Genetic Algorithm Finding the Shortest Path in Networks

With the growth of the Internet, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) try to meet the increasing traffic demand with new technology and improved utilization of existing resources. Routing of data packets can affect network utilization. Packets are sent along network paths from source to destination following a protocol. Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is the most commonly used intra-domain Internet routing protocol (IRP). Traffic flow is routed along shortest paths, splitting flow at nodes with several outgoing links on a shortest path to the destination IP address. Link weights are assigned by the network operator. A path length is the sum of the weights of the links in the path [1]. In this semester project report, I study the problem of optimizing OSPF weights, given a set of projected demands, with the objective of minimizing network congestion. The weight assignment problem is NPhard. I developed a genetic algorithm (GA) to solve this problem.