The Band Collocation Problem: a Library of Problems and a Metaheuristic Approach Hakan Kutucu 1 , Arif Gursoy 2 , Mehmet Kurt 3 , and Urfat Nuriyev 2 1 Karabuk University, Department of Computer Engineering, Karabuk, Turkey hakankutucu@karabuk.edu.tr, 2 Ege University, Department of Mathematics, Izmir, Turkey arif.gursoy@ege.edu.tr, urfat.nuriyev@ege.edu.tr 3 Izmir University, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Izmir, Turkey mehmet.kurt@izmir.edu.tr Abstract. In this paper, we consider the Band Collocation Problem (BCP) which may find an application in telecommunication networks, to design an optimal packing of information flows on different wavelengths into groups for obtaining the highest available cost reduction using wavelength division mul- tiplexing (WDM) technology. We give a review of its mathematical models. The linear and nonlinear models have been implemented in GAMS (the Gen- eral Algebraic Modeling System) and solved using the CPLEX and KNITRO solvers, respectively. Then, we introduce the BCP Library (BCPLib) includ- ing 1296 problem instances with different properties that can be accessed at http://www.izmir.edu.tr/bps. Finally, we improve a simulated annealing (SA) meta-heuristic to solve the BCP. The proposed algorithm is performed using two local search methods for several test instances of the BCPLib and com- pared with the solutions obtained by a genetic algorithm. Experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm improves the quality of solutions. Keywords: Bandpass problem, Combinatorial optimization, Mathematical mod- eling, Telecommunication, Simulated annealing 1 Introduction The Bandpass Problem (BP) whose first mathematical model was presented in 2009 is a combinatorial optimization problem which may be used in telecommunication systems [1]. Due to the development in the technology, some problems become invalid or useless and they need to be updated. In this sense, Nuriyev et. al. announced the Band Collocation Problem (BCP) by extending the BP due to incompatibility with real life implementations at the present time [7]. The BP is related to transmitting data over fiber optic networks using the Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology [1]. The data is transmitted from a source to other stations on different wavelengths in a single fiber optic cable. Copyright c  by the paper’s authors. Copying permitted for private and academic purposes. In: A. Kononov et al. (eds.): DOOR 2016, Vladivostok, Russia, published at http://ceur-ws.org