Recursive Balanced k-Subset Sum Partition for Rule-constrained Resource Allocation

Balanced rule-constrained resource allocation aims to evenly distribute tasks to different processors under allocation rule constraints. Conventional heuristic approach fails to achieve optimal solution while simple brute force method has the defect of high computational complexity. To address these limitations, we propose recursive balanced k-subset sum partition (RBkSP), in which iterative 'cut-one-out' policy is employed that in each round, only one subset whose weight of tasks sums up to 1/k of the total weight of all tasks is taken out from the set. In a single partition, we first create a dynamic programming table with its elements recursively computed, then use 'zig-zag search' method to explore the table, find out elements with optimal subset partition and assign different partitions to proper places. Next, to resolve conflicts during allocation, we use simple but effective heuristic method to adjust the allocation of tasks that is contradicted to allocation rules. Testing results show RBkSP can achieve more balanced results with lower computational complexity over classical benchmarks.