MAS_UP-UCT: A Multi-Agent System for University Course Timetable Scheduling

Abstract

Many real-world applications are mapped into combinatorial problems. An example of such problem is timetable scheduling. In this case, the two basic characteristics can be defined by its distributed and dynamic environment. One efficient solution to solve this problem could be provided by an agent-based approach. A timetable scheduling problem can be modelled as a multi-agent system that provides the final schedule by taken into account all the restrictions. In this paper it is presented a preliminary research work that involves the development of a multi-agent system for university course timetable scheduling, named MAS_UP-UCT. We focus on the architecture of the multi-agent system, and on the evaluation of the communication process by using the interaction diagrams.