English

New Bounds for Time-Dependent Scheduling with Uniform Deterioration

Data Structures and Algorithms 2023-07-04 v1 Optimization and Control

Abstract

Time-dependent scheduling with linear deterioration involves determining when to execute jobs whose processing times degrade as their beginning is delayed. Each job i is associated with a release time r_i and a processing time function p_i(s_i)=alpha_i + beta_i*s_i, where alpha_i, beta_i>0$ are constants and s_i is the job's start time. In this setting, the approximability of both single-machine minimum makespan and total completion time problems remains open. Here, we take a step forward by developing new bounds and approximation results for the interesting special case of the problems with uniform deterioration, i.e.\ beta_i=beta, for each i. The key contribution is a O(1+1/beta)-approximation algorithm for the makespan problem and a O(1+1/beta^2)-approximation algorithm for the total completion time problem. Further, we propose greedy constant-factor approximation algorithms for instances with beta=O(1/n) and beta=Omega(n), where n is the number of jobs. Our analysis is based on a new approach for comparing computed and optimal schedules via bounding pseudomatchings.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2307.00627,
  title  = {New Bounds for Time-Dependent Scheduling with Uniform Deterioration},
  author = {Angelos Gkikas and Dimitrios Letsios and Tomasz Radzik and Kathleen Steinhöfel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.00627},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:20:09.934Z