Browsing by Subject "Integer Programming"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

Open Access
Designing cost efficient content distribution networks
(Elsevier, 2007-08) Bektas, T.; Oguz, O.; Ouveysi, I.
In this paper, we present a novel technique for the problem of designing a Content Distribution Network (CDN), which is a technology used to efficiently distribute electronic content throughout an existing IP network. Our design proposal consists of jointly deciding on (i) the number and placement of proxy servers on a given set of potential nodes, (ii) replicating content on the proxy servers, and (iii) routing the requests for the content to a suitable proxy server such that the total cost of distribution is minimized. We model the problem using a nonlinear integer programming formulation. The novelty of the proposed formulation lies in simultaneously addressing three interdependent problems in this context as well as explicitly representing the distribution structure of a CDN through the objective function. We offer a linearization for the model, develop an exact solution procedure based on Benders’ decomposition and also utilize a variant of this procedure to accelerate the algorithm. In addition, we provide a fast and efficient heuristic that can be used to obtain near-optimal solutions to the problem. Finally, the paper concludes with computational results showing the performance of the decomposition procedure and the heuristic algorithm on randomly generated Internet topologies.
Open Access
Discrete location models for content distribution
(2005) Bektaş, Tolga
The advances in information and computer technology has tremendously eased the way to reach electronic information. This, however, also brought forth many problems regarding the distribution of electronic content. This is especially true in the Internet, where there is a phenomenal growth of demand for any kind of electronic information, placing a high burden on the underlying infrastructure. In this dissertation, we study problems arising in distribution of electronic content. The first problem studied here is related to Content Distribution Networks (CDNs), which have emerged as a new technology to overcome the problems arising on the Internet due to the fast growth of the web-related traffic, such as slow response times and heavy server loads. They aim at increasing the effectiveness of the network by locating identical or partial copies of the origin server(s) throughout the network, which are referred to as proxy servers. In order for such structures to run efficiently, the CDN must be designed such that system resource are properly managed. To this purpose, we develop integer programming models for the problem of designing CDNs and investigate exact and heuristic algorithms for their solution. The second problem considered in this dissertation is Video Placement and Routing, which is related to the so-called Video-on-Demand (VoD) services. Such services are used to deliver programs to the users on request and find many applications in education, entertainment and business. Although bearing similarities with the CDN phenomena, VoD services have special characteristics with respect to the structure of the network and the type of content distributed. We study the problem of Video Placement and Routing for such networks and offer an optimization based solution algorithm for the associated integer programming model. The third problem studied here is the problem of allocating databases in distributed computing systems. In this context, we specifically focus on the well-known multidimensional Knapsack Problem (mKP). The mKP arises as a subproblem in solving the database location problem. We concentrate on the well known cover inequalities that are known to be important for the solution of the mKP. We then propose a novel separation procedure to identify violated cover inequalities and utilize this procedure in a branch-and-cut framework devised for the solution of the mKP.
Open Access
Facility location decisions under vehicle routing considerations
(2002) Selçuk, Barış
Over the past few decades, the concept of integrated logistics system has emerged as a new management philosophy, which aims to increase distribution efficiency. Such a concept recognizes the interdependence among the location of facilities, the allocation of suppliers and customers to facilities and vehicle route structures around depots. In this study, in order to emphasize the interdependence among these, we build a model for the integration of location and routing decisions. We propose our model on realistic assumptions such as the number of vehicles assigned to each facility is a decision variable and the installing cost of a facility depends on how many vehicles will be assigned to that facility. We also analyze the opportunity cost of ignoring vehicle routes while locating facilities and show the computational performance of integrated solution approach. We propose a greedy type heuristic for the model, which is based on a newly structured savings function.
Open Access
Inquiring the main assumption of the assembly line balancing problem : solution procedures using and/or graph
(2005) Koç, Ali
In this thesis, we consider the assembly/disassembly line balancing (ADLB) problem. The studies in the literature consider assembly and disassembly problems separately and use task precedence diagram (TPD) and AND/OR Graph (AOG) in assembly and disassembly line balancing problems, respectively. In contrast to these studies, we use AOG for both assembly and disassembly line balancing problems, considering these two problems as complementary of each other. Hence, we call the complementary problem as ADLB-AOG. We show theoretically that AOG is a more general version of the TPD. We also develop integer programming (IP) and dynamic programming (DP) formulations to solve the ADLB-AOG problem. Our analysis indicates that the DP formulation performs much better than the IP formulation in terms of the problem sizes that can be optimally solved. We also develop a DP-based heuristic to solve large-size instances of the ADLB-AOG problem. An experimentation of the procedures on some sample problems and the implementation of the heuristic on a sample problem are also given.
Open Access
Joint routing, gateway selection, scheduling and power management optimization in wireless mesh networks
(2011) Uzunlar, Onur
The third generation (3G) wireless communications technology delivers user traffic in a single step to the wired network via base station; therefore it requires all base stations to be connected to the wired network. On the other hand, in the fourth generation (4G) communication systems, it is planned to have the base stations set up so that they can deliver each other’s traffic to a small number of base stations equipped with wired connections. In order to improve system resiliency against failures, a mesh structure is preferred. The most important issue in Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) is that the signals that are simultaneously transmitted on the same frequency channel can interfere with each other to become incomprehensible at the receiver end. It is possible to operate the links at different times or at different frequencies, but this also lowers capacity usage. In this thesis, we tackle the planning problems of WMN, using 802.16 (Wi-MAX) protocol, such as deploying a given number of gateway nodes along with operational problems such as routing, management of power used by nodes and scheduling while maximizing the minimum service level provided. The WMN under consideration has identical routers with fixed locations and the demand of each router is known. In order to be able to apply our results to real systems, we work with optimization models based on realistic assumptions such as physical interference and single path routing. We propose heuristic methods to obtain optimal or near optimal solutions in reasonable time. The models are applied to some cities in Istanbul and Ankara provinces.
Open Access
Solution methods for planning problems in wireless mesh networks
(2012) Özdemir, Görkem
Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) consist of a finite number of radio nodes. A subset of these nodes, called gateways, has wired connection to the Internet and the non-gateway nodes transmit their traffic to a gateway node through the wireless media in a multi-hop fashion. Wireless communication signals that propagate simultaneously within the same frequency band may interfere with one another at a receiving node and may therefore prevent successful transmission of data. In order to circumvent this problem, nodes on the network can be configured to receive and send signals in different time slots and through different frequency bands. Therefore, a transmission slot can be defined as a pair of a certain frequency band and a specific time slot. In addition, by adjusting the power level of a radio node, its transmission range can be modified. Given a wireless mesh network with fixed node locations, demand rate at each node, and maximum power level for each node, we study the problem of carrying the traffic of each node to the Internet through the network. Our goal is to allocate capacities in proportion to the demand of each node in such a way that the minimum ratio is maximized. We propose a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation to select a given number of gateway locations among the nodes in the network, to determine the routing of the traffic of each node through the gateway nodes, to assign transmission slots to each node in order to ensure no interference among wireless signals, and to determine the transmission power levels. In our study, we adopt the physical interference model, instead of the protocol interference, since this is more realistic. Since MILP formulation becomes computationally inefficient for larger instances; we developed several different approaches. Then, we proposed a combinatorial optimization model which successfully solves most of the instances. We tested our models and methods in several data sets, and results are presented.