Problems in communication network design and location planning: New solution procedures

This effort aims to make contributions in two areas of research. One is the area of communication network design. We present new models and solution procedures that are directed at providing efficient means of designing centralized communication networks. The problems we seek to solve are all combinatorialy difficult. The network topologies we design combine features of local access networks as well as classical concentrator location. Our solution procedures not only provide an efficient means of achieving a feasible network topology but also provide a lower bound so as to evaluate the quality of our solution.; The second major contribution we seek to make is in the area of visual interactive decision support. We develop and describe two visual interactive decision support tools, one for designing a communication network and the other for locating facilities in a distribution network. The tools are built to take advantage of human pattern recognition and decision making abilities and combine them with the processing capabilities of computer systems to solve combinatorialy difficult problems. We present an experimental demonstration of the use of such tools when utilized by trained subjects and show their potential as a viable means of decision support in such contexts.