Fast-MCS: A Scalable Open-Source Tool to Find Minimal Cut Sets
2026-02-18 • Networking and Internet Architecture
Networking and Internet Architecture
AI summaryⓘ
The authors explain that a network can be shown as a group of points (nodes) connected by lines (edges). They focus on Minimal Cut Sets (MCS), which are the smallest groups of parts that, if broken, stop a connection between two points. The authors created Fast-MCS, a free tool that quickly finds these critical parts in big, complex networks. They also compare how fast their tool works against the best existing methods.
network graphnodesedgescut setminimal cut setconnectivityfailure analysisscalabilityalgorithmcomputation time
Authors
Shakthivelu Janardhanan, Yaxuan Chen, Wolfgang Kellerer, Carmen Mas-Machuca
Abstract
A network is represented as a graph consisting of nodes and edges. A cut set for a source-destination pair in a network is a set of elements that, when failed, cause the source-destination pair to lose connectivity. A Minimal Cut Set (MCS) is a cut set that cannot be further reduced while maintaining its status as a cut set. MCSs are crucial in identifying the critical elements in the network that have the most significant impact on failure. This work introduces Fast-MCS, an open-source, scalable tool for evaluating MCSs in large, complex networks. Additionally, we compare the computation time of Fast-MCS with the state-of-the-art.