PROMISE: A Novel Survivability Framework for High-speed Networks

This project aims at developing a survivability framework called PROMISE, which includes procedures for fault recovery for mission critical applications. The idea behind this framework is to divide an active path into several, possibly overlapping active segments, and then protect each active segment with a detour called backup segment. Thus the basic survivability concept is to provide local protection against faults impacting localized segments of the active path. The following research activities will be particularly pursued. First, the project team will investigate how to find the optimal (e.g. most band-width-efficient) active path segments and how to reduce the time complexity of the new survivability algorithms within the framework. For that purpose, new ILP formulations for solving the problems will be used to provide reference data, and a comprehensive study comparing the proposed approaches with other existing protection/restoration approaches will be conducted. Second, the proposed research will include the investigation of the methods to support differentiated services within the framework, such as partially survivable, unprotected or preemptable connections. Finally, the project will elaborate on survivability issues specific to optical networks based on WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) and IP under the Generalized Multi-protocol Label Switched (G-MPLS) framework, where new algorithms and simulation tools PROMISE are expected to be developed. The project will bring together networking research and theoretic computer science research, and in addition, by incorporating research into educational and training activities will create awareness and interest among students on the issues related to survivability in next-generation communication networks.