Solving the Terminal Assignment Problem using Optimisation Algorithms

In recent years, we have witnessed a tremendous growth of communication networks. This is because they are widely used in all walks of life, and this trend continues increasing. The research on computer communication networking field has also grown explosively due to a large variety of combinatorial optimisation problems. One of these problems is the Terminal Assignment Problem which implies fixing the minimum cost links to construct a network between a specified set of terminals and concentrators. A good solution for this problem should maintain small distances between concentrators and terminals assigned to them without exceeding the capacity of any concentrator. Additionally, it should also maintain a balanced distribution of terminals among concentrators. The intractability of this problem is a motivation for the pursuits of different approximation algorithms. In this book, we explore several metaheuristics applied to the Terminal Assignment Problem and other similar problems. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of these algorithms.