Capacity and Flow Assignments in Large Computer Networks

Abstract

This paper presents a model and the correspondingsolution method for the problem of jointly selecting a setof primary routes and assigning capacities to the links ina computer communication network. The network topologyand the traffic characteristics are known; a set ofcandidate routes for each communicating pair of nodes,and a set of candidate capacities for each link are alsogiven. The goal is to obtain the least costly feasible design,where the costs include both capacity and queuingcomponents.The resulting combinatorial optimization problem issolved using Lagrangean relaxation and subgradient optimizationtechniques. The method was tested on severaltopologies, and in all cases good feasible solutions, as wellas tight lower bounds were obtained.