An ambulance crew rostering system

Abstract

The production of a roster for the duties of ambulance crew is subject to a variety of practical, managerial and social constraints. This document describes the first steps of an investigation into the characteristics of the search space for such a problem and reports on the success to date of an evolutionary algorithm approach in finding an acceptable solution to the problem. The visualisation method described is suggested as a quicker way of testing the appropriateness of representations than having to perform multiple time consuming experiments.