Data structures and algorithms to support interactive spatial analysis using dynamic Voronoi diagrams

To support the need for interactive spatial analysis, it is often necessary to rethink the data structures and algorithms underpinning applications. This paper describes the development of an interactive environment in which a number of different Voronoi models of space can be manipulated together in real time to: (1) study their behaviour; (2) select appropriate models for specific analysis tasks; and (3) to examine how choice of one model over another will affect the interpretation of data. The paper studies six specific Voronoi diagram variants: the Ordinary Voronoi Diagram, the Farthest-point Voronoi Diagram, the Order-k Voronoi Diagram, the Ordered Order-k Voronoi Diagram, the kth Nearest-point Voronoi Diagram and the Multiplicatively Weighted Voronoi Diagram, and develops algorithms and data structures to store, rebuild and query these variants. From this, a generalised Voronoi data structure is proposed, from which specific Voronoi variants can be reconstructed dynamically as required. Algorithms for diagram reconstruction and for querying neighbourhood (topology or adjacency relations) of generator points and Voronoi regions are presented. An application program, developed on these ideas, is used to generate example results as proof of concept. It may be downloaded from a supporting website.     

Voronoi diagrams with barriers and on polyhedra for minimal path planning

Two generalizations of the Voronoi diagram in two dimensions (E²) are presented in this paper. The first allows impenetrable barriers that the shortest path must go around. The barriers are straight line segments that may be combined into polygons and even mazes. Each region of the diagram delimits a set of points that have not only the same closest existing point, but have the same topology of shortest path. The edges of this diagram, which has linear complexity in the number of input points and barrier lines, may be hyperbolic sections as well as straight lines. The second construction considers the Voronoi diagram on the surface of a convex polyhedron, given a set of fixed source points on it. Each face is partitioned into regions, such that the shortest path to any goal point in a given region from the closest fixed source point travels over the same sequence of faces to the same closest point.     

Voronoi diagrams with barriers and on polyhedra for minimal path planning

Two generalizations of the Voronoi diagram in two dimensions (E²) are presented in this paper. The first allows impenetrable barriers that the shortest path must go around. The barriers are straight line segments that may be combined into polygons and even mazes. Each region of the diagram delimits a set of points that have not only the same closest existing point, but have the same topology of shortest path. The edges of this diagram, which has linear complexity in the number of input points and barrier lines, may be hyperbolic sections as well as straight lines. The second construction considers the Voronoi diagram on the surface of a convex polyhedron, given a set of fixed source points on it. Each face is partitioned into regions, such that the shortest path to any goal point in a given region from the closest fixed source point travels over the same sequence of faces to the same closest point.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants ECS-8021504 and ECS-8351942. The second author is also supported in part by a Fulbright scholarship     

Isotropic Remeshing with Fast and Exact Computation of Restricted Voronoi Diagram

We propose a new isotropic remeshing method, based on Centroidal Voronoi Tessellation (CVT) . Constructing CVT requires to repeatedly compute Restricted Voronoi Diagram (RVD) , defined as the intersection between a 3D Voronoi diagram and an input mesh surface. Existing methods use some approximations of RVD. In this paper, we introduce an efficient algorithm that computes RVD exactly and robustly. As a consequence, we achieve better remeshing quality than approximation-based approaches, without sacrificing efficiency. Our method for RVD computation uses a simple procedure and a kd -tree to quickly identify and compute the intersection of each triangle face with its incident Voronoi cells. Its time complexity is O ( m log n ), where n is the number of seed points and m is the number of triangles of the input mesh. Fast convergence of CVT is achieved using a quasi-Newton method, which proved much faster than Lloyd's iteration. Examples are presented to demonstrate the better quality of remeshing results with our method than with the state-of-art approaches.     

Path planning of wheeled mobile robot with simultaneous free space locating capability

This paper presents a hybrid path planning algorithm for the design of autonomous vehicles such as mobile robots. The hybrid planner is based on Potential Field method and Voronoi Diagram approach and is represented with the ability of concurrent navigation and map building. The system controller (Look-ahead Control) with the Potential Field method guarantees the robot generate a smooth and safe path to an expected position. The Voronoi Diagram approach is adopted for the purpose of helping the mobile robot to avoid being trapped by concave environment while exploring a route to a target. This approach allows the mobile robot to accomplish an autonomous navigation task with only an essential exploration between a start and goal position. Based on the existing topological map the mobile robot is able to construct sub-goals between predefined start and goal, and follows a smooth and safe trajectory in a flexible manner when stationary and moving obstacles co-exist.     

Generalized distances in digital geometry

A generalized distance measure called m-neighbor distance in n-D quantized space is presented. Its properties as a metric are examined. It is shown to give the shortest path length between two points in n-D digital space. An algorithm for finding such a shortest path between two points is presented. It is shown that lower dimension (2-D and 3-D) distance measures presently used in digital geometry can easily be derived as special cases. Other properties of m-neighbor distance are also examined.     

一般城市Voronoi图的结晶生成

城市Voronoi图是以L1平面上任意两点之间花费的最短时间为距离的一种新型Voronoi图,它要求交通网络路线仅为水平或垂直方向。然而,客观世界中存在大量曲线交通路线。为了使城市Voronoi图理论研究进一步贴近现实,进而应用于实际,将交通路线扩展为曲线,提出了一种新的城市Voronoi图——一般城市Voronoi图,给出了一般城市Voronoi图的定义、性质和结晶生成算法。     

Shortest path problem with uncertain arc lengths

Uncertainty theory provides a new tool to deal with the shortest path problem with nondeterministic arc lengths. With help from the operational law of uncertainty theory, this paper gives the uncertainty distribution of the shortest path length. Also, it investigates solutions to the α-shortest path and the most shortest path in an uncertain network. It points out that there exists an equivalence relation between the α-shortest path in an uncertain network and the shortest path in a corresponding deterministic network, which leads to an effective algorithm to find the α-shortest path and the most shortest path. Roughly speaking, this algorithm can be broken down into two parts: constructing a deterministic network and then invoking the Dijkstra algorithm.     

具有树和路约束的平行机排序问题

考虑具有树和路约束的平行机排序问题,其工件集对应于无向图(有向图)的边(弧)集。目标是选取工件集的一个子集使其满足树或路的约束,将其放在平行机上处理,使得机器的最大完工时间(makespan)尽可能地小。通过分析此类问题的组合性质,得到如下结论：在K-树约束下,利用最小支撑K-树的性质可得一个有效多项式时间近似方案;在两固定点间路的约束下,通过构造辅助实例以控制边的权重,分析辅助实例的输出值与目标实例最优值之间的关系,利用最短路的性质可以得到一个2-近似算法;在单源点最短路径树的约束下,根据最短路径树的性质可以得到一个有效多项式时间近似方案;在两固定点间最短路的约束下,在所有的两点间最短路构成的子图基础上,通过构造新的辅助图以控制弧的权重,再利用最短路的性质可以得到一个1.618-近似算法。     

Top-n query processing in spatial databases considering bi-chromatic reverse k-nearest neighbors

A reverse k-nearest neighbor (RkNN) query retrieves the data points which regard the query point as one of their respective k nearest neighbors. A bi-chromatic reverse k-nearest neighbor (BRkNN) query is a variant of the RkNN query, considering two types of data. Given two types of data G and C, a BRkNN query regarding a data point q in G retrieves the data points from C that regard q as one of their respective k-nearest neighbors among the data points in G. Many existing approaches answer either the RkNN query or the BRkNN query. Different from these approaches, in this paper, we make the first attempt to propose a top-n query based on the concept of BRkNN queries, which ranks the data points in G and retrieves the top-n points according to the cardinalities of the corresponding BRkNN answer sets. For efficiently answering this top-n query, we construct the Voronoi Diagram of G to index the data points in G and C. From the information associated with the Voronoi Diagram of G, the upper bound of the cardinality of the BRkNN answer sets for each data point in G can be quickly computed. Moreover, based on an existing approach to answering the RkNN query and the characteristics of the Voronoi Diagram of G, we propose a method to find the candidate region regarding a BRkNN query, which tightens the corresponding search space. Finally, based on the triangle inequality, we propose an efficient refinement algorithm for finding the exact BRkNN answers from the candidate regions. To evaluate our approach on answering the top-n query, it is compared with an approach which applies a state-of-the-art algorithm for answering the BRkNN query to each data point in G. The experiment results reveal that our approach has a much better performance.     

Multi-objective approach for robot motion planning in search tasks

This work addresses the problem of single robot coverage and exploration in an environment with the goal of finding a specific object previously known to the robot. As limited time is a constraint of interest we cannot search from an infinite number of points. Thus, we propose a multi-objective approach for such search tasks in which we first search for a good set of positions to place the robot sensors in order to acquire information from the environment and to locate the desired object. Given the interesting properties of the Generalized Voronoi Diagram, we restrict the candidate search points along this roadmap. We redefine the problem of finding these search points as a multi-objective optimization one. NSGA-II is used as the search engine and ELECTRE I is applied as a decision making tool to decide among the trade-off alternatives. We also solve a Chinese Postman Problem to optimize the path followed by the robot in order to visit the computed search points. Simulation results show a comparison between the solution found by our method and solutions defined by other known approaches. Finally, a real robot experiment indicates the applicability of our method in practical scenarios.     

Shortest paths in euclidean graphs

We analyze a simple method for finding shortest paths inEuclidean graphs (where vertices are points in a Euclidean space and edge weights are Euclidean distances between points). For many graph models, the average running time of the algorithm to find the shortest path between a specified pair of vertices in a graph withV vertices andE edges is shown to beO(V) as compared withO(E +V logV) required by the classical algorithm due to Dijkstra.     

Uncertain Voronoi diagram

In this paper, we introduce the fuzzy Voronoi diagram as an extension of the Voronoi diagram. We assume Voronoi sites to be fuzzy points and then define the Voronoi diagram for this kind of sites, then we provide an algorithm for computing this diagram based on Fortune's algorithm which costs O(nlogn) time. Also we introduce the fuzzy Voronoi diagram for a set of fuzzy circles, rather than fuzzy points, of the same radius. We prove that the boundary of this diagram is formed by the intersection of some hyperbolae, and finally we provide an O(n³logn)-time algorithm to compute the boundary.     

基于Voronoi图的定性路径推理

动态空间知识的表示与推理是定性空间推理研究的重要内容.基于Voronoi图及其动态变化,提出运动路径定性表示与推理方法.先根据Voronoi图空间邻近关系定义Voronoi图生成子空间关系,进一步定义定性位置及概念邻域,并应用概念相邻的定性位置序列给出定性路径表示.再由动态Voronoi图的边集变化和给出的概念邻域中定性位置间最短路径的启发式算法,设计并实现具有观察者角度的定性路径推理算法.最后,实验分析并验证该方法的有效性.     

2-Covered paths by a set of antennas with minimum power transmission range

In this paper we describe and solve the following geometric optimisation problem: given a set S of n points on the plane (antennas) and two points A and B, find the smallest radial range r∈^ℜ+ (power transmission range of the antennas) so that a path with endpoints A and B exists in which all points are within the range of at least two antennas. The solution to the problem has several applications (e.g., in the planning of safe routes). We present an O(nlogn) time solution, which is based on the second order Voronoi diagram. We also show how to obtain a path with such characteristics.     

Applying the improved Chen and Han’s algorithm to different versions of shortest path problems on a polyhedral surface

The computation of shortest paths on a polyhedral surface is a common operation in many computer graphics applications. There are two best known exact algorithms for the “single source, any destination” shortest path problem. One is proposed by Mitchell et al. (1987) [1]. The other is by Chen and Han (1990) [11]. Recently, Xin and Wang (2009) [9] improved the CH algorithm by exploiting a filtering theorem and achieved a practical method that outperforms both the CH algorithm and the MMP algorithm whether in time or in space.In this paper, we apply the improved CH algorithm to different versions of shortest path problems. The contributions of this paper include: (1) For a surface point p∈△v₁v₂v₃, we present an unfolding technique for estimating the distance value at p using the distances at v₁,v₂ and v₃. (2) We show that the improved CH algorithm can be naturally extended to the “multiple sources, any destination” version. Also, introducing a well-chosen heuristic factor into the improved CH algorithm will induce an exact solution to the “single source, single destination” version. (3) At the conclusion of multi-source shortest path algorithms, we can use the distance values at vertices to approximately compute the geodesic-distance-based offsets, the Voronoi diagram and the Delaunay triangulation in O(n) time. (4) By importing a precision parameter λ, we obtain a precision controlled approximant which varies from the improved CH algorithm to Dijkstra’s algorithm as λ increases from 0 to 1. Thus, an interesting relationship between them can be naturally established.     

基于Voronoi图的移动单元节点调度算法

在稀疏无线传感器网络中,移动单元节点常被用于数据采集和转发。基于Voronoi图设计一条尽可能短的移动单元节点数据采集路径。在该路径中,移动单元节点被调度去访问一个Voronoi节点子集,在给定通信半径内,该节点子集能覆盖所有传感器节点。仿真实验结果表明,通过连接Voronoi节点子集而形成的优化路径能有效缩短移动单元节点的行进路径长度。     

基于Voronoi和空间自相关的离群点检测

为了提高空间数据挖掘的效率和准确度,在分析传统的离群点检测算法优、缺点的基础上,提出一种空间离群点检测算法。用Voronoi来确定空间对象间的邻近关系,在空间邻域内利用空间自相关性来计算局部Moran指数,并将其作为离群因子进而判断离群点。实验结果表明,该算法能够高效、准确地检测出空间离群点,具有对用户依赖性少和可伸缩性强等优点。     

Constructing common base domain by cues from Voronoi diagram

In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm to construct common base domains for cross-parameterization constrained by anchor points. Based on the common base domains, a bijective mapping between given models can be established. Experimental results show that the distortion in a cross-parameterization generated on our common base domains is much smaller than that of a mapping on domains constructed by prior methods. Different from prior algorithms that generate domains by a heuristic of having higher priority to link the shortest paths between anchor points, we compute the surface Voronoi diagram of anchor points to find out the initial connectivity for the base domains. The final common base domains can be efficiently generated from the initial connectivity. The Voronoi diagram of the anchor points gives better cues than the heuristic of connecting shortest paths greedily.     

Manhattan空间有障碍的最短路径和3-Steiner树算法

在VLSI设计中,多点互连是物理设计阶段的关键问题之一,而互连的点数等于2或大于2分别对应于Manhattan空间上有障碍时的最短路径问题和最小Steiner树问题,显然前者是后者的基础.连接图是研究最短路径问题的有效工具,已有的典型连接图包括基于轨迹的GC和GT以及基于自由区的GF和GG.工作包括3个方面:设计并分析了在各种连接图上实现动态的点对之间的最短路径查询算法;分析了在各个连接图上构造3-Steiner树的算法,对于已有的GC上的3-Steiner算法,将其Steiner顶点的候选集合规模从O((e+p)2)降低到了O((t+p)2),其中e,t,p分别表示边数、障碍极边数和顶点数;设计了在GG上的3-Steiner树构造算法,其平均情况时间复杂度只有(θ)(t).