The Impact of a Bi-connected Graph Decomposition on Solving Cooperative Path-finding Problems

This paper proposes a framework for analyzing algorithms for inductive processing of bi-connected graphs. The BIBOX algorithm for solving cooperative path-finding problems over bi-connected graphs is submitted for the suggested analysis. The algorithm proceeds according to a decomposition of a given bi-connected graph into handles. After finishing a handle, the handle is ruled out of consideration and the processing task is reduced to a task of the same type on a smaller graph. The handle decomposition for which the BIBOX algorithm performs best is theoretically identified. The conducted experimental evaluation confirms that the suggested theoretical analysis well corresponds to the real situation.