Multi-agent system specification for distributed scheduling in home health care

Abstract

Nowadays, scheduling and allocation of resources and tasks becomes a huge and complex challenge to the most diverse industrial areas, markets, services and health. The problem with current scheduling systems is that their management is still done manually or using classical optimization methods (usually static, time-consuming) and centralized approaches. However, opportunities arise to decentralize solutions with smart systems, which enable the distribution of the computational effort, the flexibility of behaviours and the minimization of operating times and operational planning costs. The paper proposes the specification of a Multi-agent System (MAS) for the Home Health Care (HHC) scheduling and allocation. The MAS technology enables the scheduling of intelligent behaviours and functionalities based on the interaction of agents, and allows the evolution of current strategies and algorithms, as it can guarantee the fast response to condition changes, flexibility and responsiveness in existing planning systems. An experimental HHC case study was considered to test the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed MAS approach, the results demonstrating promising qualitative and quantitative indicators regarding the efficiency and responsiveness of the HHC scheduling.