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Exploring an Unknown Graph Efficiently

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Algorithms – ESA 2005 (ESA 2005)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 3669))

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Abstract

We study the problem of exploring an unknown, strongly connected directed graph. Starting at some node of the graph, we must visit every edge and every node at least once. The goal is to minimize the number of edge traversals. It is known that the competitive ratio of online algorithms for this problem depends on the deficiency d of the graph, which is the minimum number of edges that must be added to make the graph Eulerian. We present the first deterministic online exploration algorithm whose competitive ratio is polynomial in d (it is O(d 8)).

The work described in this paper was partially supported by the RGC/HKUST Direct Allocation Grant DAG03/04.EG05 and by a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme (Project No. G-HK024/02-II).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Rudolf Fleischer

  2. Department of Computer Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

    Gerhard Trippen

Authors
  1. Rudolf Fleischer
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  2. Gerhard Trippen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. BRICS, MADALGO, Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark

    Gerth Stølting Brodal

  2. University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Stefano Leonardi

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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Fleischer, R., Trippen, G. (2005). Exploring an Unknown Graph Efficiently. In: Brodal, G.S., Leonardi, S. (eds) Algorithms – ESA 2005. ESA 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3669. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11561071_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11561071_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-29118-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31951-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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