The Network Redesign Problem for Access Telecommunications Networks

The expansion of telecommunications networks is an on-going process due to the ever-increasing demand volumes. We present a model for a network redesign problem that not only considers using spare capacity on existing network facilities and deploying new facilities, but also allows for rearrangement of the demand units routed on the embedded network facilities. The model is applied to an access network, where the demand from many sources needs to be routed to a single destination, using either low-capacity or high-capacity facilities. Each demand unit is assigned a capacity unit along a route from the source to the destination. The objective is to determine the optimal redesigned network that minimizes the sum of facility, routing, and rearrangement costs.