A Tabu Search Optimization for Multicast Provisioning in Mixed-Line-Rate Optical Networks

Mixed-Line-Rate (MLR) optical networks provide the flexibility for satisfying heterogeneous traffic demands. However, the existence of multiple line rates makes the network planning problem more complicated. In this paper, we aim at minimizing the network cost (the joint cost of transponder, wavelength channel usage and the number of used wavelengths) for provisioning multiple multicast sessions simultaneously in MLR optical networks. Two distinct methods are proposed to optimize the network cost: A novel path-based integer linear program (ILP) and a tabu search based heuristic algorithm. Simulation results validate our proposed methods and demonstrate that our tabu search based method is able to compute a near-optimal multicast provision strategy.