Node-Reliability: Monte Carlo, Laplace, and Stochastic Approximations and a Greedy Link-Augmentation Strategy
article
The node-reliability polynomial nRelG(p) measures the probability that a connected network remains connected given that each node functions independently with probability p. Computing node-reliability polynomials nRelG(p) exactly is NP-hard. Here we propose efficient approximations. First, we develop an accurate Monte Carlo simulation, which is accelerated by incorporating a Laplace approximation that captures the polynomial’s main behavior. We also introduce three degree-based stochastic approximations (Laplace, arithmetic, and geometric), which leverage the degree distribution to estimate nRelG(p) with low complexity. Beyond approximations, our framework addresses the reliability-based Global Robustness Improvement Problem (k-GRIP) by selecting exactly k links to add to a given graph so as to maximize its node reliability. A Greedy Lowest-Degree Pairing Link Addition (Greedy-LD) Algorithm, is proposed which offers a computationally efficient and practically effective heuristic, particularly suitable for large-scale networks. © 2025 IEEE.
TNO Identifier
1018669
ISSN
1932-4537
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Source title
IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management
Pages
1-12