Towards the Exact Minimization of BDDs—An Elitism-Based Distributed Evolutionary Algorithm

Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) are the state-of-the-art data structure for representation and manipulation of Boolean functions. In general, exact BDD minimization is NP-complete. For BDD-based technology, a small improvement in the number of nodes often simplifies the follow-up problem tremendously. This paper proposes an elitism-based evolutionary algorithm (EBEA) for BDD minimization. It can efficiently find the optimal orderings of variables for all LGSynth91 benchmark circuits with a known minimum size. Moreover, we develop a distributed model of EBEA, DEBEA, which obtains the best-ever variable orders for almost all benchmarks in the LGSynth91. Experimental results show that DEBEA is able to achieve super-linear performance compared to EBEA for some hard benchmarks.     

Strategy optimization for deductive games

This paper presents novel algorithms for strategy optimization for deductive games. First, a k-way-branching (KWB) algorithm, taking advantage of a clustering technique, can obtain approximate results effectively. Second, a computer-aided verification algorithm, called the Pigeonhole-principle-based backtracking (PPBB) algorithm, is developed to discover the lower bound of the number of guesses required for the games. These algorithms have been successfully applied to deductive games, Mastermind and “Bulls and Cows.” Experimental results show that KWB outperforms previously published approximate strategies. Furthermore, by applying the algorithms, we derive the theorem: 7 guesses are necessary and sufficient for the “Bulls and Cows” in the worst case. These results suggest strategies for other search problems.