Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 20
Location Problems in Telecommunications
Bernard Fortz
Abstract
Telecommunications is an important area of application in combinato-
rial optimization. A large class of problems encountered by telecommunications
operators are related to location theory. The aim of this chapter is to review
recent developments in the application of location models for the design of (wired)
telecommunications networks. In particular, we cover the Concentrator Location
Problem, the Connected Facility Location Problem, the Regenerator Location
Problem and some Ring Location problems.
Keywords
Concentrator
location
Connected
facility
location
Network
design Regenerator location Ring location Telecommunications
20.1
Introduction
Location problems play a central role in telecommunications network design. In this
chapter, we cover a set of problems arising in wired (optical) telecommunications
networks. Other location problems arise for wireless networks, such as the location
of base stations or location areas planning for mobile users. For a review of these
problems (and some problems in wired networks not covered here), we refer to
Skorin-Kapov et al. (
2006
).
The design of a telecommunications network is a very difficult problem. The
usual approach is to decompose a problem in three main levels (Balakrishnan et al.
1991
):
1. the
long-distance
or
backbone
network that typically connects city pairs through
gateway nodes
;
2. the
inter-office
or
switching center
network within each city, that interconnects
switching centers
in different subdivisions (clusters of customers) and provides
access to the gateway(s) node(s);
3. the
local access
network that connects individual subscribers belonging to a
cluster to the corresponding switching center.
