2010 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Approximation Algorithms for the Multi-Vehicle Scheduling Problem
Authors : Binay Bhattacharya, Yuzhuang Hu
Published in: Algorithms and Computation
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
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In this paper we investigate approximation algorithms for the multi-vehicle scheduling problem (MVSP). In MVSP we are given a graph
G
= (
V
,
E
), where each vertex
u
of
V
is associated with a job
j
(
u
), and each edge
e
has a non-negative weight
w
(
e
). There are
m
identical vehicles available to service the jobs. Each job
j
(
u
) has its own release time
r
(
u
) and handling time
h
(
u
). A job
j
(
u
) can only be serviced by one vehicle after its release time
r
(
u
), and the handling time
h
(
u
) represents the time needed to finish processing
j
(
u
). The objective is to find a schedule in which the maximum completion time of the jobs, i.e. the makespan, is minimized. In this paper we present a 3-approximation algorithm for MVSP on trees, and a (
$5-\frac{2}{m}$
)-approximation algorithm for MVSP on general graphs.