Optimal hierarchical structure of broadcast network

With the realization of broadband integrated service digital networks (B-ISDN), broadcast services will occupy a large part of the network traffic. In these services, the same information is distributed to many subscribers through the point-to-multipoint connection paths. This connection form is quite different from that of conventional point-to-point services. Since the conventional network structure is designed for point-to-point services, the current network topology may lower the quality of service or may increase construction costs. In this paper, the hierarchical broadcast network topology is optimized under certain assumptions: the cost functions, the population distribution, and the percentage of broadcast services are treated as parameters. The result shows that the ring-star-star or ring-ring-star topologies can be better than the conventional mesh-star topology in some cases, and can be much better when the viewing ratio of broadcast services increases.