An Enhanced Genetic Algorithm-Based Timetabling System with Incremental Changes

Ahmed F AbouElhamayed, Abdarhman S. Mahmoud, Tarek T. Shaaban, Cherif Salama, Ahmed H. Yousef

Abstract: Constructing a timetable is a widespread problem. Computers can be employed to solve this problem faster and to produce better solutions. Software solutions for this problem already exist and are used by some universities. However, some universities have complex types of constraints that make it hard to use most of the available software solutions. This paper introduces a software solution for the curriculum based timetabling problem with flexibility to include some complex types of constraints. In addition, the solution provided here allows for incremental changes when new constraints are added after generating the timetable. The solution is based on the genetic algorithm with some modifications to some of the operators to enhance the algorithm. The preliminary results show that it is possible to represent some complex constraint types. Also, that incremental changes can be implemented to reach a close solution faster. It is also shown that the operators of the genetic algorithm can be modified to better suit the timetabling problem and produce better results.