The Multi-Network Design Problem
Name
OR-262-91.pdf
Size
2.77 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
3c3bf3c2dc086452a031809c7aa59199
Author(s)
Balakrishnan, Anantaram
Magnanti, Thomas L.
Mirchandani, Prakash
Date Issued
December 1991
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Operations Research Center
Series/Report no.
Operations Research Center Working Paper;OR 262-91
Abstract
This paper studies a new multi-facility network synthesis problem, called the Multi-level Network Design (MLND) problem, that arises in the topological design of hierarchical communication, transportation, and electric power distribution networks whose nodes have varying levels of importance:the more critical or higher level nodes require higher grade interconnections. Given an undirected network with L possible facility types for each edge, and a partition of the nodes into L levels, the MLND problem seeks a connected design that minimizes total fixed cost while spanning all the nodes, and connecting nodes at each level via facilities of the corresponding or higher type. This problem generalizes the well-known Steiner network problem and the hierarchical network design problem. In this paper, we describe alternative model formulations for this problem and analyze the worst-case performance for heuristics based upon Steiner and spanning tree computations. For one model that we consider, the heuristic worst-case bounds on the performance ratio are either 4/3 or the worst-case performance ratio p of the embedded Steiner tree heuristic. A companion paper develops and tests a dual ascent procedure that generates tight upper and lower bounds on the optimal value of the problem. Keywords: Network design, integer programming, valid inequalities, worstcase analysis of heuristics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Operations Research Center
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