Infrastructure Link Path Planning Across Hazard Zones and Design Levels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for determining optimal path arrangements for infrastructure links, such as long-haul optical fiber cables, fail to effectively balance arrangement cost and repair rate, particularly in hazardous areas like earthquake zones, leading to increased risk and economic consequences.
Innovation Solution
A method that models geographic terrain, optimizes path arrangements based on arrangement cost and repair rate models, considering multiple design levels, and uses the Fast Marching Method to determine Pareto optimal solutions, ensuring minimal weighted cost and reduced risk through optimal path planning and design level selection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cables are kept at a safe distance away from high risk regions, then cable survivability is improved, but cable length increases resulting in higher construction cost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing spatially varying design levels along the cable path. Different segments of the cable are assigned different protection levels based on the local hazard characteristics (e.g., earthquake risk, terrain conditions). This allows the cable to have enhanced protection only in high-risk areas while maintaining standard protection in low-risk areas, thereby improving survivability without unnecessarily increasing cable length or cost across the entire route.
2Reliability
If cables are strengthened with special shielding or armoured components, then cable protection level is improved, but construction cost per unit length increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by assigning different design levels (DL1, DL2, DL3, etc.) to different spatial segments of the cable path based on local hazard assessments. High-protection armoured components are deployed only in areas with high earthquake risk or difficult terrain conditions, while standard cables are used in low-risk areas. This spatially differentiated approach ensures adequate protection level where needed while minimizing construction cost in areas where it is not required.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies parameter changes by varying the design level parameter along the cable path according to spatial hazard characteristics. The optimization model adjusts the design level parameter for each cable segment to achieve the desired balance between protection and cost, transforming the uniform design approach into a spatially adaptive one that responds to local conditions.
3Reliability
If optimization considers multiple design levels, then path arrangement optimality is improved, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the continuous cable path into discrete segments corresponding to grid cells in the geographic terrain model. Each segment can be independently assigned a design level, transforming the continuous optimization problem into a discrete one. This segmentation approach, combined with dynamic programming, enables the optimization of multiple design levels while keeping computational complexity manageable through efficient algorithms.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for determining optimal path arrangements for an infrastructure link between two geographic locations. The method includes modelling a geographic terrain containing the two geographic locations; optimizing an arrangement cost and a repair rate for two or more potential paths based on the modelled geographic terrain, an arrangement cost model, and a repair rate model, taking into account at least two design levels; and determining the optimal path arrangements each including multiple path portions and respective design levels associated with the path portions based on the optimization.