Computer network reliability optimization under double-resource assignments subject to a transmission budget

This paper discusses a double-resource assignment problem to maximize network reliability for a computer network. The resources are separated into two types: one is transmission line and another is transmission facility. In particular, each resource is multistate due to full failure, partial failure, or maintenance. Such a network assigned with multistate resources is usually modeled as a stochastic-flow network. Furthermore, each resource should have a transmission cost in reality. Hence, the network reliability is the probability that a specified demand is transmitted through the network successfully subject to a transmission budget. This paper devotes to find out the optimal double-resource assignment with maximal network reliability. An optimization algorithm combining the genetic algorithm, the minimal paths, and the Recursive Sum of Disjoint Products is developed to solve the proposed problem. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can be executed in a reasonable time.