Dependence of network capacity requirements on the allowable flow convergence overloads in ATM backup VP restoration

Work on capacity design for VP restoration in ATM has to date either been heuristic in nature or has treated the capacity design problem in a 1 for 1 VP replacement manner that is essentially the same as for STM path restorable networks. However, the inherently statistical nature of the traffic in ATM should allow formulation of a backup VP restoration capacity design that permits a controlled maximum of convergent flow overloads on spans during restoration. Results show that significant capacity savings can be obtained relative to STM if ATM restoration is allowed even modest restoration overload factors. We give an integer program formulation permitting controlled exploitation of this intrinsic difference between ATM and STM transport and present results showing the significant capacity benefits motivating this approach.