Scheduling multi-task multi-agent systems
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This paper proposes a multi-agent system for solving the university course timetabling problem. The solution of the university course timetabling problem requires the development of an intelligent decision-making system. This work attempts to show how agent-technology can be harnessed in the development of such an intelligent decision-making system. Course timetabling is a dynamically distributed problem and as such requires a decision-making system which can partition itself to the characteristics of the problem instance as required. In this agent-based solution, agent autonomy and a flexible communication methodology are used to create the back-bone of the intelligent decision-making system. Course Agents, representing each course in the problem, communicate and negotiate with other Course Agents through a Signboard Agent to find a mutually acceptable timetable. The Signboard Agent, is the mechanism that is used to identify course agents which need to negotiate with each other in order to resolve conflicts. It is also the mechanism through which the evolving timetable is made available to the user. A key strength of the agent-based approach is the use of the fundamental attribute of agent autonomy to represent all aspects of the fundamental unit in the problem - the course. By mapping the problem domain exactly into a fundamental attribute of the agent paradigm, we believe powerful and effective decision-making system is developed. Experimental results show that this intelligent decision system for course timetabling leads to an effective and flexible solution. Through negotiation and cooperation of the mobile and stationary agents in the system, the timetabling problem can be solved in a dynamic and distributed way.