Cost-Based Topology Optimization of Embedded Ethernet Networks

Abstract

During past decades, Ethernet progressively became the most widely used Local Area Network (LAN) technology. Apart from LAN installations, Ethernet also became attractive for other application areas such as industrial control, automotive, and avionics. In traditional LAN design, the objective is to minimize the network deployment cost. However, in embedded networks, additional constraints and ambient conditions add to the complexity of the problem. In this paper, the authors propose a Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm to optimize the physical topology of an embedded Ethernet network. The various constraints and ambient conditions are modeled by a cost map. For networks with small number of nodes and/or switches, the authors were able to find the optimal solutions using adapted algorithms. These solutions will serve as a lower bound for the solutions obtained via the SA algorithm. However, the adapted algorithms are time consuming and application specific. The paper shows that the SA algorithm can be applied in all cases and finds (near-) optimal solutions.