Supernetworks

Qiong June DongSchool of Business

Funding provided by

• National Science Foundation

• Faculty Enhancement Grant

• Networks are pervasive in our daily livesand essential to the functioning of oursocieties and economics.

Source:http://supernet.som.umass.edu

What is a Supernetwork?A Supernetwork is a network, consisting of

nodes, links, and flows, that is over andabove existing networks.

Challenges

• Decision Making– Centralized vs. Decentralized– More alternatives

• Complexity– Large scale

Competition• Equilibrium vs. Optimization

Nash Equilibrium

Commuting

Telecommuting

Why Telecommuting?

• Reduce traffic congestion• Reduce emissions• Land use• Human resource policy

Telecommuting

• Number of telecommutersincreased from 4 millionto 23.6 million in the pastdecade.

• Recent legislation permitsfederal employees toselect the telecommutingoption

• 72.4% reported thatworking at home slightlyor greatly increasedproductivity

Questions

• Telecommute or Commute?• How often?• What’s the impact on traffic?• What’s the impact on land-use?• What’s the impact on environment?

A Conceptualized Supernetworkof Commuting vs. Telecommuting

Be Aware of Paradoxes

A decrease in demanddemand on a supernetworkwith a zero emission link may result inan increase in emissions.emissions.

Adding a new path which consists solelyof a zero emission link and whichshares no links with any other path mayresult in an increase in emissionsemissions.

What do we see?

• The importance of the incorporationof Network Topology, Cost andDemand Structure, Users Behavior.

• The interconnectivity among distinctnetwork systems

A Supernetwork may have both virtual andphysical links

A Supernetwork may be multitiered andmultilevel.

Decision-makers may have distinct criteriasuch as time, monetary cost, opportunitycost, risk, and/or safety.

Applications of Supernetworks

• Telecommuting / Commuting decisionmaking

• Teleshopping / Shopping decision making• Supply Chain Networks with E-commerce• Financial Networks with Electronic

Transactions

Teleshopping vs. Shopping

Source: http://supernet.som.umass.edu

Supply Chain - TransportationSupernetwork Representation