Fair and efficient network dimensioning with the reference point methodology

The dimensioning of telecommunication networks that carry elastic traffic requires the fulfillment of two conflicting goals: maximizing the total network throughput and providing fairness to all flows. Fairness in telecommunication network design is usually provided using the so-called max-min fairness (MMF) approach. However, this approach maximizes the performance of the worst (most expensive) flows which may cause a large worsening of the overall throughput of the network. In this paper we show how the concepts of multiple criteria equitable optimization can be effectively used to generate various fair and efficient allocation schemes. We introduce a multiple criteria model equivalent to equitable optimization and we develop a corresponding reference point procedure for fair and efficient network dimensioning for elastic flows. The procedure is tested on a sample network dimensioning problem for elastic traffic and its abilities to model various preferences are demonstrated. Keywords— multiple criteria optimization, efficiency, fairness, equity, reference point method, telecommunications, network design, elastic traffic.