Given a set of k-colored points in the plane, we consider the problem of finding k trees such that each tree connects all points of one color class, no two trees cross, and the total edge length of the trees is minimized. For k=1, this is the well-known Euclidean Steiner tree problem. For general k, a kρ-approximation algorithm is known, where ρ≤1.21 is the Steiner ratio. We present a PTAS for k=2, a (5/3+ε)-approximation algorithm for k=3, and two approximation algorithms for general~k, with ratios O(nlogk) and k+ε.
@article{arxiv.1509.05681,
title = {Colored Non-Crossing Euclidean Steiner Forest},
author = {Sergey Bereg and Krzysztof Fleszar and Philipp Kindermann and Sergey Pupyrev and Joachim Spoerhase and Alexander Wolff},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.05681},
year = {2016}
}