A comparison of two optimal approaches for the MCOP problem

Abstract

Providing guaranteed end-to-end quality of service (QoS) is a key issue for deploying multimedia applications on the broadband integrated services networks. To support QoS-based services, an optimal path determination problem, which concerns how to select a feasible end-to-end path to simultaneously satisfy multiple QoS constraints, has to be studied. This problem is often referred as the multiple constrained optimal path problem. Two optimal algorithms: branch-and-bound and extended Bellman–Ford algorithms (EBFA) are proposed in this paper for this NP-complete problem. A number of simulations for different network topologies were carried out for comparing performances between these two algorithms. The experimental results show that the branch-and-bound based algorithm not only outperforms the EBFA, but also is an efficient and stable method when it applies to random networks and practical networks like ANSNET.