Maximal covering with network survivability requirements in wireless mesh networks

This paper introduces an approach for survivable network design of citywide wireless broadband. Our primary interest is in methodology for ensuring maximal coverage and reliable provision of services based on network connectivity. From a public perspective, ubiquitous and reliable provision of broadband services is important. Thus our approach will be particularly relevant to decision makers in local municipalities who are looking to deploy wireless broadband networks with cheaper installation costs and easier deployment, instead of ground wires such as cable or fiber optics. More formally, we present a maximal wireless covering problem with survivability constraints based on network connectivity using binary integer programming. Under some modeling assumptions, the developed model is applied to structuring a wireless mesh network in the city of Dublin, Ohio as an application. Results demonstrate tradeoffs between coverage and network survivability given a fixed number of selected facility locations. Also, performance of our method highlights computational challenges in solving such combinatorial spatial optimization problems exactly.