Robust path design algorithms for traffic engineering with restoration in MPLS networks

In this paper we study traffic engineering of restorable paths in multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) networks. We consider off-line computation of working and restoration paths with path rerouting as the restoration scheme. First we compute a link-disjoint path set for given set of demands. Using this path set we study four approaches for selecting working and restoration paths, and formulate each method as an integer linear programming (ILP) problem. A traffic uncertainty model is developed in order to compare these approaches based on their robustness with respect to changing traffic patterns. We obtain numerical results and compare these design approaches based on the number of additional demands carried and the distribution of residual capacity over the network. © 2002 IEEE.