Multicommodity flow models, failure propagation, and reliable loss network design

Abstract

Multicommodity flow (MF) models are well known and have been widely used in the design of packet-switched networks. They have also been used as approximations in the design of circuit-switched networks with reliability constraints. We investigate the usefulness of multicommodity models both as routing models and as an integral part of design models conceived under the failure propagation strategy. First, we compare the performance measures calculated by the models with results produced by a real-time technique. Next, we study the performance of networks dimensioned with flow models and with known adaptive models under failures of transmission facilities when a real-time routing technique is used. Results obtained using realistic data show that the MF models compare favorably with exact dimensioning algorithms when failures are considered.