English

Dijkstra meets Steiner: a fast exact goal-oriented Steiner tree algorithm

Data Structures and Algorithms 2015-09-09 v3 Discrete Mathematics

Abstract

We present a new exact algorithm for the Steiner tree problem in edge-weighted graphs. Our algorithm improves the classical dynamic programming approach by Dreyfus and Wagner. We achieve a significantly better practical performance via pruning and future costs, a generalization of a well-known concept to speed up shortest path computations. Our algorithm matches the best known worst-case run time and has a fast, often superior, practical performance: on some large instances originating from VLSI design, previous best run times are improved upon by orders of magnitudes. We are also able to solve larger instances of the dd-dimensional rectilinear Steiner tree problem for d{3,4,5}d \in \{3, 4, 5\}, whose Hanan grids contain up to several millions of edges.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1406.0492,
  title  = {Dijkstra meets Steiner: a fast exact goal-oriented Steiner tree algorithm},
  author = {Stefan Hougardy and Jannik Silvanus and Jens Vygen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.0492},
  year   = {2015}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T04:28:46.816Z