Genetic Algorithms:Case study SUST Timetable

Abstract

The timetabling problem comes up every year in educational institutions, which has been solved by human resources for a long time. The problem is a special version of the optimization problems, it is computationally NP-hard, although, there are some attempts to apply computer based methods, their use is limited by the problem’s complexity, and therefore Genetic Algorithms were applied, because they are robust enough in such a huge problem space. The project offers a system for University course timetabling based on the use of Genetic Algorithms. The system has two types of users; normal user who can only view the timetable (lecturer timetable, class timetable, and classroom timetable), and administrator user who has full control of the system- the system should verify him. Each type of users are provided by an interactive user interface. The system is web based and can be accessed via the Internet. The administrator user is the only one who can create a timetable for a particular class. In creating timetable the use of genetic algorithm is occurred. The use of genetic algorithm require many component: declaring the problem’s specific constraints, constructing a problem’s specific evaluation function (fitness function), the type of the representation of the solution (chromosome) used, and the genetic algorithm parameters also must be determined. In this thesis the type of genetic algorithm used is the simple genetic algorithm. Problems tested here are based on real data from the college of computer science.