A systematic approach to network planning

The paper introduces a reference model for network planning activities. The planning process is conceptualised in terms of a trajectory—a sequence of elementary network planning problems-which traverses a three dimensional “planning space”. The “dimensions” of the space pertain to the time horizon of planning, to the type of network resources being planned (to a layered architecture of network resources) and to a set of generic network planning tasks. The model has been successfully exploited by the authors in real-world network planning projects, in the implementation of a comprehensive network planning software and also in academic courses.