On the fast solution of the p-center problem

The p-center problem is one of the classical facility location problems. It finds applications in several different fields, including network planning and network optimization. Due to the increasing of bandwidth requirements, telecommunication operators are renewing the access networks in favoring of optical networks. Generally, the design of access network consists in determining the location of physical networks from a given list of potential locations. Indeed, in order to ensure the efficient usage of a limited number of resources, the identification of facility locations plays a central role. In this paper, we formally define the p-center problem, briefly survey the most efficient state of the art algorithms to approach it, and describe a new smart and fast local search able to find optimal or near-optimal solutions. We also discuss and analyze the results of our extensive computational experience on benchmark instances and on optical network instances.

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