation of Temporal Constraint Networks

Abstract

The focus of our research is the design and evaluation of new reformulation techniques for temporal constraint networks. The general temporal constraint satisfaction problem (TCSP) is NP-hard [2]. Although a simplified version of it, the simple temporal problem (STP), is tractable [2], techniques are being sought to further reduce the computational effort needed in practice in order to handle time critical conditions. One example is planning of the activities of an autonomous remote agent where some desirable properties such as dispatchability can be guaranteed.