Comparing metaheuristic algorithms for Sonet network design problems

This paper considers two problems that arise in the design of optical telecommunication networks when a ring-based topology is adopted, namely the SONET Ring Assignment Problem and the Intraring Synchronous Optical Network Design Problem. We show that these two network topology problems correspond to graph partitioning problems with capacity constraints: the first is a vertex partitioning problem, while the latter is an edge partitioning problem. We consider solution methods for both problems, based on metaheuristic algorithms. We first describe variable objective functions that depend on the transition from one solution to a neighboring one, then we apply several diversification and intensification techniques including Path Relinking, exploring Tabu Search and Scatter Search. Finally we propose a diversification method based on the use of multiple neighborhoods. A set of extensive computational results is used to compare the behaviour of the proposed methods and objective functions.