Optimization of Shortest-Path Search on RDBMS-Based Graphs

Abstract

Calculation of the shortest path between two nodes in a graph is a popular operation used in graph queries in applications such as map information systems, social networking services, and biotechnology. Recent shortest-path search techniques based on graphs stored in relational databases are able to calculate the shortest path efficiently, even in large data using frontier-expand-merge operations. However, previous approaches used a sequential bidirectional search method that causes a bottleneck, thus degrading performance. The repeated use of an aggregate SQL function also degrades performance. This paper proposes a parallel bi-directional search method using multithreading. In addition, an efficient optimization method is proposed that uses B-tree indexing instead of an aggregate SQL function. Various experiments using synthetic and real data reveal that the proposed optimization technique performs more efficiently than conventional methods. As the size of data in practical applications continues to grow, these optimizations will enable the shortest path in a graph to be found quickly and accurately.