A heuristic for k-broadcasting in arbitrary networks

We present a heuristic algorithm for k-broadcasting in an arbitrary network. This heuristic generates optimal k-broadcast time in grid graph when k/spl ges/2. In two-dimensional torus graph, it also generates optimal k-broadcast time when k/spl ges/3, while giving a bound of /spl lfloor/m/2/spl rfloor/+/spl lfloor/n/2/spl rfloor/+1 when k=2, where m and n are the number of rows and columns in the graph. In practice, the new heuristic outperforms best known 1-broadcast algorithm for three different network design models. The new algorithm runs fast. The time complexity of the algorithm is O(R /spl middot/ m), where R represents the rounds of broadcasting, and m stands for the total number of edges in the graph.