Enhancing timetable solutions with local search methods

Citation

Burke E & Newall JP (2003) Enhancing timetable solutions with local search methods. In: Burke E & De Causmaecker P (eds.) Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling IV: 4th International Conference, PATAT 2002, Gent, Belgium, August 21-23, 2002. Selected Revised Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2740. 4th International Conference, PATAT 2002: Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling IV, Gent, Belgium, 21.08.2002-23.08.2002. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 195-206. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-540-45157-0_13; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-45157-0_13

Abstract
It is well known that domain-specific heuristics can produce good-quality solutions for timetabling problems in a short amount of time. However, they often lack the ability to do any thorough optimisation. In this paper we will study the effects of applying local search techniques to improve good-quality initial solutions generated using a heuristic construction method. While the same rules should apply to any heuristic construction, we use here an adaptive approach to timetabling problems. The focus of the experiments is how parameters to the local search methods affect quality when started on already good solutions. We present experimental results which show that this combined approach produces the best published results on several benchmark problems and we briefly discuss the implications for future work in the area.