Strategic migration optimization of urban access networks using meta-heuristics

In this paper the concept of network migration and its relation to access networks is introduced. A typical urban migration case (from VDSL to GPON) is studied to provide cost results under given boundary conditions. We investigate the optimization of a migration process over a long period of time using a segmentation of huge urban scenarios into clusters. Although those clusters can be separately migrated and optimized, an evaluation, which cluster shall be optimized in a certain time step is necessary. This strategic optimization can be performed heuristically. The application of those methods to exemplary scenarios is described in the paper. The necessary sequencing of these steps and our achieved results in terms of costs and algorithm performance are explained. The paper provides methods to cope with network changes and increasing demands via usage of planning heuristics.