Approximation Algorithm for Job Scheduling with Reconfigurable Resources
Résumé
We consider a scheduling problem with reconfigurable resources. Several types of jobs have to be processed by a set of identical resources (e.g. robots, workers, processors) over a discrete time horizon. In each time period, teams of resources must be formed to process jobs. During a given time period, a team handles one type of job and the number of jobs that can be processed depends on the team size. A resource which is used to perform some job type in a given period may be employed for another job type in the next period. The objective is to determine the minimum number of resources needed to meet a given demand for each job type. We provide a polynomial-time 4/3-approximation algorithm for this strongly NP-hard problem.