A Discrete Bat Algorithm for the Examination Timetabling Problem

Year 2021, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 1 - 16, 31.12.2021

Egbert Mujuni

Abstract

Bat Algorithm (BA) is one of the newest and promising nature inspired metaheuristics. Introduced by Yang in 2010, BA is a population method which is based on the echolocation characteristics of microbats. The original BA was proposed only for continuous optimization problems. Different approaches that use BA as basis for solving discrete optimization problem have been proposed. In this paper, a discrete bat algorithm version has been developed to solve the examination timetabling problem. Empirical study of the proposed algorithm was carried using data from the University of Dar es Salaam. The proposed algorithm demonstrated higher performance in comparison to a well known metaheuristic, Tabu Seach (TS).

Keywords

Combinatorial Optimizations, Examination Timetabling Problems, Metaheuristics

References

• Prof. Herbert Fleischner, Vienna, Austria. email: [e-mail]
• Prof. Allen Mushi, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: email: [e-mail]