The Limited Workspace Model for Geometric Algorithms

Space usage has been a concern since the very early days of algorithm design. The increased availability of devices with limited memory or power supply – such as smartphones, drones, or small sensors – as well as the proliferation of new storage media for which write access is comparatively slow and may have negative effects on the lifetime – such as flash drives – have led to renewed interest in the subject. As a result, the design of algorithms for the limited workspace model has seen a significant rise in popularity in computational geometry over the last decade. In this setting, we typically have a large amount of data that needs to be processed. Although we may access the data in any way and as often as we like, write-access to the main storage is limited and/or slow. Thus, we opt to use only higher level memory for intermediate data (e.g., CPU registers). Since the application areas of the devices mentioned above – sensors, smartphones, and drones – often handle a large amount of geographic (i.e., geometric) data, the scenario becomes particularly interesting from the viewpoint of computational geometry. Motivated by these considerations, we investigate geometric problems in the limited workspace model. In this model the input of size n resides in read-only memory, an algorithm may use a workspace of size s = {1, . . . , n} to read and write the intermediate data during its execution, and it reports the output to a write-only stream. The goal is to design algorithms whose running time decreases as s increases, which provides a time-space trade-off. In this thesis, we consider three fundamental geometric problems, namely, computing different types of Voronoi diagrams of a planar point set, computing the Euclidean minimum spanning tree of a planar point set, and computing the k-visibility region of a point inside a polygonal domain. Using several innovative techniques, we either achieve the first time-space trade-offs for those problems or improve the previous results.Der Speicherplatzbedarf ist seit den Anfängen des Algorithmenentwurfs von Interesse. Die erhöhte Verfügbarkeit von Geräten mit begrenztem Speicherplatz oder begrenzter Stromversorgung – wie Smartphones, Drohnen oder kleine Sensoren – sowie die Verbreitung neuer Speichermedien, bei denen der Schreibzugriff vergleichsweise langsam ist und negative Auswirkungen auf die Lebensdauer haben kann – wie beispielsweise Flash-Laufwerken – haben zu erneuter Aufmerksamkeit für dieses Thema geführt. In der Folge hat der Entwurf von Algorithmen für das Limited Workspace Model (Modell mit begrenztem Arbeitsspeicher) in den letzten zehn Jahren einen signifikanten Anstieg an Popularität in der algorithmischen Geometrie erfahren. In diesem Setting haben wir in der Regel eine große Menge an Daten, die verarbeitet werden müssen. Obwohl wir auf die Daten beliebig oft und in beliebiger Weise zugreifen können, ist der Schreibzugriff auf den Hauptspeicher begrenzt und/oder langsam. Zwischenergebnisse werden daher nur in einem kleineren, übergeordneten Speicher (z. B. CPU-Register) abgelegt. Da die Anwendungsbereiche der oben genannten Geräte – Sensoren, Smartphones und Drohnen – oft mit einer großen Menge an geografischen (d. h., geometrischen) Daten umgehen, ist dieses Szenario aus Sicht der algorithmischen Geometrie besonders interessant. Motiviert durch diese Überlegungen haben wir geometrische Probleme im Limited Workspace Model untersucht. In diesem Modell befindet sich die Eingabe der Größe n in einem schreibgeschützten Speicher, ein Algorithmus kann einen Arbeitsspeicher der Größe s = {1, . . . , n} verwenden, um die Zwischendaten während der Ausführung zu lesen und zu schreiben. Die Ausgabe sendet er an einen lesegeschützten Stream. Ziel ist es, Algorithmen zu entwickeln, deren Laufzeit mit zunehmender Verfügbarkeit an Arbeitsspeicher abnimmt, was einen Time-Space Trade-Off (Laufzeit-Speicher-Abwägung) darstellt. In dieser Arbeit betrachten wir drei grundlegende geometrische Probleme, nämlich die Berechnung verschiedener Arten von Voronoi-Diagrammen einer Punktmenge in der Ebene, die Berechnung des euklidischen minimalen Spannbaums einer ebenen Punktmenge und die Bestimmung der k-Sichtbarkeitsregion (k-visibility region) eines Punkts innerhalb eines polygonalen Gebiets. Mit mehreren innovativen Techniken entwickeln wir entweder die ersten Time-Space Trade-Offs für diese Probleme oder verbessern die bisherigen Ergebnisse

Time-Space Trade-Offs for Computing Euclidean Minimum Spanning Trees

In the limited-workspace model, we assume that the input of size $n$ lies in a random access read-only memory. The output has to be reported sequentially, and it cannot be accessed or modified. In addition, there is a read-write workspace of $O(s)$ words, where $s \in \{1, \dots, n\}$ is a given parameter. In a time-space trade-off, we are interested in how the running time of an algorithm improves as $s$ varies from $1$ to $n$. We present a time-space trade-off for computing the Euclidean minimum spanning tree (EMST) of a set $V$ of $n$ sites in the plane. We present an algorithm that computes EMST$(V)$ using $O(n^3\log s /s^2)$ time and $O(s)$ words of workspace. Our algorithm uses the fact that EMST$(V)$ is a subgraph of the bounded-degree relative neighborhood graph of $V$, and applies Kruskal's MST algorithm on it. To achieve this with limited workspace, we introduce a compact representation of planar graphs, called an $s$-net which allows us to manipulate its component structure during the execution of the algorithm

Improved Time-Space Trade-Offs for Computing Voronoi Diagrams

Let P be a planar n-point set in general position. For k between 1 and n-1, the Voronoi diagram of order k is obtained by subdividing the plane into regions such that points in the same cell have the same set of nearest k neighbors in P. The (nearest point) Voronoi diagram (NVD) and the farthest point Voronoi diagram (FVD) are the particular cases of k=1 and k=n-1, respectively. It is known that the family of all higher-order Voronoi diagrams of order 1 to K for P can be computed in total time O(n K^2 + n log n) using O(K^2(n-K)) space. Also NVD and FVD can be computed in O(n log n) time using O(n) space. For s in {1, ..., n}, an s-workspace algorithm has random access to a read-only array with the sites of P in arbitrary order. Additionally, the algorithm may use O(s) words of Theta(log n) bits each for reading and writing intermediate data. The output can be written only once and cannot be accessed afterwards. We describe a deterministic s-workspace algorithm for computing an NVD and also an FVD for P that runs in O((n^2/s) log s) time. Moreover, we generalize our s-workspace algorithm for computing the family of all higher-order Voronoi diagrams of P up to order K in O(sqrt(s)) in total time O( (n^2 K^6 / s) log^(1+epsilon)(K) (log s / log K)^(O(1)) ) for any fixed epsilon > 0. Previously, for Voronoi diagrams, the only known s-workspace algorithm was to find an NVD for P in expected time O((n^2/s) log s + n log s log^*s). Unlike the previous algorithm, our new method is very simple and does not rely on advanced data structures or random sampling techniques

Improved time-space trade-offs for computing Voronoi diagrams

Let P be a planar set of n sites in general position. For k∈{1,…,n−1}, the Voronoi diagram of order k for P is obtained by subdividing the plane into cells such that points in the same cell have the same set of nearest k neighbors in P. The (nearest site) Voronoi diagram (NVD) and the farthest site Voronoi diagram (FVD) are the particular cases of k=1 and k=n−1, respectively. For any given K∈{1,…,n−1}, the family of all higher-order Voronoi diagrams of order k=1,…,K for P can be computed in total time O(nK2+nlogn) using O(K2(n−K)) space [Aggarwal et al., DCG'89; Lee, TC'82]. Moreover, NVD and FVD for P can be computed in O(nlogn) time using O(n) space [Preparata, Shamos, Springer'85]. For s∈{1,…,n} , an s-workspace algorithm has random access to a read-only array with the sites of P in arbitrary order. Additionally, the algorithm may use O(s) words, of Θ(logn) bits each, for reading and writing intermediate data. The output can be written only once and cannot be accessed or modified afterwards. We describe a deterministic s -workspace algorithm for computing NVD and FVD for P that runs in O((n2/s)logs) time. Moreover, we generalize our s-workspace algorithm so that for any given K∈O(s√), we compute the family of all higher-order Voronoi diagrams of order k=1,…,K for P in total expected time O(n2K5s(logs+K2O(log∗K))) or in total deterministic time O(n2K5s(logs+KlogK)). Previously, for Voronoi diagrams, the only known s-workspace algorithm runs in expected time O((n2/s)logs+nlogslog∗s) [Korman et al., WADS'15] and only works for NVD (i.e., k=1). Unlike the previous algorithm, our new method is very simple and does not rely on advanced data structures or random sampling techniques

Routing in Polygonal Domains

We consider the problem of routing a data packet through the visibility graph of a polygonal domain P with n vertices and h holes. We may preprocess P to obtain a label and a routing table for each vertex. Then, we must be able to route a data packet between any two vertices p and q of Pwhere each step must use only the label of the target node q and the routing table of the current node. For any fixed eps > 0, we pre ent a routing scheme that always achieves a routing path that exceeds the shortest path by a factor of at most 1 + eps. The labels have O(log n) bits, and the routing tables are of size O((eps^{-1} + h) log n). The preprocessing time is O(n^2 log n + hn^2 + eps^{-1}hn). It can be improved to O(n 2 + eps^{-1}n) for simple polygons

Routing in polygonal domains

We consider the problem of routing a data packet through the visibility graph of a polygonal domain P with n vertices and h holes. We may preprocess P to obtain a label and a routing table for each vertex of P. Then, we must be able to route a data packet between any two vertices p and q of P, where each step must use only the label of the target node q and the routing table of the current node. For any fixed ε>0, we present a routing scheme that always achieves a routing path whose length exceeds the shortest path by a factor of at most 1+ε. The labels have O(log⁡n) bits, and the routing tables are of size O((ε−1+h)log⁡n). The preprocessing time is O(n2log⁡n). It can be improved to O(n2) for simple polygons

Routing in polygonal domains

\u3cp\u3eWe consider the problem of routing a data packet through the visibility graph of a polygonal domain P with n vertices and h holes. We may preprocess P to obtain a label and a routing table for each vertex. Then, we must be able to route a data packet between any two vertices p and q of P, where each step must use only the label of the target node q and the routing table of the current node. For any fixed ϵ > 0, we present a routing scheme that always achieves a routing path that exceeds the shortest path by a factor of at most 1 + ϵ. The labels have O(log n) bits, and the routing tables are of size O((ϵ\u3csup\u3e-1\u3c/sup\u3e+h) log n). The preprocessing time is O(n\u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e log n+hn\u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e+ ϵ\u3csup\u3e-1\u3c/sup\u3ehn). It can be improved to O(n\u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e + ϵ\u3csup\u3e-1\u3c/sup\u3en) for simple polygons.\u3c/p\u3