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DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.1

The Fair Periodic Assignment Problem

Authors: Rolf Nelson van Lieshout and Bartholomeüs Theodorus Cornelis van Rossum

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 137, 25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025)

Abstract

We study the periodic assignment problem, in which a set of periodically repeating tasks must be assigned to workers within a repeating schedule. The classical efficiency objective is to minimize the number of workers required to operate the schedule. We propose a 𝒪(n log n) algorithm to solve this problem. Next, we formalize a notion of fairness among workers, and impose that each worker performs the same work over time. We analyze the resulting trade-off between efficiency and fairness, showing that the price of fairness is at most one extra worker, and that such a fair solution can always be found using the Nearest Neighbor heuristic. We characterize all instances that admit a solution that is both fair and efficient, and use this result to develop a 𝒪(n log n) exact algorithm for the fair periodic assignment problem. Finally, we show that allowing aperiodic schedules never reduces the price of fairness.

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Rolf Nelson van Lieshout and Bartholomeüs Theodorus Cornelis van Rossum. The Fair Periodic Assignment Problem. In 25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 137, pp. 1:1-1:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{vanlieshout_et_al:OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.1,
  author =	{van Lieshout, Rolf Nelson and van Rossum, Bartholome\"{u}s Theodorus Cornelis},
  title =	{{The Fair Periodic Assignment Problem}},
  booktitle =	{25th Symposium on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2025)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:16},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-404-8},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{137},
  editor =	{Sauer, Jonas and Schmidt, Marie},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-247574},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2025.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Cyclic scheduling, Fairness, Traveling Salesman Problem}
}

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The Fair Periodic Assignment Problem

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