Abstract
Recent applications of path problems in engineering, e.g., in circuit design require the computation of optimal paths with respect to general cost criteria going beyond path length. In this paper we extend the path algorithms by Ford and Dijkstra to handle a wide variety of cost criteria which can be nonassociative, nonmonotonic, partially ordered, and not antisymmetric. Negative cycles are allowed, so our search method is more powerful than best-first search.
In addition we analyze the efficiency of the presented algorithms. The method gives efficient algorithms for a number of applications. We give several examples. Among them are finding paths with minimum frequency of the most frequent edge cost and finding paths with minimum range in edge cost.
Finally, we describe goal-directed versions of our search methods.
Part of this research was supported by the German Secretary for Research and Technology, Grant No. 13AS0097
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
A. V. Aho, J. E. Hopcroft, and J. D. Ullman. The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms. Addison-Wesley Series in Computer Science and Engineering. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1974.
R. E. Bellman. On a routing problem. Quarterly Applied Mathematics, 16:87–90, 1958.
R. Dechter and J. Pearl. Generalized best-first search strategies and the optimality of a*. Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery, 32(3):505–536, 1985.
E. W. Dijkstra. A note on two problems in connexion with graphs. Numerische Mathematik, 1:269–271, 1959.
L. R. Ford. Network flow theory. Technical Report P-923, RAND Corp., Santa Monica, CA, 1956.
M. R. Fredman and R. E. Tarjan. Fibonacci heaps and their uses in improved network optimization algorithms. Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery, 34(3):596–615, 1987.
M. R. Garey and D. S. Johnson. Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness. Freeman, San Francisco, CA, 1979.
M. Hall Jr. Combinatorial Theory. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1967.
P. Hart, N. Nilsson, and B. Raphael. A formal basis for the heuristic determination of minimum cost paths. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Science and Cybernetics, SCC-4(2):100–107, 1968.
J. E. Hopcroft and J. D. Ullman. Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages and Computation. Addison-Wesley Series in Computer Science. Adds that cison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1979.
T. C. Hu and M. T. Shing. The alpha-beta routing. In T. C. Hu and E. S. Kuh, editors, VLSI Layout: Theory and Design, pages 139–143. IEEE Press, New York, 1985.
U. Huckenbeck and D. Ruland. A generalized best-first search method in graphs. In R. Möhring, editor, Proceedings of the 16th International Workshop on Graphtheoretic Concepts in Computer Science (WG'90), New York, 1990. Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science, No. 484, Springer Verlag.
W. John. Remarks to the solution of EMC-Problems on printed circuit boards. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Electromagnetic Compatibility, York, U.K., 1990.
T. Lengauer. Combinatorial Algorithms for Integrated Circuit Layout. Teubner-Wiley Series of Applicable Theory in Computer Science. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1990.
T. Lengauer and D. Theune. Unstructured path problems and the making of semirings. Typescript, Fachbereich Mathematik-Informatik, Universität Gesamthochschule Paderborn, 1991.
K. Mehlhorn. Data Structures and Algorithms II: Graph Algorithms and NP-completeness, volume 2 of EATCS Monographs on Theoretical Computer Science. Springer Verlag, New York, 1984.
G. Rote. Path problems in graphs. Computing Supplement, 7:155–189, 1990.
U. Zimmermann. Linear and combinatorial optimization in ordered algebraic structures. (Especially chapter 8: Algebraic path problems.) Ann. Discrete Math. 10, 1–380, 1981.
R. E. Tarjan. Data Structures and Network Algorithms. CBMS-NSF Regional Conference Series in Applied Mathematics No. 44. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia, PA, 1983.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lengauer, T., Theune, D. (1991). Efficient algorithms for path problems with general cost criteria. In: Albert, J.L., Monien, B., Artalejo, M.R. (eds) Automata, Languages and Programming. ICALP 1991. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 510. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-54233-7_144
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-54233-7_144
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-54233-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47516-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive