502 research outputs found
On the computation of zone and double zone diagrams
Classical objects in computational geometry are defined by explicit
relations. Several years ago the pioneering works of T. Asano, J. Matousek and
T. Tokuyama introduced "implicit computational geometry", in which the
geometric objects are defined by implicit relations involving sets. An
important member in this family is called "a zone diagram". The implicit nature
of zone diagrams implies, as already observed in the original works, that their
computation is a challenging task. In a continuous setting this task has been
addressed (briefly) only by these authors in the Euclidean plane with point
sites. We discuss the possibility to compute zone diagrams in a wide class of
spaces and also shed new light on their computation in the original setting.
The class of spaces, which is introduced here, includes, in particular,
Euclidean spheres and finite dimensional strictly convex normed spaces. Sites
of a general form are allowed and it is shown that a generalization of the
iterative method suggested by Asano, Matousek and Tokuyama converges to a
double zone diagram, another implicit geometric object whose existence is known
in general. Occasionally a zone diagram can be obtained from this procedure.
The actual (approximate) computation of the iterations is based on a simple
algorithm which enables the approximate computation of Voronoi diagrams in a
general setting. Our analysis also yields a few byproducts of independent
interest, such as certain topological properties of Voronoi cells (e.g., that
in the considered setting their boundaries cannot be "fat").Comment: Very slight improvements (mainly correction of a few typos); add DOI;
Ref [51] points to a freely available computer application which implements
the algorithms; to appear in Discrete & Computational Geometry (available
online
Distance k-Sectors Exist
The bisector of two nonempty sets P and Q in a metric space is the set of all
points with equal distance to P and to Q. A distance k-sector of P and Q, where
k is an integer, is a (k-1)-tuple (C_1, C_2, ..., C_{k-1}) such that C_i is the
bisector of C_{i-1} and C_{i+1} for every i = 1, 2, ..., k-1, where C_0 = P and
C_k = Q. This notion, for the case where P and Q are points in Euclidean plane,
was introduced by Asano, Matousek, and Tokuyama, motivated by a question of
Murata in VLSI design. They established the existence and uniqueness of the
distance trisector in this special case. We prove the existence of a distance
k-sector for all k and for every two disjoint, nonempty, closed sets P and Q in
Euclidean spaces of any (finite) dimension, or more generally, in proper
geodesic spaces (uniqueness remains open). The core of the proof is a new
notion of k-gradation for P and Q, whose existence (even in an arbitrary metric
space) is proved using the Knaster-Tarski fixed point theorem, by a method
introduced by Reem and Reich for a slightly different purpose.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search Amid Higher-Dimensional Flats
We consider the Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) problem where the input set consists of n k-flats in the Euclidean Rd, for any fixed parameters k 0 is another prespecified parameter. We present an algorithm that achieves this task with n^{k+1}(log(n)/epsilon)^O(1) storage and preprocessing (where the constant of proportionality in the big-O notation depends on d), and can answer a query in O(polylog(n)) time (where the power of the logarithm depends on d and k). In particular, we need only near-quadratic storage to answer ANN queries amidst a set of n lines in any fixed-dimensional Euclidean space. As a by-product, our approach also yields an algorithm, with similar performance bounds, for answering exact nearest neighbor queries amidst k-flats with respect to any polyhedral distance function. Our results are more general, in that they also
provide a tradeoff between storage and query time
Smooth Distance Approximation
Traditional problems in computational geometry involve aspects that are both discrete and continuous. One such example is nearest-neighbor searching, where the input is discrete, but the result depends on distances, which vary continuously. In many real-world applications of geometric data structures, it is assumed that query results are continuous, free of jump discontinuities. This is at odds with many modern data structures in computational geometry, which employ approximations to achieve efficiency, but these approximations often suffer from discontinuities.
In this paper, we present a general method for transforming an approximate but discontinuous data structure into one that produces a smooth approximation, while matching the asymptotic space efficiencies of the original. We achieve this by adapting an approach called the partition-of-unity method, which smoothly blends multiple local approximations into a single smooth global approximation.
We illustrate the use of this technique in a specific application of approximating the distance to the boundary of a convex polytope in ?^d from any point in its interior. We begin by developing a novel data structure that efficiently computes an absolute ?-approximation to this query in time O(log (1/?)) using O(1/?^{d/2}) storage space. Then, we proceed to apply the proposed partition-of-unity blending to guarantee the smoothness of the approximate distance field, establishing optimal asymptotic bounds on the norms of its gradient and Hessian
The projector algorithm: a simple parallel algorithm for computing Voronoi diagrams and Delaunay graphs
The Voronoi diagram is a certain geometric data structure which has numerous
applications in various scientific and technological fields. The theory of
algorithms for computing 2D Euclidean Voronoi diagrams of point sites is rich
and useful, with several different and important algorithms. However, this
theory has been quite steady during the last few decades in the sense that no
essentially new algorithms have entered the game. In addition, most of the
known algorithms are serial in nature and hence cast inherent difficulties on
the possibility to compute the diagram in parallel. In this paper we present
the projector algorithm: a new and simple algorithm which enables the
(combinatorial) computation of 2D Voronoi diagrams. The algorithm is
significantly different from previous ones and some of the involved concepts in
it are in the spirit of linear programming and optics. Parallel implementation
is naturally supported since each Voronoi cell can be computed independently of
the other cells. A new combinatorial structure for representing the cells (and
any convex polytope) is described along the way and the computation of the
induced Delaunay graph is obtained almost automatically.Comment: This is a major revision; re-organization and better presentation of
some parts; correction of several inaccuracies; improvement of some proofs
and figures; added references; modification of the title; the paper is long
but more than half of it is composed of proofs and references: it is
sufficient to look at pages 5, 7--11 in order to understand the algorith
Aspects of Unstructured Grids and Finite-Volume Solvers for the Euler and Navier-Stokes Equations
One of the major achievements in engineering science has been the development of computer algorithms for solving nonlinear differential equations such as the Navier-Stokes equations. In the past, limited computer resources have motivated the development of efficient numerical schemes in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) utilizing structured meshes. The use of structured meshes greatly simplifies the implementation of CFD algorithms on conventional computers. Unstructured grids on the other hand offer an alternative to modeling complex geometries. Unstructured meshes have irregular connectivity and usually contain combinations of triangles, quadrilaterals, tetrahedra, and hexahedra. The generation and use of unstructured grids poses new challenges in CFD. The purpose of this note is to present recent developments in the unstructured grid generation and flow solution technology
Smooth Distance Approximation
Traditional problems in computational geometry involve aspects that are both
discrete and continuous. One such example is nearest-neighbor searching, where
the input is discrete, but the result depends on distances, which vary
continuously. In many real-world applications of geometric data structures, it
is assumed that query results are continuous, free of jump discontinuities.
This is at odds with many modern data structures in computational geometry,
which employ approximations to achieve efficiency, but these approximations
often suffer from discontinuities.
In this paper, we present a general method for transforming an approximate
but discontinuous data structure into one that produces a smooth approximation,
while matching the asymptotic space efficiencies of the original. We achieve
this by adapting an approach called the partition-of-unity method, which
smoothly blends multiple local approximations into a single smooth global
approximation.
We illustrate the use of this technique in a specific application of
approximating the distance to the boundary of a convex polytope in
from any point in its interior. We begin by developing a novel
data structure that efficiently computes an absolute
-approximation to this query in time
using storage space. Then, we proceed to apply the
proposed partition-of-unity blending to guarantee the smoothness of the
approximate distance field, establishing optimal asymptotic bounds on the norms
of its gradient and Hessian.Comment: To appear in the European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA) 202
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