Robustness in Communication Networks: Scenarios and Mathematical Approaches

The planning of wide-area networks to achieve robust operation is an ongoing challenge for network providers. Robust means to ensure stable operation of a network in case of fault occurrence. In this paper several scenarios in the context of the German Research Network are discussed to point out robustness aspects in a more detailed manner. The approach to address these challenges is to apply mathematical methods, more precisely exact and approximate integer linear programming and fast combinatorial algorithms.