An Enhanced Two-Level Metaheuristic Algorithm with Adaptive Hybrid Neighborhood Structures for the Job-Shop Scheduling Problem

For solving the job-shop scheduling problem (JSP), this paper proposes a novel two-level metaheuristic algorithm, where its upper-level algorithm controls the input parameters of its lower-level algorithm. The lower-level algorithm is a local search algorithm searching for an optimal JSP solution within a hybrid neighborhood structure. To generate each neighbor solution, the lower-level algorithm randomly uses one of two neighbor operators by a given probability. The upper-level algorithm is a population-based search algorithm developed for controlling the five input parameters of the lower-level algorithm, i.e., a perturbation operator, a scheduling direction, an ordered pair of two neighbor operators, a probability of selecting a neighbor operator, and a start solution-representing permutation. Many operators are proposed in this paper as options for the perturbation and neighbor operators. Under the control of the upper-level algorithm, the lower-level algorithm can be evolved in its input-parameter values and neighborhood structure. Moreover, with the perturbation operator and the start solution-representing permutation controlled, the two-level metaheuristic algorithm performs like a multistart iterated local search algorithm. The experiment’s results indicated that the two-level metaheuristic algorithm outperformed its previous variant and the two other high-performing algorithms in terms of solution quality.