Article: A moving block sequence-based evolutionary algorithm for resource-constrained project scheduling problems Journal: International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation (IJBIC) 2019 Vol.14 No.2 pp.85 - 102 Abstract: In this paper, a new representation for resource-constrained project scheduling problems (RCPSPs), namely moving block sequence (MBS), is proposed. In RCPSPs, every activity has fixed duration and resource demands, therefore, it can be modelled as a rectangle block whose height represents the resource demand and width the duration. Naturally, a project that consists of N activities can be represented as the permutation of N blocks that satisfy the precedence constraints among activities. To decode an MBS to a valid schedule, four move modes are designed according to the situations that how every block can be moved from its initial position to an appropriate location that can minimise the makespan of the project. Based on MBS, the multiagent evolutionary algorithm (MAEA) is used to solve RCPSPs. The proposed algorithm is labelled as MBSMAEA-RCPSP, and by comparing with several state-of-the-art algorithms on benchmark J30, J60, J90 and J120, the effectiveness of MBSMAEA-RCPSP is clearly illustrated. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: A moving block sequence-based evolutionary algorithm for resource-constrained project scheduling problems

Authors: Xingxing Hao; Jing Liu; Xiaoxiao Yuan; Xianglong Tang; Zhangtao Li

Addresses: Key Laboratory of Intelligent Perception and Image Understanding of Ministry of Education, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China ' Key Laboratory of Intelligent Perception and Image Understanding of Ministry of Education, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China ' Key Laboratory of Intelligent Perception and Image Understanding of Ministry of Education, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China ' Key Laboratory of Intelligent Perception and Image Understanding of Ministry of Education, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China ' Key Laboratory of Intelligent Perception and Image Understanding of Ministry of Education, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China

Abstract: In this paper, a new representation for resource-constrained project scheduling problems (RCPSPs), namely moving block sequence (MBS), is proposed. In RCPSPs, every activity has fixed duration and resource demands, therefore, it can be modelled as a rectangle block whose height represents the resource demand and width the duration. Naturally, a project that consists of N activities can be represented as the permutation of N blocks that satisfy the precedence constraints among activities. To decode an MBS to a valid schedule, four move modes are designed according to the situations that how every block can be moved from its initial position to an appropriate location that can minimise the makespan of the project. Based on MBS, the multiagent evolutionary algorithm (MAEA) is used to solve RCPSPs. The proposed algorithm is labelled as MBS_MAEA-RCPSP, and by comparing with several state-of-the-art algorithms on benchmark J30, J60, J90 and J120, the effectiveness of MBS_MAEA-RCPSP is clearly illustrated.

Keywords: moving block sequence; MBS; resource-constrained project scheduling problems; RCPSPs; multiagent evolutionary algorithm; MAEA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIC.2019.101631

International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation, 2019 Vol.14 No.2, pp.85 - 102

Received: 09 Dec 2016
Accepted: 22 May 2017
Published online: 19 Aug 2019 *

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Title: A moving block sequence-based evolutionary algorithm for resource-constrained project scheduling problems

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