90B18 Communication networks [See also 68M10, 94A05]
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Abstract The cost-efficient design of survivable optical telecommunication networks is the topic of this thesis. In cooperation with network operators, we have developed suitable concepts and mathematical optimization methods to solve this comprehensive planning task in practice. Optical technology is more and more employed in modern telecommunication networks. Digital information is thereby transmitted as short light pulses through glass fibers. Moreover, the optical medium allows for simultaneous transmissions on a single fiber by use of different wavelengths. Recent optical switches enable a direct forwarding of optical channels in the network nodes without the previously required signal retransformation to electronics. Their integration creates ongoing optical connections,which are called lightpaths. We study the problem of finding cost-efficient configurations of optical networks which meet specified communication requirements. A configuration comprises the determination of all lightpaths to establish as well as the detailed allocation of all required devices and systems. We use a flexible modeling framework for a realistic representation of the networks and their composition. For different network architectures, we formulate integer linear programs which model the design task in detail. Moreover, network survivability is an important issue due to the immense bandwidths offered by optical technology. Operators therefore request for designs which perpetuate protected connections and guarantee for a defined minimum throughput in case of malfunctions. In order to achieve an effective realization of scalable protection, we present a novel survivability concept tailored to optical networks and integrate several variants into the models. Our solution approach is based on a suitable model decomposition into two subtasks which separates two individually hard subproblems and enables this way to compute cost-efficient designs with approved quality guarantee. The first subtask consists of routing the connections with corresponding dimensioning of capacities and constitutes a common core task in the area of network planning. Sophisticated methods for such problems have already been developed and are deployed by appropriate integration. The second subtask is characteristic for optical networks and seeks for a conflict-free assignment of available wavelengths to the lightpaths using a minimum number of involved wavelength converters. For this coloring-like task, we derive particular models and study methods to estimate the number of unavoidable conversions. As constructive approach, we develop heuristics and an exact branch-and-price algorithm. Finally, we carry out an extensive computational study on realistic data, provided by our industrial partners. As twofold purpose, we demonstrate the potential of our approach for computing good solutions with quality guarantee, and we exemplify its flexibility for application to network design and analysis.
This report combines the contributions to INOC 2005 (Wessälly et al., 2005) and DRCN 2005 (Gruber et al., 2005). A new integer linear programming model for the end-to-end survivability concept deman d-wise shared protection (DSP) is presented. DSP is based on the idea that backup capacity is dedicated to a particular demand, but shared within a demand. It combines advantages of dedicated and shared protection: It is more cost-efficient than dedicated protection and operationally easier than shared protection. In a previous model for DSP, the number of working and backup paths to be configured for a particular demand has been an input parameter; in the more general model for DSP investigated in this paper, this value is part of the decisions to take. To use the new DSP model algorithmically, we suggest a branch-and-cut approach which employs a column generation procedure to deal with the exponential number of routing variables. A computational study to compare the new resilience mechanism DSP with dedicated and shared path protection is performed. The results for five realistic network planning scenarios reveal that the best solutions for DSP are on average 15\% percent better than the corresponding 1+1 dedicated path protection solutions, and only 15\% percent worse than shared path protection.