The self-traffic-engineering network

Characterizes several techniques for the distributed, dynamic management of telecommunications network transmission facilities. Several methods are presented for changing trunk-group sizes in order to respond to extraordinary network loads. These methods are given the generic title of self-traffic-engineering (STE), because the network effectively reengineers itself to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. Self-traffic-engineering is a new network management application for telecommunication facilities networks. One of these methods is based on a new interpretation of network reliability, which is embodied in a metric called connectability. The paper reports the results of a simulation study in which self-traffic-engineering is used to enable the Telecom Canada network to adapt to a focused overload.