Routing Multiterminal Nets Around a Rectangle

The problem of connecting a set of terminals that lie on the sides of a rectangle to minimize the total area is discussed. We present an O(nm) approximation algorithm to solve this problem where n is the number of terminals and m is the number of signal nets. Our algorithm generates a solution with an area ≤1.69* OPT where OPT is the area of an optimal solution. Our algorithm routes some of the nets by a simple greedy strategy. The remaining nets are routed using several strategies and four layouts are obtained. The best of these layouts is the solution generated by our algorithm.