Abstract
This paper proposes a multi-agent model for solving the university course timetabling problem. It is composed of cooperating agents enabling highly distributed processing of the problem and incorporating constraints that have not been considered by previous works. The aim of our model is to provide a best solution satisfying hard and soft constraints while reducing temporal complexity. To analyze the efficiency of our model, we give experimental results based on real instances of the Higher Business School of Tunis by analyzing the variation effect of the lecture and teacher numbers on the messages number and the CPU execution time, and the variation effect of the assignment priority score on the percentage of teacher’s preferences satisfaction.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbas, A., Tsang, E.P.K.: Software engineering aspects of constraint based timetabling: a case study. Inform. Softw. Technol. J. 46, 359–372 (2004)
Adewumi, A.O., Sawyerr, B.A., Ali, M.M.: A heuristic solution to the university timetabling problem. Eng. Comput.: Int. J. Comput.-Aided Eng. Softw. 26(8), 972–984 (2008)
Babkin, E., Adbulrab, H., Babkina, T.: AgentTime: a distributed multi-agent software system for university’s timetabling. In: Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Complex Systems, a satellite Conference Emergent Properties in Natural and Artificial Complex Systems, pp. 10–22 (2007)
Bellifemine, F., Poggi, A., Rimassa, G.: JADE—A FIPA-compliant agent framework. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference and Exhibition on the Practical Application of Intelligent Agents and Multi-Agent Technology, pp. 97–108 (1999)
Burke, E.K., Petrovic, S.: Recent research directions in automated timetabling. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 140(2), 266–280 (2002)
Burke, E.K., Marecek, J., Parkes, A.J., Rudová, H.: A supernodal formulation of vertex coloring with applications in course timetabling. Ann. Oper. Res. 179, 105–130 (2010)
Ceschia, S., Di Gaspero, L., Schaerf, A.: Design, engineering, and experimental analysis of a simulated annealing approach to the post-enrolment course timetabling problem. Comput. Oper. Res. 39, 1615–1624 (2011)
Daskalaki, S., Birbas, T., Housos, E.: An integer programming formulation for a case study in university timetabling. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 153, 117–135 (2004)
Ferber, J.: Multi-agent Systems—An Introduction to Distributed Artificial Intelligence. Addison- Wesley (1999). ISBN: 0-201-36048-9
Henry-Obit, J., Landa-Silva, D., Ouelhadj, D., Khan-Vun, T., Rayner, A.: Designing a Multi-agent approach system for distributed course timetabling. In: Proceedings of the Hybrid Intelligent Systems Conference, pp. 103–108. IEEE Press (2011)
Oprea, M.: Multi-Agent system for university course timetable scheduling. In: The 1st International Conference on Virtual Learning, pp. 231–237 (2006)
Redl, T.A.: University timetabling via graph coloring: an alternative approach. Congr. Numer. 187, 174–186 (2007)
Sheaufen, I.H., Safaai, D., Siti Zaiton, M.H.: Investigating constraint-based reasoning for university timetabling problem. In: Proceedings of the International Multi-Conference of Engineers and Computer Scientists vol. 1, pp. 139–143 (2009)
Xiang, Y., Zhang, W.: Distributed university timetabling with multiply sectioned constraint networks. In: the Twenty-First International FLAIRS Conference, pp. 567–571 (2008)
Zhang, L., Lau, S.: Constructing university timetable using constraint satisfaction programming approach. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Computational Intelligence for Modelling, Control and Automation and International Conference on Intelligent Agents, Web Technologies and Internet Commerce, vol. 2, pp. 55–60. IEEE Press (2005)
Zhipeng, L., Hao, J.K.: Adaptive tabu search for course timetabling. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 200, 235–244 (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Nouri, H.E., Driss, O.B. (2016). MATP: A Multi-agent Model for the University Timetabling Problem. In: Silhavy, R., Senkerik, R., Oplatkova, Z.K., Silhavy, P., Prokopova, Z. (eds) Software Engineering Perspectives and Application in Intelligent Systems. ICTIS CSOC 2017 2016. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 465. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33622-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33622-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33620-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33622-0
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)