Graph Exploration with Edge Weight Estimates

TL;DR

This paper analyzes algorithms for graph exploration with uncertain edge weights, providing bounds on their efficiency relative to the true costs, especially under perturbations, and introduces optimal strategies for specific graph classes.

Contribution

It introduces competitive ratio bounds for exploration algorithms under weight perturbations and presents optimal strategies for certain graph classes.

Findings

No strategy can beat a ratio of  for perturbation factors less than 2.

An algorithm with ratio  for complete graphs with uniform weights.

Matching lower bounds show the optimality of the proposed strategies.

Abstract

In the Travelling Salesman Problem, every vertex of an edge-weighted graph has to be visited by an agent who traverses the edges of the graph. In this problem, it is usually assumed that the costs of each edge are given in advance, making it computationally hard but possible to calculate an optimal tour for the agent. Also in the Graph Exploration Problem, every vertex of a given graph must be visited, but here the graph is not known in the beginning - at every point, an algorithm only knows about the already visited vertices and their neighbors. Both however are not necessarily realistic settings: Usually the structure of the graph (for example underlying road network) is known in advance, but the details are not. One usually has a prediction of how long it takes to traverse through a particular road, but due to road conditions or imprecise maps the agent might realize that a road will take slightly longer than expected when arriving on it. To deal with those deviations, it is natural to assume that the agent is able to adapt to the situation: When realizing that taking a particular road is more expensive than expected, recalculating the tour and taking another road instead is possible. We analyze the competitive ratio of this problem based on the perturbation factor $\alpha$ of the edge weights. For general graphs we show that for realistic factors smaller than $2$ there is no strategy that achieves a competitive ratio better than $\alpha$, which can be matched by a simple algorithm. In addition, we prove an algorithm which has a competitive ratio of $\frac{1+\alpha}{2}$ for restricted graph classes like complete graphs with uniform announced edge weights. Here, we present a matching lower bound as well, proving that the strategy for those graph classes is best possible. We conclude with a remark about special graph classes like cycles.