Network capacity assignment for multicast services using genetic algorithms

This letter focuses on the problem of network capacity assignment to accommodate the introduction of additional multicast services in existing unicast networks. The problem is firstly formalized by defining a cost function to evaluate the goodness of a given capacity allocation configuration. Then, a novel approach based on the genetic algorithms is provided to find the near-optimal solution. Experimental results are compared with those of a heuristic algorithm that provides a lower bound for the optimization problem, showing that the proposed method allows for a strong reduction of the processing time.