Approximation Algorithm for the Broadcast Time in k-Path Graph

Abstract

Broadcasting is an information dissemination problem in a connected network in which one node, called the originator, must distribute a message to all other nodes by placing a series of calls along the communication lines of the network. In every unit of time, the informed nodes aid the originator in distributing the message. Finding the broadcast time of any vertex in an arbitrary graph is NP-complete. The polynomial time solvability is shown only for certain graphs like trees, unicyclic graphs, tree of cycles, necklace graphs, fully connected trees and tree of cliques. In this paper we study the broadcast problem in k-path graphs. For any originator of the k-path graph we present a (4 – ϵ)-approximation algorithm in the worst case. The algorithm gives a better approximation ratio for some large classes of k-path graphs. Moreover, our algorithm generates the optimal broadcast time for some cases.