Abstract
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) is an international standard for high-speed telecommunications over optical/electrical networks; it can transport digital signals in variable capacities. SDH is a time division multiplexing technology widely used for the delivery of voice and data services in access and backbone networks. Bandwidth assignment algorithms are necessary for providing optimal utilization of available resources. Static path assignment does not satisfy the real-time data traffic requirement, thus leading to inefficient network resource utilization and compromised services for customers. Dynamic assignment of bandwidth requires the use of online algorithms which automatically compute the path to be taken to satisfy the given service request. Many researchers have addressed online path computation algorithms, but they consider each link having a number of slots of bandwidth. They do not take into account the multiplexing mechanism which causes restrictions on the allocation of bandwidth and the fact that higher order trails (logical connections) have to be established to support any bandwidth requirement. In this paper, we provide solutions for online path computation algorithms using a multiplexing mechanism.