Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Parallel state-space search for a first solution with consistent linear speedups

  • Published:
International Journal of Parallel Programming Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Consider the problem of exploring a large state-space for a goal state where although many such states may exist in the state-space, finding any one state satisfying the requirements is sufficient. All the methods known until now for conducting such search in parallel using multiprocessors fail to provide consistent linear speedups over sequential execution. The speedups vary between sublinear to superlinear and from one execution to another. Further, adding more processors may sometimes lead to a slow-down rather than speedup, giving rise to speedup anomalies reported in literature. We present a prioritizing strategy which yields consistent speedups that are close toP withP processors, and that monotonically increase with the additon of processors. This is achieved by keeping the total number of nodes expanded during parallel search very close to that of a sequential search. In addition, the strategy requires substantially smaller memory relative to other methods. The performance of this strategy is demonstrated on a multiprocessor with several state-space search problems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. R. Halstead, Parallel Symbolic Computing,Computer, pp. 35–43 (August 1986).

  2. L. V. Kale, Parallel Problem Solving,Parallel Algorithms for Machine Intelligence and Vision, Springer-Verlag New York Inc., pp. 146–181, invited paper (1990).

  3. Salvatore J. Stolfo, Initial Performance of the DADO2 Prototype,Computer, pp. 75–83 (January 1987).

  4. B. W. Wah, New Computers for Artificial Intelligence Processing,Computer, pp. 10–15 (January 1987).

  5. D. McDermott and E. Davis, Planning Routes through Uncertain Territory,Artificial Intelligence,22(2):105–135 (1984).

    Google Scholar 

  6. J. Pearl,Heuristics. Intelligent Search Strategies for Computer Problem Solvin. Addison-Wesley, Inc. (1985).

  7. MathLab Group, LCS, MIT,The MACSYMA Reference Manual (January 1983).

  8. J. Moses, Symbolic Integration: The Stormy Decade,Communications of the ACM, pp. 548–560 (August 1971).

  9. N. J. Nilsson,Problem Solving Methods in Artificial Intelligence, McGraw-Hill, Inc. (1971).

  10. H. Gelernter, . Sridharan, . Hart, . Yen, . Fowler and . Shue, The Discovery of Organic Synthesis Routes by Computer,Topics in Current Chemical Research (1973).

  11. S. Arvidam, V. Kumar, V. Nageshwara Rao and V. Singh, Automatic Test Pattern Generation on Multiprocessor: A Summary of Results,Second Conf. on Knowledge Based Computer Systems, pp. 41–51 (December 1989).

  12. Vikram A. Saletore,Machine Independent Parallel Execuation of Speculative Computations, PhD Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois (September 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  13. B. Hausman,Pruning and Speculative Work in OR-Parallel PROLOG, PhD Thesis, Royal Institute of Technology (1990).

  14. F. W. Burton, Controlling Speculative Computation in a Parallel Functional Language,Intel. Conf. on Distributed Computer Systems, pp. 453–458 (November 1985).

  15. T. H. Lai and Sartaj Sahni, Anomalies in Parallel Branch-and Bound Algorithms,Communications of the ACM, pp. 594–602 (June 1984).

  16. L. V. Kale and W. Shu, The Chare-Kernel Language for Parallel Programming: A Perspective: Tech. Rep UIUCDCS-R-88-1451, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (August 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  17. R. E. Korf, Depth-first Iterative Deepening: An Optimal Admissible Tree Search,Artificial Intelligence, pp. 97–109 (1985).

  18. R. E. Korf, Optimal Path-Finding Algorithms,Search in Artificial Intelligence, pp. 223–267, Springer-Verlag New York Inc. (1988).

  19. M. Imai, Y. Yoshida and T. Fukumara, A Parallel Searching Scheme for Multiprocessor Systems and its Applications to Combinatorial Problems,Int'l Joint Conf. on Artificial Entelligence, pp. 416–418 (1979).

  20. Vipin Kumar and V. Nageshwar Rao, Parallel Depth First Search. Part 2: Analysis,Int'l J. of Parallel Programming, pp. 501–519 (December 1987).

  21. V. Nageshwar Rao, V. Kumar and K. Ramesh, A Parallel Implementation of Iterative-Deepening-A*,National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) (August 1987).

  22. V. Nageshware Rao, and Vipin Kumar, Parallel Depth First Search. Part 1: Implementation,Int'l. J. of Parallel Programming,ppp. 479–499 (December 1987).

  23. G. J. Li and B. W. Wah, Coping with Anomalies in Parallel Branch-and-Bound Algorithms,IEEE Transactions on Computers, pp. 568–573 (June 1986).

  24. G. J. Li and B. W. Wah, Computational Efficiency of Parallel Approximate Branch-and Bound Algorithms,Int'l Conf. on Parallel Processing, St. Charles, Illinois (August 1984).

  25. G. J. Li and B. W Wah, How Good are Parallel and Ordered Depth-Frrst Seaerches,Int'l. Cofn. on Parallel Processing, St. Charles, Illinois (August 1986).

  26. E. Charniak, C. K. Riesbeck, D. McDermott, and J. Meehan,Artificial Intelligence Programming, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (1987).

  27. B. Hausman, A. Ciepielewski and S. Haridi, OR-Parallel Prolog Made Efficient on Shared Memory Multipoocessors,Symposium on Logic Programming, pp. 69–79 (September 1987).

  28. W. Fenton, B. Ramkumar, V. Saletore, A. Sinha and L. V. Kale Supporting Machine Independent Programming on Diverse Parallel Architectures,Fourth Int'l Conf. on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (April 1991) (in press).

  29. L. V. Kale, The Chare-Kernel Parallel Programming Language and System,Int'l. Conf. on Parallel Processing,2:17–25 (August, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  30. V. A. Saletore and L. V. Kale, Obtaining First Solutions Faster in AND-OR Parallel Execution of Logic Programs,North American Conf. on Logic Programming, pp. 390–406 (October 1989).

  31. Kevin R. Nomura, Memory Management in the Shared Memory Implementation of Chare Kernel, Master's Thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (May 1989).

  32. Jit Biswas and J. C. Brown, Simultaneous Update Priority Structures,Int'l. Conf. on Parallel Processing, St. Charles, Illinois) pp. 124–131 (August 1987).

  33. N. Deo and S. Prasad, Parallel Heap,Int'l Conf. on Parallel Processing, (St. Charles, Illinois),3:169–172 (Auguts 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  34. D. W. Jones, Concurrent Operations on Priority Queues,Communications of the ACM pp. 132–137 (January 1990).

  35. V. Nageshwara Rao and Vipin Kumar, Concurrent Access of Priority Queues,IEEE Transactions on Computers (December 1988).

  36. L. V. Kale, The Desggn Philosophy of the Chare Kernel Parallel Programming System, Tech. Rep. UIUCDCD-R-89-1555, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois. Urbana-Champaign (November 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  37. J. Bitner and E. M. Reingold, Backtracking Programming Techniques,Communications of the ACM, pp. 651–655 (1975).

  38. Harold S. Stone and Janice M. Stone, Efficient Search Techniques—An Empirical Study of the N-Queens Problem, “IBM J. of Research and Development, pp. 464–474 (July 1987).

  39. N. J. Nilsson,Principles of Artificial Intelligence. Tioga Press, Inc. (1980).

  40. R. E. Korf, Real-Time Heuristic Search: New Results,National Conf. on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), pp. 128–132 (August 1988).

  41. C. Powley and R. E. Korf. Single Agent Prallel Window Search: A Summary of Results,Int'l Joint Conf. on Artificial Intelligence, pp. 36–41 (August 1989).

  42. V. Nageshwara Rao and V. Kumar, Superlinear Speedup in State-Space Search,Proc. of the Foundation of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (December 1988).

  43. L. V. Kale and Vikram A. Saletore, Parallel State-Space Search for a First Solution with Consistent Linear Speedups, Tech. Rep. UIUCDCS-R-89-1549, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (October 1989).

  44. L. V. Kale, D. A. Padua, and D. C. Shhr, OR-Parallel Execution of Prlog with Side Effects,The Journal of SUpercomputing (1988).

  45. E. Lush, H. D. David, Seif Haridiet al., The Aurora OR-parallel Prolog System,Int'l. Conf. on Fifth Generation Computer Systems, Tokyo, Japan pp. 810–830 (November 1988).

  46. L. V. Kale, A Tree Representation for Parallel Problem Solving,National Conf. on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), St. Paul (August 1988).

  47. Vikram A. Saletore, B. Ramkumar, and L. V. Kale, Consistent First Solution Speedups in OR-Parallel Execution of Logic Programs, Tech. Rep. UIUCDCS-R-90-1725, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (April 1990).

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. L. V. Kalé

    Present address: Department of Computer Science, University of Llinois at Urbana-Champaign, 61801, Urabana, Illinois

  2. Vikram A. Saletore

    Present address: Department of Computer Science, Oregon State University, 197331, Corvallis, Oregon

Authors and Affiliations

    Authors
    1. L. V. Kalé
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    2. Vikram A. Saletore
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    Additional information

    This research has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Contract No. CCR-89-02496.

    Rights and permissions

    Reprints and permissions

    About this article

    Cite this article

    Kalé, L.V., Saletore, V.A. Parallel state-space search for a first solution with consistent linear speedups. Int J Parallel Prog 19, 251–293 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01379360

    Download citation

    • Received:

    • Revised:

    • Issue Date:

    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01379360

    Key words

    Search

    Navigation