Article ID: | iaor2000219 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 100 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 623 |
End Page Number: | 659 |
Publication Date: | Mar 1999 |
Journal: | Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications |
Authors: | Servi L.D., Humair S. |
Keywords: | networks: path |
We address the problem of assigning probabilities at discrete time instants for routing toll-free calls to a given set of call centers to minimize a weighted sum of transmission costs and load variability at the call centers during the next time interval. We model the problem as a tripartite graph and decompose the finding of an optimal probability assignment in the graph into the following problems: (i) estimating the true arrival rates at the nodes for the last time period; (ii) computing routing probabilities assuming that the estimates are correct. We use a simple approach for arrival rate estimation and solve the routing probability assignment by formulating it as a convex quadratic program and using the affine scaling algorithm to obtain an optimal solution. We further address a practical variant of the problem that involves changing routing probabilities associated with