Local search algorithm for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem

We consider the resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP). The problem accounts for technological constraints of activities precedence together with resource constraints. All resources are renewable. Activities preemptions are not allowed. This problem is NP-hard in the strong sense. We present a new local search algorithm that uses a Tabu-list and two type of neighborhoods. The algorithm is evaluated using three data bases of instances of the problem: 480 instances of 60 activities, 480 of 90, and 600 of 120 activities respectively, taken from the PSPLIB library available online. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm produces better results than existing algorithms in the literature for large-sized instances. For some instances from the dataset j120, the best known heuristic solutions were improved. Tab. 4, bibliogr. 47.