Multicriteria analysis in telecommunication network planning and design – problems and issues

Abstract

The interaction between a complex socio-economic environment and the extremely fast pace of development of new telecommunication technologies and services justifies the interest in using multicriteria evaluation in decision making processes associated with several phases of network planning and design. Based on an overview of current and foreseen evolutions in telecommunication network technologies and services we begin by identifying and discussing challenges and issues concerning the use of multicriteria analysis (M.A.) in telecommunication network planning and design problems. Next we present a review of contributions in these areas, with particular emphasis on network modernisation planning and routing problems. We will also outline an agenda of current and future research trends and issues in this application area of multicriteria modelling.