TRUNK RESERVATION ANALYSIS OF TELUS' EDMONTON TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK

INFOR, Aug 2003 by Sim, Thaddeus

Our results show that trunk reservation is beneficial in TELUS' Edmonton network. Trunk reservation reduces the percentage of multi-link calls connected in the network, which frees up capacity to connect calls via their direct paths leading to a more operationally efficient network. Furthermore, we also observe more calls connected in our trunk reservation network when demand levels are high. In addition, our network with non-uniform trunk reservation values is less restrictive and hence, performed better than networks where the number of reserved trunks are determined using a uniform-rule approach.

As a proof-of-concept study, we have shown that trunk reservation is potentially useful in TELUS' Edmonton network. However, more work is required before it can be implemented in TELUS' networks. This study was completed independently of the other modules of the overall project conducted with TELUS. Since results from one module are often used as inputs in another, it is likely that these input data, though optimal in their respective domains, may cause sub-optimal results in subsequent modules. Having established a knowledge base for all components of the project, however, the next step is to construct an integrated model that simultaneously optimizes all components of the network to achieve a truly operationally efficient telecommunication network.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author would like to thank the four anonymous referees whose comments considerably improved the paper. Thanks also to TELUS, Dr. Hong Chen, the Centre for Operations Excellence at the University of British Columbia, and project members Sean Baird, Kelly Chung, Steven Kabanuk, and Michael Thomas. This research was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.

REFERENCES

J.M. Akinpelu. The overload performance of engineered networks with nonhierarchical and hierarchical routing. AT&T Bell Labs Technical Journal, 63: 1261-1281, 1984.

G.R. Ash, R.H. Cardwell, and R.P. Murray. Design and optimization of networks with dynamic routing. Bell System Technical Journal, 60: 1787-1820, 1981.

R.J. Gibbens and F.P. Kelly. Dynamic routing in fully connected networks. IMA Journal of Mathematical Control and Information, 7: 77- 111, 1990.

P.J. Hunt and C.N. Laws. Optimization via trunk reservation in single resource loss systems under heavy traffic. Annals of Applied Probability, 7: 1058-1079, 1997.

D.S. Johnson, C.R. Aragon, L.A. McGeoch, and C. Schevon. Optimization by simulated annealing: An experimental evaluation; Part I, Graph partitioning. Operations Research, 37: 865-892, 1989.

F.P. Kelly. Routing and capacity allocation in networks with trunk reservation. Mathematics of Operations Research, 15: 771-792, 1990.

S. Kirkpatrick, C.D. Gelatt, and M.P. Vecchi. Optimization by simulated annealing. Science, 220: 671-680, 1983.

R.S. Krupp. Stabilization of alternate routing networks. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Communications, pages 31.2.1-31.2.5, 1982.