An exact rectilinear Steiner tree algorithm

Abstract

Given a set of terminals in the plane, a rectilinear Steiner minimal tree is a shortest interconnection among these terminals using only horizontal and vertical edges. We present an algorithm that constructs a rectilinear Steiner minimal tree for an input terminal set. On a workstation, problems involving 20 input terminals can be solved in a few seconds, and problems involving 30 input terminals can be solved, on average, in 30 minutes. Previous algorithms could only solve 16 or 17-point problems within the 30-minute time bound.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>