Heuristic methods for delay constrained least cost routing using κ-shortest-paths

The Delay Constrained Least Cost (DCLC) problem is to find the least cost path in a graph while keeping the path delay below a specified value. First formulated in the context of routing in computer networks, the DCLC model also applies to mission planning and other decision problems. DCLC is NP-complete and therefore many heuristic algorithms have been proposed for it. This paper presents two new methods based on k-Shortest-Path (kSP) algorithms. These heuristic methods, one centralized and one distributed, are both polynomial. In numerical experiments the proposed algorithms almost always find the optimal paths.