An Evolutionary Approach to the Multi-Level Capacitated Minimum Spanning Tree Problem

Abstract

Capacitated network design is a crucial problem to telecommunications network planners. In this paper we consider the Multi-Level Capacitated Minimum Spanning Tree Problem (MLCMST), a generalization of the well-known Capacitated Minimum Spanning Tree Problem. We present a genetic algorithm, based on the notion of grouping, that is quite effective in solving large-scale problems to within 10% of optimality.