Analysis and algorithms for partial protection in mesh networks

This paper develops a mesh network protection scheme that guarantees a quantifiable minimum grade of service upon a failure within a network. The scheme guarantees that a fraction q of each demand remains after any single link failure. A linear program is developed to find the minimum-cost capacity allocation to meet both demand and protection requirements. For q ≤ 1/2, an exact algorithmic solution for the optimal routing and allocation is developed using multiple shortest paths. For q >; 1/2, a heuristic algorithm based on disjoint path routing is developed that performs, on average, within 1.4% of optimal, and runs four orders of magnitude faster than the minimum-cost solution achieved via the linear program. Moreover, the partial protection strategies developed achieve reductions of up to 82% over traditional full protection schemes.