FOR ORDERING SPARSE MATRICES
Abstract:
We focus on two known NP-hard problems that have applications in sparse matrix computations: the envelope/wavefront reduction problem and the fill reduction problem. Envelope/wavefront reducing orderings have a wide range of applications including profile and frontal solvers, incomplete factorization preconditioning, graph reordering for cache performance, gene sequencing, and spatial databases. Fill reducing orderings are generally limited to--- but an inextricable part of--- sparse matrix factorization. Our major contribution to this field is the design of new and improved heuristics for these NP-hard problems and their efficient implementation in a robust, cross-platform, object-oriented software package. In this body of research, we (1) examine current ordering algorithms, analyze their asymptotic complexity, and characterize their behavior in model problems, (2) introduce new and improved algorithms that address deficiencies found in previous heuristics, (3) implement an object-oriented library of these algorithms in a robust, modular fashion without significant loss of efficiency, and (4) extend our algorithms and software to address both generalized and constrained problems. We stress that the major contribution is the algorithms and the implementation; the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. The initial motivation for implementing our algorithms in object-oriented software was to manage the inherent complexity. During our research came the realization that the object-oriented implementation
Citations
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| 21 | Cutting down on fill using nested dissection: Provably good elimination orderings – AGRAWAL, KLEIN, et al. - 1993 |

