Reliability optimization of computer communication networks using genetic algorithms

This paper presents a meta-heuristic approach using genetic algorithm (GA) and cost consideration to optimize the reliability of computer communication networks. When a network topology is known, the problem of choosing the types of links and computer systems among alternatives which have different system reliability and costs is an NP-hard combinatorial problem. If there are m alternative links and k alternative computer systems, the search space for a known network topology with |L| links and |N| nodes is m^|L|. k^|N|. The heuristic is shown to be effective and computationally efficient compared to optimal solutions on a set of test problems