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Design of Intelligent Systems Based on Fuzzy Logic, Neural Networks and Nature-Inspired Optimization pp 391–417Cite as

Parallel Meta-heuristic Approaches to the Course Timetabling Problem

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Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 601))

Abstract

The Course Timetabling problem is one of the most difficult combinatorial problems that arises with a University. The main objective of this problem is to obtain a timetable that minimises student conflicts between assigned activities. This is a discrete combinatorial problem that can be extremely difficult to solve for a human expert so computational heuristics are usually implemented in order to find good solutions within a reasonable time. With the advent of multi-core and hyper-threading technologies, parallel heuristics can speed up the solution process and with a proper parallel design these heuristics can improve the quality of solutions with the same number of Fitness evaluations than sequential algorithms. This paper explores the implementation of a parallel set of heuristic algorithms based on genetic algorithms, Scatter Search and discrete PSO for CTTP problem. Our experiments used as benchmark set instances from ITC2007 Track 2. Also the algorithms described in this paper make use of a layer of independence called methodology of design in order to be easily adaptable to new instances. Every parallel algorithm is compared against its sequential counterpart through speed-up metrics like Weak speed-up proposed by Alba et al.

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Acknowledgment

Authors thanks the support received from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT) Mèxico and University of Stirling UK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigacion, Instituto Tecnologico de Leon, Leon Guanajuato, Mexico

    A. Jorge Soria-Alcaraz, Martin Carpio, Hector Puga & A. Marco Sotelo-Figueroa

  2. Department of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Stirling, Striling, UK

    Jerry Swan

  3. Tijuana Institute of Technology, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico

    Patricia Melin

  4. Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, ITESM, Monterrey, N.L., Mexico

    Hugo Terashima

Authors
  1. A. Jorge Soria-Alcaraz
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  2. Martin Carpio
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  3. Hector Puga
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  4. Jerry Swan
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  5. Patricia Melin
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  6. Hugo Terashima
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  7. A. Marco Sotelo-Figueroa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Jorge Soria-Alcaraz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Graduate Studies and Research, Tijuana Institute of Technology, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

    Patricia Melin

  2. Division of Graduate Studies and Research, Tijuana Institute of Technology, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

    Oscar Castillo

  3. Polish Academy of Sciences, Systems Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland

    Janusz Kacprzyk

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Soria-Alcaraz, A.J. et al. (2015). Parallel Meta-heuristic Approaches to the Course Timetabling Problem. In: Melin, P., Castillo, O., Kacprzyk, J. (eds) Design of Intelligent Systems Based on Fuzzy Logic, Neural Networks and Nature-Inspired Optimization. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 601. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17747-2_30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17747-2_30

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