Network planning and design

About: Network planning and design is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 12393 publications have been published within this topic receiving 229776 citations. The topic is also known as: network design.

Optimal network topology design in multi-agent systems for efficient average consensus

Abstract: The problem considered in the present article is optimal design of network topologies in multi-agent systems in order to make communication on the network as efficient as possible for the continuous-time average-consensus protocol. The network design problem can be posed in two different ways. (1) Assuming that the maximum communication cost, i.e. the maximum number of communication links, is known, the goal is to find the network topology which results in the fastest convergence to the consensus (in presence of communication time delays on the links). (2) If a minimum performance of the protocol is required, the design problem can be posed as finding the network with lowest possible communication cost which fulfills the required performance. In both approaches, we formulate the problem of finding the optimal communication graph among a class of directed graphs, strongly balanced digraphs, as a Mixed Integer Semidefinite Program (MISDP). By solving this MISDP, the optimal graph and the weights on communication links are obtained.

Logistics network design with supplier consolidation hubs and multiple shipment options

Abstract: An important service provided by third-party logistics (3PL) firms is to manage the inbound logistics of raw materials and components from mul- tiple suppliers to several manufacturing plants. A key challenge for these 3PL firms is to determine how to coordinate and consolidate the transportation flow, so as to get the best overall logistics performance. One tactic is to establish consolidation hubs that collect shipments from several suppliers, consolidate these shipments, and direct the consolidated shipments to the appropriate man- ufacturing plant. We consider the network design problem to implement this tactic, namely deciding the number, location and operation of consolidation hubs so as to minimize the total logistics costs for the network. To solve this network design problem, we define candidate shipping options for each poten- tial hub, for which we can pre-compute the shipping quantities required from each supplier, and the incurred shipping costs and inventory holding costs. We formulate the problem as an integer linear optimization model and illustrate how to solve large instances using Lagrangian relaxation and a subgradient optimization algorithm. Our results indicate that the bounds obtained are fairly tight and are superior to the bounds obtained from the solution of the LP relaxation.

Including technology selection decisions in manufacturing network design models

Abstract: This paper presents an optimization methodology to design a network of manufacturing facilities producing several products, with non-trivial bills of material, under deterministic demands. The mathematical programming model developed finds the optimal structure of the manufacturing network, it defines the mission of the selected facilities and it determines the technology and the capacity of each facility. The approach takes economies of scale and scope into account. The model is formulated, a solution method based on Bender's decomposition is derived and computational results are presented.

Sustainability Analysis and Resource Management for Wireless Mesh Networks with Renewable Energy Supplies

Abstract: There is a growing interest in the use of renewable energy sources to power wireless networks in order to mitigate the detrimental effects of conventional energy production or to enable deployment in off-grid locations. However, renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, are by nature unstable in their availability and capacity. The dynamics of energy supply hence impose new challenges for network planning and resource management. In this paper, the sustainable performance of a wireless mesh network powered by renewable energy sources is studied. To address the intermittently available capacity of the energy supply, adaptive resource management and admission control schemes are proposed. Specifically, the goal is to maximize the energy sustainability of the network, or equivalently, to minimize the failure probability that the mesh access points (APs) deplete their energy and go out of service due to the unreliable energy supply. To this end, the energy buffer of a mesh AP is modeled as a G/G/1(/N) queue with arbitrary patterns of energy charging and discharging. Diffusion approximation is applied to analyze the transient evolution of the queue length and the energy depletion duration. Based on the analysis, an adaptive resource management scheme is proposed to balance traffic loads across the mesh network according to the energy adequacy at different mesh APs. A distributed admission control strategy to guarantee high resource utilization and to improve energy sustainability is presented. By considering the first and second order statistics of the energy charging and discharging processes at each mesh AP, it is demonstrated that the proposed schemes outperform some existing state-of-the-art solutions.