Long-Term Planning of WDM Networks: A Comparison between Single-Period and Multi-Period Techniques

This paper studies the long-term planning (e.g. a planning horizon of 2 to 5 years) of survivable WDM networks. The problem is formulated as a multi-period model that combines network topology and capacity expansion. The ability to determine network expansion schedules of this type becomes increasingly important to the telecommunications industry and to its customers. Two inherently different solution methods are presented: a sequential single-period approach, which designs the networks for every time period separately in chronological order, and an integrated multi-period approach, which considers all time periods at once. For each of these approaches, different network design cost models can be applied. Extensive simulations on a wide range of problem instances are carried out, to measure the influence of the applied network design cost model and to assess the cost savings that can be expected by opting for a multi-period planning approach instead of a sequential network design method.