An efficient discrete particle swarm optimization for solving multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was originally developed and extensively used for solving multivariable and highly nonlinear continuous problems. To apply PSO to a discrete integer-coded problem such as the multimode resource constrained project scheduling problems (MRCPSP), there should have a special mechanism that can convert the real valued solutions to the integer-coded solutions without crucial impact on the exploitative abilities of the algorithm. In this paper, we focus on this problem and develop an efficient PSO algorithm to solve the MRCPSP. Computational results by using a standard set of benchmark instances demonstrate the effectiveness and competitiveness of our algorithm.