A Methodology of the Mathematical Modeling for Perspective Development of Nodes and Transport Routes in the Multicommodity Hierarchical Network. I. Optimization Problems

The paper proposes a methodology for mathematical modeling of the phased development of nodes and transport routes in a hierarchical network with multicommodity discrete flows of correspondences based on solving the problems of optimizing its structure and distribution of flows. As a rule, such networks consist of a decentralized mainline network and networks in the internal service areas of mainline nodes. In a multicommodity network, each node can exchange correspondence (products, goods, cargo, messages) with the other nodes. Correspondence is characterized by a source node, a sink node, and a quantity, which for data transmission networks is given by the number of bytes, kilobytes, etc., and for transport networks by the number of cargo units in a package of uniform size. In the mainline network, all correspondences are transmitted via communication channels or transported by vehicles in transport units of a given size (capacity, volume). The authors considered the main postulates of generating a mathematical model of the perspective development of mainline network. They presented a method of mathematical modeling of the phased development of nodes and transport routes, which includes, for each stage of development, the forecasting of data and network parameters, solving the problem of packing correspondence and choosing the structure of the network, and solving the problem of distribution and routing of transport unit flows.