TY - GEN
T1 - More efficient periodic traversal in anonymous undirected graphs
AU - Czyzowicz, Jurek
AU - Dobrev, Stefan
AU - Ga̧sieniec, Leszek
AU - Ilcinkas, David
AU - Jansson, Jesper Andreas
AU - Klasing, Ralf
AU - Lignos, Ioannis
AU - Martin, Russell
AU - Sadakane, Kunihiko
AU - Sung, Wing Kin
PY - 2010/3/23
Y1 - 2010/3/23
N2 - We consider the problem of periodic graph exploration in which a mobile entity with (at most) constant memory, an agent, has to visit all n nodes of an arbitrary undirected graph G in a periodic manner. Graphs are supposed to be anonymous, that is, nodes are unlabeled. However, while visiting a node, the robot has to distinguish between edges incident to it. For each node v the endpoints of the edges incident to v are uniquely identified by different integer labels called port numbers. We are interested in the minimisation of the length of the exploration period. This problem is unsolvable if the local port numbers are set arbitrarily, see [1]. However, surprisingly small periods can be achieved when assigning carefully the local port numbers. Dobrev et al. [2] described an algorithm for assigning port numbers, and an oblivious agent (i.e., an agent with no persistent memory) using it, such that the agent explores all graphs of size n within period 10n. Providing the agent with a constant number of memory bits, the optimal length of the period was proved in [3] to be no more than 3.75n (using a different assignment of the port numbers). In this paper, we improve both these bounds. More precisely, we show a period of length at most 4 1/3n for oblivious agents, and a period of length at most 3.5n for agents with constant memory. Finally, we give the first non-trivial lower bound, 2.8n, on the period length for the oblivious case.
AB - We consider the problem of periodic graph exploration in which a mobile entity with (at most) constant memory, an agent, has to visit all n nodes of an arbitrary undirected graph G in a periodic manner. Graphs are supposed to be anonymous, that is, nodes are unlabeled. However, while visiting a node, the robot has to distinguish between edges incident to it. For each node v the endpoints of the edges incident to v are uniquely identified by different integer labels called port numbers. We are interested in the minimisation of the length of the exploration period. This problem is unsolvable if the local port numbers are set arbitrarily, see [1]. However, surprisingly small periods can be achieved when assigning carefully the local port numbers. Dobrev et al. [2] described an algorithm for assigning port numbers, and an oblivious agent (i.e., an agent with no persistent memory) using it, such that the agent explores all graphs of size n within period 10n. Providing the agent with a constant number of memory bits, the optimal length of the period was proved in [3] to be no more than 3.75n (using a different assignment of the port numbers). In this paper, we improve both these bounds. More precisely, we show a period of length at most 4 1/3n for oblivious agents, and a period of length at most 3.5n for agents with constant memory. Finally, we give the first non-trivial lower bound, 2.8n, on the period length for the oblivious case.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77949523591&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-642-11476-2_14
DO - 10.1007/978-3-642-11476-2_14
M3 - Conference article published in proceeding or book
SN - 364211475X
SN - 9783642114755
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 167
EP - 181
BT - Structural Information and Communication Complexity - 16th International Colloquium, SIROCCO 2009, Revised Selected Papers
T2 - 16th International Colloquium on Structural Information and Communication Complexity, SIROCCO 2009
Y2 - 25 May 2009 through 27 May 2009
ER -