Addressing network survivability issues by finding the K-best paths through a trellis graph

Due to the increasing reliance of society on the timely and reliable transfer of large quantities of information (such as voice, data, and video) across high speed communication networks, it is becoming important for a network to offer survivability, or at least graceful degradation, in the event of network failure. In this paper we aim to offer a solution in the selection of the K-best disjoint paths through a network by using graph theoretic techniques. The basic approach is to map an arbitrary network graph into a trellis graph which allows the application of computationally efficient methods to find disjoint paths. Use of the knowledge of the K-best disjoint paths for improving the survivability of ATM networks at the virtual path and virtual circuit level is discussed.