Audience
This course addresses expert planners with a deep understanding of the Carmen Crew Pairing system who wants to fully understand and control APC.

Benefits
The course gives you a deep understanding of the Automatic Pairing and Crew rostering module (APC) in the Carmen Crew Pairing system. After completing the course you will be able to:

• Select the right APC method for any pairing problem
• Control all APC methods through parameters
• Analyse APC runs in detail
• Tune APC runs for maximum performance
• Suggest changes in Rave code for maximum performance

Prerequisites
A deep understanding of the Carmen Crew Pairing System gained through at least 6 months of experience using the system.

Course topics

• APC inside
• The entire APC process
• The connection matrix
• Preprocessing methods
• Generation and search width
• Deadhead handling


• APC methods and parameters
• Split initial
• Split improve
• K-opt and A-opt
• General generation
• Shift improve
• Pairing repair
• Deadhead improve
• Long haul preprocessing
• Map variables


• The column generator
• A different solution approach
• Dual costs
• Master and sub-problem
• The structure of the cost function
• Restrictions on rules
• Map variables


• Global constraints
• Usage
• Definition
• Penalty
• Verification
• Pitfalls


• Performance tuning
• Generation limitating rules
• Search width limitation
• Tools to identify problems


• Questions to APC developers

All exercises are done using a generic flight data and rule set ("Carmen Airlines").

Duration
2 days.