Solving the weighted ring edge-loading problem without demand splitting using a Hybrid Differential Evolution Algorithm

In the last few years we have seen a significant growth in Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) deployments in telecommunication service providers. With growth of data traffic, network operators seek network-engineering tools to extract the maximum benefits out of the existing infrastructure. This has suggested a number of new optimization problems, most of them in the field of combinatorial optimization. We address here the Weighted Ring Edge-Loading Problem (WRELP). The WRELP is an important optimization problem arising in a popular ring topology for communication networks - given a set of nodes connected along a bi-directional SONET ring, the objective is to minimize the maximum load on the edges (pairwise) of a ring. Our procedure includes some original features, including the application of Hybrid Differential Evolution. We also perform comparisons with standard Differential Evolution, Genetic Algorithm and Tabu Search.