Scheduling Resource-Constrained Projects with Ant Colony Optimization Artificial Agents

Abstract

The paper presents a methodology to schedule resource-constrained construction projects by use of algorithms based on ant colony optimization (ACO); an artificial agent inspired by the collective behavior of natural ant colonies as they optimize their path from an origin (ant nest) to a destination (food source) by use of previously acquired knowledge. Further, to an application of the ACO artificial agent to a resource-unconstrained network topology, the method is applied to a resource-constrained network and utilized in examining the effects of resource availability constraints to critical path calculations and project completion time.