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A Population-Based Approach to the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem

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Abstract

We present a population-based approach to the RCPSP. The procedure has two phases. The first phase handles the initial construction of a population of schedules and these are then evolved until high quality solutions are obtained. The evolution of the population is driven by the alternative application of an efficient improving procedure for locally improving the use of resources, and a mechanism for combining schedules that blends scatter search and path relinking characteristics. The objective of the second phase is to explore in depth those vicinities near the high quality schedules. Computational experiments on the standard j120 set, generated using ProGen, show that our algorithm produces higher quality solutions than state-of-the-art heuristics for the RCPSP in an average time of less than five seconds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dpto. de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Facultad de Matemáticas, Universitat de Valencia, Dr. Moliner, 50, 46100, Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

    Vicente Valls

  2. Dpto. de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Facultad de Matemáticas, Universitat de Valencia, Dr. Moliner, 50, 46100, Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

    Francisco Ballestín

  3. Dpto. de Economía Financiera y Matemática, Facultad de Económicas y Empresariales, Universitat de Valencia, Avda. de los Naranjos, s/n, Edificio Departamental Oriental, Valencia, Spain

    Sacramento Quintanilla

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  1. Vicente Valls
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  3. Sacramento Quintanilla
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Valls, V., Ballestín, F. & Quintanilla, S. A Population-Based Approach to the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem. Ann Oper Res 131, 305–324 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ANOR.0000039524.09792.c9

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