Cost minimization of a multiple section power cable supplying several remote telecom equipment

Abstract

Abstract An optimization problem is described, that arises in telecommunications and is associated with multiple cross-sections of a single power cable used to supply remote telecom equipments. The problem consists of minimizing the volume of copper material used in the cables and consequently the total cable cost. Two main formulations for the problem are introduced and some properties of the functions and constraints involved are presented. In particular it is shown that the optimization problems are convex and have a unique optimal solution. A Projected Gradient algorithm is proposed for finding the global minimum of the optimization problem, taking advantage of the particular structure of the second formulation. An analysis of the performance of the algorithm for given real-life problems is also presented.