Intra-domain traffic engineering with shortest path routing protocols

Throughout the last decade, extensive deployment of popular intra-domain routing protocols such as open shortest path first and intermediate system–intermediate system, has drawn an ever increasing attention to Internet traffic engineering. This paper reviews optimization techniques that have been deployed for managing intra-domain routing in networks operated with shortest path routing protocols, and the state-of-the-art research that has been carried out in this direction.     

Multiobjective design of survivable IP networks

Modern communication networks often use Internet Protocol routing and the intra-domain protocol OSPF (Open Shortest Path First). The routers in such a network calculate the shortest path to each destination and send the traffic on these paths, using load balancing. The issue of survivability, i.e. the question of how much traffic the network will be able to accommodate if components fail, is increasingly important. We consider the problem of designing a survivable IP network, which also requires determining the routing of the traffic. This is done by choosing the weights used for the shortest path calculations.     

An origin-based model for unique shortest path routing

Link weights are the main parameters of shortest path routing protocols, the most commonly used protocols for IP networks. The problem of optimally setting link weights for unique shortest path routing is addressed. Due to the complexity of the constraints involved, there exist challenges to formulate the problem in such a way based on which a more efficient solution algorithm than the existing ones may be developed. In this paper, an exact formulation is first introduced and then mathematically proved correct. It is further illustrated that the formulation has advantages over a prior one in terms of both constraint structure and model size for a proposed decomposition method to solve the problem.     

On the Hardness of Equal Shortest Path Routing

In telecommunication networks packets are carried from a source s to a destination t on a path that is determined by the underlying routing protocol. Most routing protocols belong to the class of shortest path routing protocols. In such protocols, the network operator assigns a length to each link. A packet going from s to t follows a shortest path according to these lengths. For better protection and efficiency, one wishes to use multiple (shortest) paths between two nodes. Therefore the routing protocol must determine how the traffic from s to t is distributed among the shortest paths. In the protocol called OSPF-ECMP (for Open Shortest Path First-Equal Cost Multiple Path) the traffic incoming at every node is uniformly balanced on all outgoing links that are on shortest paths. In that context, the operator task is to determine the “best” link lengths, toward a goal such as maximizing the network throughput for given link capacities.In this work, we show that the problem of maximizing even a single commodity flow for the OSPF-ECMP protocol cannot be approximated within any constant factor ratio. Besides this main theorem, we derive some positive results which include polynomial-time approximations and an exponential-time exact algorithm. We also prove that despite their weakness, our approximation and exact algorithms are, in a sense, the best possible.     

Increasing Internet Capacity Using Local Search

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is one of the most commonly used intra-domain internet routing protocol. Traffic flow is routed along shortest paths, splitting flow evenly at nodes where several outgoing links are on shortest paths to the destination. The weights of the links, and thereby the shortest path routes, can be changed by the network operator. The weights could be set proportional to the physical lengths of the links, but often the main goal is to avoid congestion, i.e. overloading of links, and the standard heuristic recommended by Cisco (a major router vendor) is to make the weight of a link inversely proportional to its capacity.We study the problem of optimizing OSPF weights for a given a set of projected demands so as to avoid congestion. We show this problem is NP-hard, even for approximation, and propose a local search heuristic to solve it. We also provide worst-case results about the performance of OSPF routing vs. an optimal multi-commodity flow routing. Our numerical experiments compare the results obtained with our local search heuristic to the optimal multi-commodity flow routing, as well as simple and commonly used heuristics for setting the weights. Experiments were done with a proposed next-generation AT&T WorldNet backbone as well as synthetic internetworks.     

有向循环图寻径控制

有向循环图 G(N ;1 ,s)作为有向双环网的图论模型备受关注 .本文将图的点集分划为几个不交子集 ,找到任意节点对之间路径沿跳长为 1和跳长为 s的边数的上确界 .找到了判断节点对间最短路径的充要条件 ,利用点集的分布特征设计了一个最优寻径算法 .对双环网络的容错路径进行了深入研究 ,给出了容错直径公式 ,提出了一个最优容错路径算法 .     

Autonomous localization based energy saving mechanism in indoor MANETs using ACO

The biggest challenge in MANETs is to find most efficient routing due to the changing topology and energy constrained battery operated computing devices. It has been found that Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is a special kind of optimization technique having characterization of Swarm Intelligence (SI) which is highly suitable for finding the adaptive routing for such a type of volatile network. The proposed ACO routing algorithm uses position information and energy parameters as a routing metric to improve the performance and lifetime of network. Typical routing protocols have fixed transmission power irrespective of the distance between the nodes. Considering limiting factors, like small size, limited computational power and energy source, the proposed solution excludes use of GPS for identifying the distance between nodes for indoor MANETs. The distance between nodes can be determined by using Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measurements. Thus, an intelligent ACO routing algorithm with location information and energy metric is developed to adaptively adjust the transmission power and distribute the load to avoid critical nodes. Proposed Autonomous Localization based Eligible Energetic Path_with_Ant Colony Optimization (ALEEP_with_ACO) algorithm ensures that nodes in the network are not drained out of the energy beyond their threshold, as the load is shared with other nodes, when the energy of a node in the shortest path has reached its threshold. Hence, the total energy expenditure is reduced, thus prolonging the lifetime of network devices and the network. We simulated our proposal and compared it with the classical approach of AODV and other biological routing approaches. The results achieved show that ALEEP_with_ACO presents the best Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), throughput and less packet drop specially under high mobility scenarios.     

A heuristic approach to hard constrained shortest path problems

Constrained shortest path problems have many applications in areas like network routing, investments planning and project evaluation as well as in some classical combinatorial problems with high duality gaps where even obtaining feasible solutions is a difficult task in general.We present in this paper a systematic method for obtaining good feasible solutions to hard (doubly constrained) shortest path problems. The algorithm is based essentially on the concept of efficient solutions which can be obtained via parametric shortest path calculations. The computational results obtained show that the approach proposed here leads to optimal or very good near optimal solutions for all the problems studied.From a theoretical point of view, the most important contribution of the paper is the statement of a pseudopolynomial algorithm for generating the efficient solutions and, more generally, for solving the parametric shortest path problem.     

Shortest Paths with Shortest Detours

This paper is concerned with a biobjective routing problem, called the shortest path with shortest detour problem, in which the length of a route is minimized as one criterion and, as second, the maximal length of a detour route if the chosen route is blocked is minimized. Furthermore, the relation to robust optimization is pointed out, and we present a new polynomial time algorithm, which computes a minimal complete set of efficient paths for the shortest path with shortest detour problem. Moreover, we show that the number of nondominated points is bounded by the number of arcs in the graph.     

A note on the separation of subtour elimination constraints in elementary shortest path problems

This note proposes an alternative procedure for identifying violated subtour elimination constraints (SECs) in branch-and-cut algorithms for elementary shortest path problems. The procedure is also applicable to other routing problems, such as variants of travelling salesman or shortest Hamiltonian path problems, on directed graphs. The proposed procedure is based on computing the strong components of the support graph. The procedure possesses a better worst-case time complexity than the standard way of separating SECs, which uses maximum flow algorithms, and is easier to implement.     

Large margin shortest path routing

A new discriminative approach to routing inspired by the large margin criterion serving as a basis for support vector machines is presented. The proposed formulation uses the benefit of the dualization convex program, and it is possible for standard solvers to learn the weighting metrics of the shortest path routing. In order to demonstrate this and due to its simplicity, the single path flow allocation problem is considered in this article. It was found that the weight settings performed within a few percent of that of the optimal general routing where the flow for each demand was optimally distributed over all paths between the source and destination.     

An interactive decision support system for the bank courier routing problem

In this paper, we present an interactive decision support system for collecting and processing financial transit material for the Southeast Bank N.A. The underlying model is a bicriteria shortest path problem. The system provides a feasible solution in a matter of minutes, which provides the decision maker with an opportunity to perform “what if” analysis. The system can be extended to other vehicle routing problems with inventory components.     

Symmetry helps: Bounded bi-directional dynamic programming for the elementary shortest path problem with resource constraints

When vehicle routing problems with additional constraints, such as capacity or time windows, are solved via column generation and branch-and-price, it is common that the pricing subproblem requires the computation of a minimum cost constrained path on a graph with costs on the arcs and prizes on the vertices. A common solution technique for this problem is dynamic programming. In this paper we illustrate how the basic dynamic programming algorithm can be improved by bounded bi-directional search and we experimentally evaluate the effectiveness of the enhancement proposed. We consider as benchmark problems the elementary shortest path problems arising as pricing subproblems in branch-and-price algorithms for the capacitated vehicle routing problem, the vehicle routing problem with distribution and collection and the capacitated vehicle routing problem with time windows.     

The maximum covering/shortest path problem: A multiobjective network design and routing formulation

In this paper the authors introduce the maximum covering/shortest path problem and the maximum population/shortest path problem, a special case of the former model. Both models are formulated as two objective integer programs. A summary of the results of a sample problem for the latter formulation is given. Possible modifications to, and extensions and applications of both models are also presented. With these formulations the authors extend the concept of ‘coverage’ from facility location analysis to network design and routing analysis.     

A generalization of Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm with applications to VLSI routing

We generalize Dijkstra's algorithm for finding shortest paths in digraphs with non-negative integral edge lengths. Instead of labeling individual vertices we label subgraphs which partition the given graph. We can achieve much better running times if the number of involved subgraphs is small compared to the order of the original graph and the shortest path problems restricted to these subgraphs is computationally easy.As an application we consider the VLSI routing problem, where we need to find millions of shortest paths in partial grid graphs with billions of vertices. Here, our algorithm can be applied twice, once in a coarse abstraction (where the labeled subgraphs are rectangles), and once in a detailed model (where the labeled subgraphs are intervals). Using the result of the first algorithm to speed up the second one via goal-oriented techniques leads to considerably reduced running time. We illustrate this with a state-of-the-art routing tool on leading-edge industrial chips.     

移位交换网的最优路由算法

移位交换网是重要的互联网络之一 ,在并行计算中有着广泛应用 .然而 ,它缺少任意点对间的最短路由算法 .已有的路由算法都不能保证其任意节点对间都是最短路由 .文中给出了一个最短路由算法 ,也是最优路由算法 ,它使得从源节点到目的节点的任何信息都是沿最短路由传输 .同时 ,我们还得到了任意节点对间的距离公式     

Multiobjective routing problems

Summary Many network routing problems, particularly where the transportation of hazardous materials is involved, are multiobjective in nature; that is, it is desired to optimise not only physical path length but other features as well. Several such problems are defined here and a general framework for multiobjective routing problems is proposed. The notion of “efficient solution” is defined and it is demonstrated, by means of an example, that a problem may have very many solutions which are efficient. Next, potentially useful solution methods for multiobjective routing problems are discussed with emphasis being placed on the use of shortest/k-shortest path techniques. Finally, some directions for possible further research are indicated. Invited by B. Pelegrin     

Optimising Waiting at Nodes in Time-Dependent Networks: Cost Functions and Applications

In this paper, the relationship between waiting at nodes and the path cost in a transport network is analysed. An exact solution algorithm for generating the shortest path with optimal waiting at the nodes is proposed. The general case is examined, considering a time-dependent network (time influences the cost). To develop a full application, the algorithm is applied in the case of a vehicle routing problem on a real network.     

Solving VRPTWs with Constraint Programming Based Column Generation

Constraint programming based column generation is a hybrid optimization framework recently proposed (Junker et al., 1999) that uses constraint programming to solve column generation subproblems. In the past, this framework has been used to solve scheduling problems where the associated graph is naturally acyclic and has done so very efficiently. This paper attempts to solve problems whose graph is cyclic by nature, such as routing problems, by solving the elementary shortest path problem with constraint programming. We also introduce new redundant constraints which can be useful in the general framework. The experimental results are comparable to those of the similar method in the literature (Desrochers, Desrosiers, and Solomon, 1992) but the proposed method yields a much more flexible approach.     

基于改进蚁群算法的最短路径问题研究及应用

蚁群系统作为一种蚁群算法是解决最短路径问题的一种行之有效的方法.然而,它自身也存在着一些缺陷,主要针对基本蚁群算法易陷入局部最优这一缺陷对其进行改进,集中体现在初始信息素求解和信息素更新这两方面.为了进一步了解改进蚁群算法的优点,进行了实验仿真:将改进的蚁群算法应用子模拟医疗救护GIS中,利用GIS的网络分析功能对城市道路网络的最短路径选择算法进行了深入地探讨研究,并以山西省太原市的交通路线作为实例进行研究.计算机仿真结果表明,改进的蚁群算法在解决最短路径问题时较基本蚁群算法的性能好,它具有一定的理论参考价值和现实意义.