Title: Ion Mandoiu Georgia Tech
 1Practical Approximation Algorithms forZero- and 
Bounded-Skew Trees
- Ion Mandoiu (Georgia Tech) 
- Alex Zelikovsky (Georgia State) 
- ISMP 2000
2Zero-Skew Trees
Zero-Skew Tree rooted tree in which all 
root-to-leaf paths have the same length
Used in VLSI clock routing  network multicasting 
 3The Zero-Skew Tree Problem 
Zero-Skew Tree Problem Given set of terminals in 
rectilinear plane Find zero-skew tree with 
minimum total length
- Previous results CKKRST 99 
-  NP-hard for general metric spaces 
-  factor 2e  5.44 approximation
- Our results 
-  factor 4 approximation for general metric spaces 
-  factor 3 approximation for rectilinear plane
4Overview 
-  Constructive lower-bound on optimum ZST length 
-  Converting spanning tree to zero-skew trees 
-  Finding spanning trees with small conversion 
 cost
-  Improved conversion using Steiner points 
-  Approximation algorithms for bounded-skew trees 
-  Conclusions and open problems
5ZST Lower-Bound 
 6ZST Lower-Bound
(CKKRST 99)
N(r)min.  of balls of radius r that cover all 
sinks 
 7ZST Lower-Bound
(CKKRST 99)
N(r)min.  of balls of radius r that cover all 
sinks 
 8ZST Lower-Bound
(CKKRST 99)
N(r)min.  of balls of radius r that cover all 
sinks 
 9ZST Lower-Bound
(CKKRST 99)
N(r)min.  of balls of radius r that cover all 
sinks 
 10Constructive Lower-Bound
Computing N(r) is NP-hard, but  
 11Constructive Lower-Bound 
 12Stretching Rooted Spanning Trees
-  ZST root  spanning tree root
13Stretching Rooted Spanning Trees 
 14Stretching Rooted Spanning Trees 
 15Zero-Skew Spanning Tree Problem 
 16How good are the MST and Min-Star? 
 17The Rooted-Kruskal Algorithm
  18The Rooted-Kruskal Algorithm 
 19How good is Rooted-Kruskal?
Lemma delay(T) ? length(T) 
 20How good is Rooted-Kruskal?
Lemma length(T) ? 2 OPT 
 21Factor 4 Approximation
Algorithm Rooted-Kruskal  Stretching
-  Length after stretching  length(T)  delay(T) 
-  delay(T) ? length(T) 
-  length(T) ? 2 OPT
? ZST length ? 4 OPT  
 22Stretching Using Steiner Points 
 23Factor 3 Approximation
Algorithm Rooted-Kruskal  Improved Stretching
-  Length after stretching  length(T)  ½ delay(T) 
-  delay(T) ? length(T) 
-  length(T) ? 2 OPT
? ZST length ? 3 OPT  
 24Practical Considerations
-  For a fixed topology, minimum length ZST can be 
 found in linear time using the Deferred Merge
 Embedding (DME) algorithm Eda91, BK92, CHH92
-  Practical algo Rooted-Kruskal  Stretching  DME
Theorem Both stretching algorithms lead to the 
same ZST topology when applied to the 
Rooted-Kruskal tree 
 25Running Time
-  Stretching O(N logN) 
-  Rooted-Kruskal O(N logN) using the dynamic 
 closest-pair data structure of B98
-  DME O(N) Eda91, BK92, CHH92
? O(N logN) overall  
 26Extension to Other Metric Spaces
 Everything works as in rectilinear plane, except
-  No equivalent of DME known for other spaces
-  The space must be metrically convex to apply 
 second stretching algorithm
27Bounded-Skew Trees
b-bounded-skew tree difference between length of 
any two root-to-leaf paths is at most b
Bounded-Skew Tree Problem given a set of 
terminals and bound bgt0, find a b-bounded-skew 
tree with minimum total length
- Previous approximation guarantees CKKRST 99 
-  factor 16.11 for arbitrary metrics 
-  factor 12.53 for rectilinear plane
Our results factor 14, resp. 9 approximation 
 28BST construction idea  lower bound
Two stage BST construction
-  Cover terminals by disjoint b-bounded-skew trees 
-  Connect roots via a zero-skew tree 
29Constructing the tree cover 
 30BST Approximation
Algorithm Output tree cover ? approximate ZST on 
W 
 31BST Approximation 
 32Summary of Results 
 33Open Problems
-  Complexity of ZST problem in rectilinear plane 
-  Complexity of finding the spanning tree with 
 minimum lengthdelay?
-  Zero-skew Steiner ratio supremum, over all 
 sets of terminals, of the ratio between minimum
 ZST length and minimum spanning tree lengthdelay
-  What is the ratio for rectilinear plane? 
-  What is the ratio for arbitrary spaces? ( ?4, 
 ?3)
-  Planar ZST / BST