RAPS: A Rule-Based Language for Specifying Resource Allocation and Time-Tabling

A general language for specifying resource allocation and time-tabling problems is presented. The language is based on an expert system paradigm that was developed previously by the authors and that enables the solution of resource allocation problems by using experts' knowledge and heuristics. The language enables the specification of a problem in terms of resources, activities, allocation rules, and constraints, and thus provides a convenient knowledge acquisition tool. The language syntax is powerful and allows the specification of rules and constraints that are very difficult to formulate with traditional approaches, and it also supports the specification of various control and backtracking strategies. We constructed a generalized inference engine that runs compiled resource allocation problem specification language (RAPS) programs and provides all necessary control structures. This engine acts as an expert system shell and is called expert system for resource allocation (ESRA). The performance of RAPS combined with ESRA is demonstrated by analyzing its solution of a typical resource allocation problem. >

[1]  Angelo Monfroglio,et al.  Timetabling through a Deductive Database: A Case Study , 1988, Data Knowl. Eng..

[2]  Rina Dechter,et al.  Network-based heuristics for constraint satisfaction problems , 1988 .

[3]  Peter Jackson,et al.  Introduction to expert systems , 1986 .

[4]  Kathleen M. Swigger,et al.  GATES: an airline gate assignment and tracking expert system , 1988, IEEE Expert.

[5]  Vasant Dhar,et al.  Integer programming vs. expert systems: an experimental comparison , 1990, CACM.

[6]  Gerald Jay Sussman,et al.  CONSTRAINTS - A Language for Expressing Almost-Hierarchical Descriptions , 1980, Artif. Intell..

[7]  Patrick Prosser,et al.  A Reactive Scheduling Agent , 1989, IJCAI.

[8]  P. Levine,et al.  Railcar distribution at the French railways , 1990, IEEE Expert.

[9]  William Mettrey,et al.  A comparative evaluation of expert system tools , 1991, Computer.

[10]  Pascal Van Hentenryck.  Constraint satisfaction in logic programming , 1989, Logic programming.

[11]  S. Marcus,et al.  Understanding decision ordering from a piece-meal collection of knowledge , 1989 .

[12]  Debra Anderson,et al.  AALPS A Knowledge-Based System for Aircraft Loading , 1987, IEEE Expert.

[13]  Phyllis Reisner,et al.  Human Factors Studies of Database Query Languages: A Survey and Assessment , 1981, CSUR.

[14]  Richard M. Stallman.  EMACS the extensible, customizable self-documenting display editor , 1981 .

[15]  John P. McDermott,et al.  R1: A Rule-Based Configurer of Computer Systems , 1982, Artif. Intell..

[16]  Ehud Gudes,et al.  Limited-resource scheduling by generalized rule-based system , 1991, Knowl. Based Syst..

[17]  Alain Colmerauer,et al.  An introduction to Prolog III , 1989, CACM.

[18]  E. Schmidt,et al.  Lex—a lexical analyzer generator , 1990 .

[19]  An expert systems based methodology for solving resource allocation problems , 1990, IEA/AIE '90.

[20]  M. Ben Bassat,et al.  The W-6 approach to multi-dimensional scheduling: where AI and operations research meet , 1990, 1990 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Conference Proceedings.

[21]  James R. Slagle,et al.  An expert system for a resource allocation problem , 1985, CACM.

[22]  Richard E. Korf,et al.  Macro-Operators: A Weak Method for Learning , 1985, Artif. Intell..

[23]  Ehud Gudes,et al.  On resource allocation by an expert system , 1990 .

[24]  Michael Sullivan,et al.  Logos: a constraint-directed reasoning shell for operations management , 1991, IEEE Expert.

[25]  Joseph A. Wald.  Implementing Constraints in a Knowledge Base , 1988, Expert Database Conf..

[26]  Murray Hill,et al.  Yacc: Yet Another Compiler-Compiler , 1978 .

[27]  G. Nemhauser,et al.  Integer Programming , 2020 .

[28]  Jakob Nielsen,et al.  Improving a human-computer dialogue , 1990, CACM.

[29]  Gilbert Laporte,et al.  The problem of assigning students to course sections in a large engineering school , 1986, Comput. Oper. Res..

[30]  Frederick Hayes-Roth,et al.  Building expert systems , 1983, Advanced book program.

[31]  Jeffrey D. Ullman,et al.  Principles of Database Systems , 1980 .

[32]  Michael W. Carter,et al.  OR Practice - A Survey of Practical Applications of Examination Timetabling Algorithms , 1986, Oper. Res..

[33]  Stephen F. Smith,et al.  ISIS—a knowledge‐based system for factory scheduling , 1984 .

[34]  Jacques Cohen,et al.  Constraint logic programming languages , 1990, CACM.

[35]  Brian W. Kernighan,et al.  The C Programming Language , 1978 .