Minimizing the number of paths in BDDs: Theory and algorithm

The complexity of circuit and systems design increases rapidly. Therefore, a main focus of research in the area of electronic-design automation are efficient algorithms and data structures. Among these, binary decision diagrams (BDDs) have been used in a wide variety of applications and were intensively studied from a theoretical point of view. But mostly, when complexity issues were considered, only the number of nodes in a BDD has been analyzed. Here, we study minimizing the number of paths in BDDs from a theoretical and a practical point of view. Connections to different areas in computer-aided design are outlined, theoretical studies are carried out, and an algorithm to minimize the number of paths is presented. Experimental results show the efficiency of the algorithm.