A linear time approximation algorithm for a storage allocation problem

Abstract

This chapter investigates a particular case of a storage allocation problem in which the arrival and departure times of items define inclusion-free time intervals. Studies on dynamic storage allocation problems have been motivated by several applications in telecommunication systems. Recent advances in communication technologies have made it possible the integrations of heterogeneous traffics of different bandwidths in a single broadband network, like optical fiber network, achieving the flexibility and the economic advantage of sharing a network. The goal of a storage algorithm is to allocate the slots so as to minimize the total amount of used frequency space. Another application area of these problems concerns memory management in computer systems. The storage allocation problem with inclusion-free time intervals is NP-hard, as it can be shown by reduction from the Subset Sum problem, which is known to be NP- complete. The layout of the heuristic solution suggests further research on looking for new approximation algorithms with better performance ratio.