Comparison of two swap heuristics with a genetic algorithm for the design of an ATM network

The challenge of a network topology design is to provide a configuration with minimum cost given specified constraints. Network topology design is NP-hard and known. Algorithms to solve these problems run in time that increases exponentially with the number of choices. The economic importance of determining the placement of switches in an ATM network justifies heuristic methods to find a good configuration within a reasonable amount of time. In this paper, two types of heuristic algorithms are compared. The first algorithm is based on swapping used switch locations with unused switch locations. The second algorithm is a genetic algorithm.