Optimal Network Problem: A Branch-and-Bound Algorithm

Abstract

The problem of selecting a subset of links so as to minimize the sum of shortest path distances between all pairs of nodes, subject to a budget constraint on total length of links, may be solved by a modification of a branch-and-bound algorithm developed for optimal variable selection problems in statistics. The modified algorithm is described in detail, and encouraging computational experience on 10 node networks is reported. The use of the algorithm as a heuristic approach to solving the optimal network problem is also discussed.