Optimization in Telecommunication Networks

Network design and network synthesis have been the classical optimization problems intelecommunication for a long time. In the recent past, there have been many technologicaldevelopments such as digitization of information, optical networks, internet, and wirelessnetworks. These developments have led to a series of new optimization problems. Thismanuscript gives an overview of the developments in solving both classical and moderntelecom optimization problems.We start with a short historical overview of the technological developments. Then,the classical (still actual) network design and synthesis problems are described with anemphasis on the latest developments on modelling and solving them. Classical results suchas Menger’s disjoint paths theorem, and Ford-Fulkerson’s max-flow-min-cut theorem, butalso Gomory-Hu trees and the Okamura-Seymour cut-condition, will be related to themodels described. Finally, we describe recent optimization problems such as routing andwavelength assignment, and grooming in optical networks.operations research and management science;

A tabu search algorithm for dynamic routing in ATM cell-switching networks

This paper deals with the dynamic routing problem in ATM cell-switching networks. We present a mathematical programming model based on cell loss and a Tabu Search algorithm with short-term memory that is reinforced with a long-term memory procedure. The estimation of the quality of the solutions is fast, due to the specific encoding of the feasible solutions. The Tabu Search algorithm reaches good quality solutions, outperforming other approaches such as Genetic Algorithms and the Minimum Switching Path heuristic, regarding both cell loss and the CPU time consumption. The best results were found for the more complex networks with a high number of switches and links

Logical topology design for IP rerouting: ASONs versus static OTNs

IP-based backbone networks are gradually moving to a network model consisting of high-speed routers that are flexibly interconnected by a mesh of light paths set up by an optical transport network that consists of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) links and optical cross-connects. In such a model, the generalized MPLS protocol suite could provide the IP centric control plane component that will be used to deliver rapid and dynamic circuit provisioning of end-to-end optical light paths between the routers. This is called an automatic switched optical (transport) network (ASON). An ASON enables reconfiguration of the logical IP topology by setting up and tearing down light paths. This allows to up- or downgrade link capacities during a router failure to the capacities needed by the new routing of the affected traffic. Such survivability against (single) IP router failures is cost-effective, as capacity to the IP layer can be provided flexibly when necessary. We present and investigate a logical topology optimization problem that minimizes the total amount or cost of the needed resources (interfaces, wavelengths, WDM line-systems, amplifiers, etc.) in both the IP and the optical layer. A novel optimization aspect in this problem is the possibility, as a result of the ASON, to reuse the physical resources (like interface cards and WDM line-systems) over the different network states (the failure-free and all the router failure scenarios). We devised a simple optimization strategy to investigate the cost of the ASON approach and compare it with other schemes that survive single router failures

TOPOLOGICAL PLANNING OF COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

In this paper, we concentrate on topological planning process of large-scale communication networks such as those used by telecom operators. Such networks are usually spread over large geographical area, and finding an optimal topology is very important part of the planning process. Network equipment used in such network is very expensive, and two connection points can be hundreds of kilometers apart. These networks, in most cases, form a backbone network of telecom operator, meaning that majority of traffic is carried through high-speed communication links of such network. Any cable cuts or equipment malfunctions could result in huge data losses. Therefore, such networks require high degree of availability and fault resistance, which must be considered during the planning process. Network topology providing fault resistance should offer at least two separate communication paths between any pair of network nodes. Most important issue in network topology planning is finding topology with lowest possible overall network price, while keeping all requirements (such as fault tolerance, availability, maximal number of hops, maximal blocking probability etc.) satisfied. Network design process can be divided into three stages. First step is making decisions about which network elements (nodes, existing edges) should be included in a backbone network (for instance, one of sub-problems appearing in this phase is facility location problem). Second step includes selection of network topology, so that all elements selected in first step will be interconnected satisfying given requirements. Last phase is used to determine node and link capacities needed for successful traffic transport as well as routings of traffic demands, including protection. Depending on technologies used in network, different routing and protection mechanisms, as well as specific topology models, can be used (e.g. SDH/WDM SHR, mesh, dual-homing etc.)

Protection and restoration algorithms for WDM optical networks

Currently, Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical networks play a major role in supporting the outbreak in demand for high bandwidth networks driven by the Internet. It can be a catastrophe to millions of users if a single optical fiber is somehow cut off from the network, and there is no protection in the design of the logical topology for a restorative mechanism. Many protection and restoration algorithms are needed to prevent, reroute, and/or reconfigure the network from damages in such a situation. In the past few years, many works dealing with these issues have been reported. Those algorithms can be implemented in many ways with several different objective functions such as a minimization of protection path lengths, a minimization of restoration times, a maximization of restored bandwidths, etc. This thesis investigates, analyzes and compares the algorithms that are mainly aimed to guarantee or maximize the amount of remaining bandwidth still working over a damaged network. The parameters considered in this thesis are the routing computation and implementation mechanism, routing characteristics, recovering computation timing, network capacity assignment, and implementing layer. Performance analysis in terms of the restoration efficiency, the hop length, the percentage of bandwidth guaranteed, the network capacity utilization, and the blocking probability is conducted and evaluated

Design and operation of mesh-restorable WDM networks

The explosive growth of Web-related services over the Internet is bringing millions of new users online, thus creating a growing demand for bandwidth. Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM) networks, employing wavelength routing has emerged as the dominant technology to satisfy this growing demand for bandwidth. As the amount of traffic carried is larger, any single failure can be catastrophic. Survivability becomes indispensable in such networks. Therefore, it is imperative to design networks that can quickly and efficiently recover from failures.;In this dissertation, we explore the design and operation of survivable optical networks. We study several survivability paradigms for surviving single link failures. A restoration model is developed based on a combination of these paradigms. We propose an optimal design and upgrade scheme for WDM backbone networks. We formulate an integer programming-based design problem to minimize the total facility cost. This framework provides a cost effective way of upgrading the network by identifying how much resources to budget at each stage of network evolution. This results in significant cost reductions for the network service provider.;As part of network operation, we capture multiple operational phases in survivable network operation as a single integer programming formulation. This common framework incorporates service disruption and includes a service differentiation model based on lightpath protection. However, the complexity of the optimization problem makes the formulation applicable only for network provisioning and o2ine reconfiguration. The direct use of such methods for online reconfiguration remains limited to small networks with few tens of wavelengths. We develop a heuristic algorithm based on LP relaxation technique for fast, near optimal, online reconfiguration. Since the ILP variables are relaxed, we provide a way to derive a feasible solution from the relaxed problem. Most of the current approaches assume centralized information. They do not scale well as they rely on per-flow information. This motivates the need for developing dynamic algorithms based on partial information. The partial information we use can be easily obtained from traffic engineering extensions to routing protocols. Finally, the performance of partial information routing algorithms is compared through simulation studies

Generic Platform for Failure Recovery in Survivable Trees

Failure recovery is a fundamental task of the dependable systems needed to achieve fault-tolerant communications, smooth operation of system components and a comfortable user interface. Tree topologies are fragile, yet they are quite popular structures in computer systems. The term survivable tree denotes the capability of the tree network to deliver messages even in the presence of failures. In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of large-scale overlay survivable trees and identify the requirements for general-purpose failure recovery mechanisms in such an environment. We outline a generic failure recovery platform for preplanned tree restoration which meets those requirements, and we focus primarily on its completeness and correctness properties. The platform is based on bypass rings and it uses a bypass routing algorithm to ensure completeness, and specialized leader election to guarantee correctness. The platform supports multiple, on-line and on-the-fly recovery, provides an optional level of fault-tolerance, protection selectivity and optimization capability. It is independent of the the protected tree type (regarding traffic direction, number of sources, etc.) and forms a basis for application-specific fragment reconnection.

Survivable mesh-network design & optimization to support multiple QoP service classes

Every second, vast amounts of data are transferred over communication systems around the world, and as a result, the demands on optical infrastructures are extending beyond the traditional, ring-based architecture. The range of content and services available from the Internet is increasing, and network operations are constantly under pressure to expand their optical networks in order to keep pace with the ever increasing demand for higher speed and more reliable links

Joint dimensioning of server and network infrastructure for resilient optical grids/clouds

We address the dimensioning of infrastructure, comprising both network and server resources, for large-scale decentralized distributed systems such as grids or clouds. We design the resulting grid/cloud to be resilient against network link or server failures. To this end, we exploit relocation: Under failure conditions, a grid job or cloud virtual machine may be served at an alternate destination (i.e., different from the one under failure-free conditions). We thus consider grid/cloud requests to have a known origin, but assume a degree of freedom as to where they end up being served, which is the case for grid applications of the bag-of-tasks (BoT) type or hosted virtual machines in the cloud case. We present a generic methodology based on integer linear programming (ILP) that: 1) chooses a given number of sites in a given network topology where to install server infrastructure; and 2) determines the amount of both network and server capacity to cater for both the failure-free scenario and failures of links or nodes. For the latter, we consider either failure-independent (FID) or failure-dependent (FD) recovery. Case studies on European-scale networks show that relocation allows considerable reduction of the total amount of network and server resources, especially in sparse topologies and for higher numbers of server sites. Adopting a failure-dependent backup routing strategy does lead to lower resource dimensions, but only when we adopt relocation (especially for a high number of server sites): Without exploiting relocation, potential savings of FD versus FID are not meaningful