A Branch-and-Cut Procedure for the Udine Course Timetabling Problem

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Authors

BURKE Edmund K. MAREČEK Jakub PARKES Andrew J. RUDOVÁ Hana

Year of publication 2008
Type Appeared in Conference without Proceedings
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Informatics

Citation
Description This paper describes a branch-and-cut procedure for a curriculum-based university course timetabling. First, we present an alternative integer programming formulation for this problem, which uses a lower than usual number of variables and a number of constraints exponential in the number of periods per day necessary to reach optimality. Second, we present a branch-and-cut procedure, where constraints from enumeration of event/free-period patterns, necessary to reaching optimality, are added only when they are violated. We also describe further problem-specific cuts from bounds implied by the soft constraints, cuts from patterns given by days of instruction and free days, and all related separation routines. We also discuss applicability of standard cuts for the graph colouring and weighted matching. The results of our preliminary experimentation with an implementation using ILOG Concert and CPLEX 10 are provided.
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