SYNTHESIS OF OPTIMAL NONORTHOGONAL ROUTES

This paper introduces a novel approach to three dimensional routing op timization. Examples of routing tasks for engineering applications inc lude routing of pipes, wires and air ducts. Traditionally, routing alg orithms perform Manhattan, or orthogonal, routing. Nonorthogonal routi ng can be less costly than Manhattan routing and for applications such as automotive or aerospace design, Manhattan routing is impractical d ue to spatial limitations. The research presented in this paper uses s imulated annealing as the basis of a nonorthogonal routing optimizatio n algorithm. Several examples comparing the two approaches are given.