Incremental MPLS Traffic Engineering Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional traffic engineering tools face challenges in optimizing network performance due to the complexity of networks, requiring numerous changes that are often impractical to implement, leading to sub-optimal solutions and performance deficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that assesses the existing network configuration to identify the minimal number of changes needed for performance improvements, allowing for incremental optimization of routes and constraints, including the use of existing routes and dynamically routed circuits, while visualizing performance improvements as a function of the number of changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional optimization tools are used to determine optimal network routes, then network performance is improved, but the number of changes required becomes infeasible or impractical to implement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by allowing only a limited number of circuits to be re-routed rather than requiring all circuits to be changed. The system identifies and re-routes only those circuits that are necessary to satisfy the new circuit requirements, rather than performing a complete global re-optimization that would change all circuit paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the network optimization problem into two parts: locked circuits (previously defined circuits that maintain their routes) and unlocked circuits (dynamically routed circuits that can be re-routed). This segmentation allows the system to optimize network performance while limiting the scope of changes to only the necessary segments.
2Ease of manufacture
If all previously defined circuits are locked to maintain stability, then implementation complexity is reduced, but the ability to achieve optimal solutions decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamics by allowing the system to adaptively determine which circuits should be locked and which should be re-routed based on the specific optimization requirements. The locking status of circuits is not fixed but can be adjusted dynamically to achieve the desired balance between implementation simplicity and solution optimality.
3Ease of operation
If incremental optimization with locked circuits is used, then implementation feasibility is improved, but performance deficiencies accumulate from ignored changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by continuously evaluating the network configuration after re-routing unlocked circuits. The system monitors whether the re-routed circuits satisfy the new circuit requirements and adjusts the optimization process accordingly, ensuring that performance deficiencies are addressed through iterative improvement rather than accumulating ignored changes.
Data Source
AI summary
An existing network configuration is assessed, and potential changes to the existing configuration are identified that provide the greatest incremental improvements to the performance of the network. In a preferred embodiment, the user of the system identifies the maximum number (N) of changes that may be implemented in an existing network, and the system provides a set of possible reconfigurations, each requiring fewer than N changes. The user is presented a display of the potential improvement provided by each set as a function of the number of changes in the set, so that the relative incremental gain can be easily visualized. The objective function of the optimization may include conventional load-balancing objectives, or other objectives, such as a global minimization of path lengths.