Survivable Network Design Critical to U.S. Communications

In January 1991, a single fiber-optic cable in the AT&T network was accidentally cut resulting in a 10-hour interruption of 60% of the telecommunications traffic to and from the New York City area on AT&T’s long-distance network. In March 2002, a severed cable shut down 911 service in San Diego for over 4 hours.  High-speed fiber-optic communications networks are vital to our national economy and defense. The loss of even a single network link can cause a severe service disruption.  Fiber-optic networks are usually built so that small numbers of routes, and consequently individual cables, carry high volumes of traffic.

EMIS professors Eli Olinick and Jeff Kennington play a leading role in applying state-of-the-art mathematical modeling and optimization techniques to design networks that are survivable, yet cost effective.

Optimized Staffing Levels and Travel Costs Reenergize Dallas Firm

A Dallas-based national energy conservation firm provides training, engineering, and consulting services to organizations in 48 states and schedules nearly 10,000 engagements per year. The firm must match consultant skills and availability with client organization demand in a manner that is cost-effective and minimizes travel time and cost.

Professor Andrew Yu and doctoral student Randy Hoff employed Operations Research techniques that reduced the firm’s direct costs by 20% and dramatically cut staffing needs and administrative time required to support scheduling activities.

Smart-Grid Sensor Networks Empower City Planners

Smart meters are the foundation of a smarter energy grid. Similar in size to the standard energy meters in use today, they record real-time energy usage and wirelessly relay that information to the utility. Creating an optimized design for a city’s residential network is beyond the capabilities of commercial software.

Professor Richard Barr and doctoral students developed a new method for modeling and quickly solving such large-scale problems. This new approach enables city planners to design smart-grid networks for medium and large municipalities.

Learn about more applications here: www.scienceofbetter.org