Two-Phase Genetic Local Search Algorithm for the Multimode Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem

In this paper, the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with multiple execution modes for each activity is explored. This paper aims to find a schedule of activities such that the makespan of the schedule is minimized subject to the precedence and resource constraints. We present a two-phase genetic local search algorithm that combines the genetic algorithm and the local search method to solve this problem. The first phase aims to search globally for promising areas, and the second phase aims to search more thoroughly in these promising areas. A set of elite solutions is collected during the first phase, and this set, which acts as the indication of promising areas, is utilized to construct the initial population of the second phase. By suitable applications of the mutation with a large mutation rate, the restart of the genetic local search algorithm, and the collection of good solutions in the elite set, the strength of intensification and diversification can be properly adapted and the search ability retained in a long term. Computational experiments were conducted on the standard sets of project instances, and the experimental results revealed that the proposed algorithm was effective for both the short-term (with 5000 schedules being evaluated) and the long-term (with 50000 schedules being evaluated) search in solving this problem.