OPTIMAL ALLOCATION OF MULTIPLEXING EQUIPMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF LOAD IN A FIBER OPTIC NETWORK

A system and method optimize a fiber optic network arrangement in terms of load balancing and equipment placement at network sites. The present invention accomplishes this optimization by transforming a network of rings into a directed graph of nodes and arcs. The two parameters, which are load balancing and equipment placement, are set up as state variables in a mathematical algorithm for optimization. Following the transformation, descriptive linear equations are derived from the directed graph. The linear equations are then optimized for load distribution and equipment placement at network sites. The present invention may be applied to equipment placement and load distribution in new networks, as well as new load accommodation in existing networks by equating a state variable, corresponding to equipment placement, to a constant value.