Abstract
This paper describes a hybrid bi-objective evolutionary algorithm, based on the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (or NSGA-II) for solving the Capacitated University Examination Timetable Problem. The instance solved is the timetable of the Electrical, Telecommunications and Computer Engineering Department at the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute, which comprises three bachelor programs and two master programs, having about 80 courses offered and 1200 students enrolled. The examination timetable build in a manual form takes about one week long, considering a two-person team. The proposed bi-objective algorithm incorporates the following objectives: (1) minimization of the number of occurrences of students having to take exams in consecutive days, and (2) the minimization of the timetable length. The computational results show that the automatic algorithm achieves better results compared to the manual solution, and in negligible time. After the optimization of each non-dominated feasible timetable, a room allocation procedure is used to allocate exams rooms.
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., Bykov, Y., Petrovic, S.: A Multicriteria Approach to Examination Timetabling. In: Burke, E., Erben, W. (eds.) PATAT 2000. LNCS, vol. 2079, pp. 118–131. Springer, Heidelberg (2001)
Burke, E., Landa Silva, J.: The Design of Memetic Algorithms for Scheduling and Timetabling Problems. In: Hart, W., Smith, J., Krasnogor, N. (eds.) Recent Advances in Memetic Algorithms. STUDFUZZ, vol. 166, pp. 289–311. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)
Burke, E., 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)
Carter, M.W., Laporte, G.: Recent developments in practical examination timetabling. In: Burke, E., Ross, P. (eds.) PATAT 1995. LNCS, vol. 1153, pp. 1–21. Springer, Heidelberg (1996)
Cheong, C., Tan, K., Veeravalli, B.: A Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm for Examination Timetabling. Journal of Scheduling 12, 121–146 (2009)
Côté, P., Wong, T., Sabourin, R.: Application of a Hybrid Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm to the Uncapacitated Exam Proximity Problem. In: Burke, E.K., Trick, M.A. (eds.) PATAT 2004. LNCS, vol. 3616, pp. 294–312. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)
Deb, K.: Multi-objective Optimization using Evolutionary Algorithms. Wiley, Chichester (2001)
Deb, K., Pratap, A., Agarwal, S., Meyarivan, T.: A Fast and Elitist Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm: NSGA-II. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation 6(2), 182–197 (2002)
Ehrgott, M., Gandibleux, X.: Hybrid Metaheuristics for Multi-objective Combinatorial Optimization. In: Blum, C., Aguilera, M., Roli, A., Sampels, M. (eds.) Hybrid Metaheuristics. SCI, vol. 114, pp. 221–259. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Leite, N., Neves, R.F., Horta, N., Melicio, F., Rosa, A.C.: Solving an Uncapacitated Exam Timetabling Problem Instance using a Hybrid NSGA-II. In: Rosa, A.C., Correia, A.D., Madani, K., Filipe, J., Kacprzyk, J. (eds.) IJCCI, pp. 106–115. SciTePress (2012)
McCollum, B., McMullan, P., Parkes, A.J., Burke, E.K., Qu, R.: A New Model for Automated Examination Timetabling. Annals of Operations Research 194, 291–315 (2012)
Moscato, P., Norman, M.: “Memetic” Approach for the Traveling Salesman Problem Implementation of a Computational Ecology for Combinatorial Optimization on Message-Passing Systems. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Parallel Computing and Transputer Applications, pp. 177–186. IOS Press (1992)
Mumford, C.: A Multiobjective Framework for Heavily Constrained Examination Timetabling Problems. Annals of Operations Research 180, 3–31 (2010)
Petrovic, S., Bykov, Y.: A Multiobjective Optimisation Technique for Exam Timetabling Based on Trajectories. In: Burke, E.K., De Causmaecker, P. (eds.) PATAT 2002. LNCS, vol. 2740, pp. 181–194. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)
Qu, R., Burke, E., McCollum, B., Merlot, L.T.G., Lee, S.Y.: A Survey of Search Methodologies and Automated System Development for Examination Timetabling. Journal of Scheduling 12, 55–89 (2009)
Raidl, G.R.: A Unified View on Hybrid Metaheuristics. In: Almeida, F., Blesa Aguilera, M.J., Blum, C., Moreno Vega, J.M., Pérez Pérez, M., Roli, A., Sampels, M. (eds.) HM 2006. LNCS, vol. 4030, pp. 1–12. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Wong, T., Côté, P., Sabourin, R.: A Hybrid MOEA for the Capacitated Exam Proximity Problem. Congress on Evolutionary Computation 2, 1495–1501 (2004)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Leite, N., Neves, R., Horta, N., Melício, F., Rosa, A.C. (2015). Solving a Capacitated Exam Timetabling Problem Instance Using a Bi-objective NSGA-II. In: Madani, K., Correia, A., Rosa, A., Filipe, J. (eds) Computational Intelligence. IJCCI 2012. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 577. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11271-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11271-8_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-11270-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-11271-8
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)