Parametric shortest-path algorithms via tropical geometry

We study parameterized versions of classical algorithms for computing shortest-path trees. This is most easily expressed in terms of tropical geometry. Applications include shortest paths in traffic networks with variable link travel times.Comment: 24 pages and 8 figure

Upper and Lower Bounds for Competitive Online Routing on Delaunay Triangulations

Consider a weighted graph G where vertices are points in the plane and edges are line segments. The weight of each edge is the Euclidean distance between its two endpoints. A routing algorithm on G has a competitive ratio of c if the length of the path produced by the algorithm from any vertex s to any vertex t is at most c times the length of the shortest path from s to t in G. If the length of the path is at most c times the Euclidean distance from s to t, we say that the routing algorithm on G has a routing ratio of c.We present an online routing algorithm on the Delaunay triangulation with competitive and routing ratios of 5.90. This improves upon the best known algorithm that has competitive and routing ratio 15.48. The algorithm is a generalization of the deterministic 1-local routing algorithm by Chew on the L1-Delaunay triangulation. When a message follows the routing path produced by our algorithm, its header need only contain the coordinates of s and t. This is an improvement over the currently known competitive routing algorithms on the Delaunay triangulation, for which the header of a message must additionally contain partial sums of distances along the routing path.We also show that the routing ratio of any deterministic k-local algorithm is at least 1.70 for the Delaunay triangulation and 2.70 for the L1-Delaunay triangulation. In the case of the L1-Delaunay triangulation, this implies that even though there exists a path between two points x and y whose length is at most 2.61|[xy]| (where |[xy]| denotes the length of the line segment [xy]), it is not always possible to route a message along a path of length less than 2.70|[xy]|. From these bounds on the routing ratio, we derive lower bounds on the competitive ratio of 1.23 for Delaunay triangulations and 1.12 for L1-Delaunay triangulations

Partitioning Graph Drawings and Triangulated Simple Polygons into Greedily Routable Regions

A greedily routable region (GRR) is a closed subset of $\mathbb R^2$, in which each destination point can be reached from each starting point by choosing the direction with maximum reduction of the distance to the destination in each point of the path. Recently, Tan and Kermarrec proposed a geographic routing protocol for dense wireless sensor networks based on decomposing the network area into a small number of interior-disjoint GRRs. They showed that minimum decomposition is NP-hard for polygons with holes. We consider minimum GRR decomposition for plane straight-line drawings of graphs. Here, GRRs coincide with self-approaching drawings of trees, a drawing style which has become a popular research topic in graph drawing. We show that minimum decomposition is still NP-hard for graphs with cycles, but can be solved optimally for trees in polynomial time. Additionally, we give a 2-approximation for simple polygons, if a given triangulation has to be respected.Comment: full version of a paper appearing in ISAAC 201

Some Results On Convex Greedy Embedding Conjecture for 3-Connected Planar Graphs

A greedy embedding of a graph $G = (V,E)$ into a metric space $(X,d)$ is a function $x : V(G) \to X$ such that in the embedding for every pair of non-adjacent vertices $x(s), x(t)$ there exists another vertex $x(u)$ adjacent to $x(s)$ which is closer to $x(t)$ than $x(s)$. This notion of greedy embedding was defined by Papadimitriou and Ratajczak (Theor. Comput. Sci. 2005), where authors conjectured that every 3-connected planar graph has a greedy embedding (possibly planar and convex) in the Euclidean plane. Recently, greedy embedding conjecture has been proved by Leighton and Moitra (FOCS 2008). However, their algorithm do not result in a drawing that is planar and convex for all 3-connected planar graph in the Euclidean plane. In this work we consider the planar convex greedy embedding conjecture and make some progress. We derive a new characterization of planar convex greedy embedding that given a 3-connected planar graph $G = (V,E)$, an embedding x: V \to \bbbr^2 of $G$ is a planar convex greedy embedding if and only if, in the embedding $x$, weight of the maximum weight spanning tree ($T$) and weight of the minimum weight spanning tree (\func{MST}) satisfies \WT(T)/\WT(\func{MST}) \leq (\card{V}-1)^{1 - \delta}, for some $0 < \delta \leq 1$.Comment: 19 pages, A short version of this paper has been accepted for presentation in FCT 2009 - 17th International Symposium on Fundamentals of Computation Theor

Routing with Guaranteed Delivery on Virtual Coordinates

We propose four simple algorithms for routing on planar graphs using virtual coordinates. These algorithms are superior to existing algorithms in that they are oblivious, work also for non-triangular graphs, and their virtual coordinates are easy to construct.Engineering and Applied Science

On the Area Requirements of Planar Greedy Drawings of Triconnected Planar Graphs

In this paper we study the area requirements of planar greedy drawings of triconnected planar graphs. Cao, Strelzoff, and Sun exhibited a family $\cal H$ of subdivisions of triconnected plane graphs and claimed that every planar greedy drawing of the graphs in $\mathcal H$ respecting the prescribed plane embedding requires exponential area. However, we show that every $n$-vertex graph in $\cal H$ actually has a planar greedy drawing respecting the prescribed plane embedding on an $O(n)\times O(n)$ grid. This reopens the question whether triconnected planar graphs admit planar greedy drawings on a polynomial-size grid. Further, we provide evidence for a positive answer to the above question by proving that every $n$-vertex Halin graph admits a planar greedy drawing on an $O(n)\times O(n)$ grid. Both such results are obtained by actually constructing drawings that are convex and angle-monotone. Finally, we consider $\alpha$-Schnyder drawings, which are angle-monotone and hence greedy if $\alpha\leq 30^\circ$, and show that there exist planar triangulations for which every $\alpha$-Schnyder drawing with a fixed $\alpha<60^\circ$ requires exponential area for any resolution rule

Constant memory routing in quasi-planar and quasi-polyhedral graphs

AbstractWe address the problem of online route discovery for a class of graphs that can be embedded either in two or in three-dimensional space. In two dimensions we propose the class of quasi-planar graphs and in three dimensions the class of quasi-polyhedral graphs. In the former case such graphs are geometrically embedded in R2 and have an underlying backbone that is planar with convex faces; however within each face arbitrary edges (with arbitrary crossings) are allowed. In the latter case, these graphs are geometrically embedded in R3 and consist of a backbone of convex polyhedra and arbitrary edges within each polyhedron. In both cases we provide a routing algorithm that guarantees delivery. Our algorithms need only “remember” the source and destination nodes and one (respectively, two) reference nodes used to store information about the underlying face (respectively, polyhedron) currently being traversed. The existence of the backbone is used only in proofs of correctness of the routing algorithm; the particular choice is irrelevant and does not affect the behaviour of the algorithm