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Survey of Parallel A* in Rust

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing 2021-05-11 v1

Abstract

A* is one of the most popular Best First Search (BFS) techniques for graphs. It combines the cost-based search of Breadth First Search with a computed heuristic for each node to attempt to locate the goal path faster than traditional Breadth First Search or Depth First Search techniques. However, A* is a sequential algorithm. The standard implementation only runs in one thread. There are a few attempts to get A* to leverage multiple threads. Centralized (SPA*) and Decentralized (DPA*, HDA*) methods are the most standard attempts, with the most unique and modern method being massively-parallel A* (MPA* or GA*). We will attempt an implementation of each in Rust to determine if there is a performance boost, and which one has the best performance.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2105.03573,
  title  = {Survey of Parallel A* in Rust},
  author = {Brett Fazio and Ellie Kozlowski and Dylan Ochoa and Blake Robertson and Idel Martinez},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.03573},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-24T01:53:44.481Z