Journal of the Operations Research Society of China ›› 2024, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (3): 729-755.doi: 10.1007/s40305-022-00437-1

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Approximation Algorithms for Solving the 1-Line Minimum Steiner Tree of Line Segments Problem

Jian-Ping Li1, Su-Ding Liu1, Jun-Ran Lichen2, Peng-Xiang Pan1, Wen-Cheng Wang1   

  1. 1 Department of Mathematics, Yunnan University, Kunming 650504, Yunnan, China;
    2 School of Mathematics and Physics, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 650504, China
  • Received:2021-11-20 Revised:2022-06-02 Online:2024-09-30 Published:2024-08-15
  • Contact: Jian-Ping Li, Su-Ding Liu, Jun-Ran Lichen, Peng-Xiang Pan, Wen-Cheng Wang E-mail:jianping@ynu.edu.cn;suding2020@163.com;J.R.Lichen@buct.edu.cn;pengxiang@ynu.edu.cn;wencheng2018a@163.com
  • Supported by:
    This paper is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11861075 and 12101593), Project for Innovation Team (Cultivation) of Yunnan Province (No. 202005AE160006), Key Project of Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department and Yunnan University (No. 2018FY001014) and Program for Innovative Research Team (in Science and Technology) in Universities of Yunnan Province (No. C176240111009). Jian-Ping Li is also supported by Project of Yunling Scholars Training of Yunnan Province. Su-Ding Liu is also supported by the Graduate Research and Innovation Project of Yunnan University (No. 2020Z66).

Abstract: We address the 1-line minimum Steiner tree of line segments (1L-MStT-LS) problem. Specifically, given a set S of n disjoint line segments in $\mathbb{R}^2$, we are asked to find the location of a line l and a set El of necessary line segments (i.e., edges) such that a graph consisting of all line segments in SEl plus this line l, denoted by Tl = (S, l, El), becomes a Steiner tree, the objective is to minimize total length of edges in El among all such Steiner trees. Similarly, we are asked to find a set E0 of necessary edges such that a graph consisting of all line segments in SE0, denoted by TS = (S, E0), becomes a Steiner tree, the objective is to minimize total length of edges in E0 among all such Steiner trees, we refer to this new problem as the minimum Steiner tree of line segments (MStT-LS) problem. In addition, when two endpoints of each edge in E0 need to be located on two different line segments in S, respectively, we refer to that problem as the minimum spanning tree of line segments (MST-LS) problem. We obtain three main results: (1) Using technique of Voronoi diagram of line segments, we design an exact algorithm in time O(nlogn) to solve the MST-LS problem; (2) we show that the algorithm designed in (1) is a 1.214-approximation algorithm to solve the MStT-LS problem; (3) using the combination of the algorithm designed in (1) as a subroutine for many times, a technique of finding linear facility location and a key lemma proved by techniques of computational geometry, we present a 1.214-approximation algorithm in time O(n3logn) to solve the 1L-MStT-LS problem.

Key words: 1-Line minimum Steiner tree of line segments, Minimum spanning tree of line segments, Voronoi diagram of line segments, Steiner ratio, Approximation algorithms

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