IMPACT-2013
The Graph Coloring Problem–Review of
Algorithms & Neural Networks and a New Proposal
Mohd. Samar Ansari Member, IEEE
Abstract—By virtue of its large range of applications, the graph
coloring problem has received considerable research interest from
mathematicians and engineers alike. Both algorithmic & hard-
ware methods to color a graph subject to adjacency constraints
have been explored resulting in a wide variety of options. The
actual selection of any one of the software/hardware methods
would depend on the specific requirements of a particular
application. This paper reviews the major developments that
have occurred both in the algorithmic and the hardware domains
pertaining to the solution of the gaph coloring problem. Further,
a new neural circuit employing non-linear feedback in the form
of unipolar comparators is presented which is able to color a
graph more effectively than other existing neural networks for
the same task. PSPICE simulations confirm the validity of the
approach.
Index Terms—Graph Coloring, Neural Networks, Local Search
Methods, Non-Linear Feedback, Dynamical Systems, Energy
Function.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Raph colouring is the assignment of labels (conven-
G tionally referred to as ‘colours’) to vertices of a graph
subject to the constraint that no two adjacent nodes should
obtain the same colour; adjacency being defined by an edge
connecting the two nodes. The graph colouring problem (GCP)
was identified as a mathematically challenging problem when
Francis Guthrie, while trying to colour a map of English
counties, put forward the Four Colour Conjecture claiming that
four colours are sufficient to fulfill the criterion that no two
regions sharing a common boundary received the same colour
[1]. The conjecture was evetually established as a theorem with
Kempe’s proof [2]. Later, Heawood forwarded arguments to
disprove Kempe’s proof and coined the Five Colour Theorem
which stood valid until 1976 when the Four Colour Theorem
was finally correctly proved by Appel & Haken [3]. GCP has
been studied by mathematicians and computer engineers as
an algorithmic problem and is also listed in Karp’s 21 NP-
complete problems [4].
The GCP and its variants have applications in many impor-
tant scientific and engineering tasks [5], such as time–tabling
or event scheduling [6], [7], register and processor allocation
in digital computers [8], frequency/channel assignment in
mobile communication systems [9], layer assignment in VLSI
design [10], via minimization in integrated circuit design [11],
robotics [12], printed circuit board testing [13], etc. Since the
domain of applications of GCP solvers is enormous, almost
every technique, that has been put forward for the solution of
M.S. Ansari is with the Department of Electronics and Communica-
tion, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India. e-mail: (md-
samar@gmail.com).
978-1-4799-1205-6/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE
310
mathematical problems, has also been employed for coloring
planar and non-planar graphs [5], [7], [9], [10], [14]–[23].
Broadly, such approaches can be classified into two types–
software implementation of algorithms and hardware based
on biologically inspired architectures. This paper presents a
review of both these methods for graph coloring and further
presents a new feedback neural network for graph coloring.
The paper is organised as follows. Section–II presents a
brief survey of existing algorithms for solving GCP. Genetic
algorithms, belonging to the category of biologically inspired
systems, are considered in this section. Section–III contains
a review of neural network based approaches, working on
the principle of emulating brain neuron behaviour. A new
non-linear feedback neural circuit for the solution of GCP
is presented in Section–IV.The energy function associated
with the proposed network is discussed and the proof of its
validity is also provided in this section. Section–V contains the
results of PSPICE simulations for the proposed circuit and a
discussion about the issues that may arise during the course of
actual fabrication of the proposed network. Lastly, concluding
remarks appear in Section-VI.
II. A LGORITHMS FOR GCP
The simplest possible algorithm for coloring graphs would
be the Brute-Force method in which k-coloring is evaluated by
successively assigning each of the k n assignment of k colors
to the given graph containing n vertices, and athenticating
the validity of the coloring [1]. However, such an approach
would be impractical for large graphs since a large number
of iterations would be required. Using dynamic programming
and a bound on the number of maximal independent sets,
k-colorbility can be computed in O(2.445n ) [24]. Using
inclusion-exclusion and Yates’s algorithm for the fast Zeta
transform, the same task may be achieved in O(2n n) [25].
If computing 3– and 4–colorability (instead of the general k-
colorability) is the goal, then run times of O(1.3289n ) and
O(1.7504n ) would suffice [26], [27]. Recursive procedures
like the Deletion-Contraction algorithm exhibit running times
of the order of O(1.6180n ) [28]. In actual practice, branch
& bound techniques and graph isomorphism rejection are
employed in tandem with contraction algorithms to avoid
recursive calls and the running time is further reduced.
Greedy algorithm is another popular method for assigning
colors to nodes in a graph. It works by considering the vertices
of the graph in a specific order and assigning the smallest
available color not used by the node vi ’s neighbours, adding
a fresh color, if needed [29]. A heuristic which is a slight
variant of the Greedy algorithm is referred to as the Welsh
IMPACT-2013
algorithm [30]. Brelaz published another variant of the Welsh–
Powell algorithm with the improvement that the ordering is
done dynamically by choosing the vertex adjacent to the vertex
with the largest number of different colors [31].
Another class of algorithms that employ the concept of
symmetry breaking to color a graph is referred to as distributed
algorithms. Such distributed (or ‘parallel’) algorithms are, in
general, faster than the deterministic methods discussed above.
One downfall of deterministic algorithms is that they fail in the
case of symmetrical graphs. Cole & Vishkin showed that for
an n-cycle kind of graph, there exists a distributed algorithm
capable of reducing the number of colors fron n to O(logn)
in one iteration [32]. Barenboim & Elkin proposed a fast
deterministic algorithm capable of achieving time complexity
of O(∆) + log ∗ (n)/2 where ∆ is the maximum vertex degree
of the graph and log ∗ is the iterated logarithm function [33].
Dubhashi et al. employed network decomposition
√ to yield
computation times of the order of 2O( log n) [34]. Some
decentralized algorithms have also been proposed where no
local message passing is allowed as opposed to the case of
distributed algorithms where message passing is common. The
algorithms by Clifford & Leith [35], and Duffy et al. [36]
belong to this category.
III. N EURAL N ETWORKS FOR G RAPH C OLORING
The dynamical approach was employed by Hopfield in a
continuous-time linear feedback neural circuit which worked
on the principle of dissipative dynamics of the neurons. The
architecture, eventually came to be called the Hopfield Neural
Network (HNN), and was employed with mixed results in
a large number of combinatorial optimization problems [x].
However, the HNN when applied to solve the GCP exhibited
two major shortcomings–firstly, the energy function associated
with the HNN caused the network to converge to local
minima (rather than the global minimum) thereby degrading
the solution quality; and secondly, there were quite a few
parameters which were required to be set manually. Talavan
& Yanez introduced a new energy function that generalizes
the HNN’s energy function and removed, to some extent, the
limitations of the original HNN [37]. Later, Dahl explored
four-colorability problem of planar graphs [38]. Philipsen &
Stok employed a combination of Hopfield type of neurons
and the Potts neurons for minimizing the number of colors
needed [19]. Takefuji & Lee proposed another neural ar-
chitecture for GCP proposed a parallel algorithm based on
the McCulloch-Pitts binary neuron model and the Hopfield
neural network. [21]. The neural network attributed to Gassen
& Carothers considered register allocation as being mapped
to the non-planar graph coloring problem. [16]. Berger used
a maximum neural network model to k-color vertices of a
simple undirected graph; the network being guaranteed to
converge to valid solutions with no parameter tuning needed.
[14]. Jagota mapped the GCP onto the sandard HNN by
reducing the GCP to a maximum independent set problem
[17]. Di Blas et.al. employed k-state neurons, as opposedto
binary neurons, to avoid incorrect coloring [15]. Rahman,
Jayadeva & Dutta Roy proposed a feedback neural network,
311
employing non-linear feedback in the form of comparators
as opposed to linear feedback using resistors in the HNN,
and yielded improved coloring results over the (then) existing
neural networks [20]. Another noteworthy feature of that work
was the significant reduction in hardware complexity over
the contemporary neural circuits for GCP. As an example,
the non-linear synaptic interconnection based network of [20]
employed O(n2 ) neurons for coloring a graph with n vertices
as opposed to the HNN-based approaches, which generally
require O(n4 ) neurons (10000 neurons for a 10 node prob-
lem!) thereby making them less suitable for an actual hardware
implementation. More recently, Talavan & Yanez presented a
discrete-time neural network which utilizes the principles of
the continuous-time energy function proposed by them earlier
and is able to avoid invalid colorings completely [22].
IV. P ROPOSED N ON -L INEAR F EEDBACK N EURAL C IRCUIT
FOR G RAPH C OLORING
Fig. 1 presents the i-th neuron of the proposed voltage-
mode neural circuit for graph colouring. The output of the i-
th neuron, Vi , corresponds to a voltage label (colour) assigned
to the i-th node. Selective connections are provided from the
output of the neurons to the comparators connected in the
feedback path. The voltage feedback from a node, which is
connected (adjacent) to the i-th node, is allowed as an input
of the unipolar comparator connected in the feedback path. For
non-adjacent nodes, no feedback signal arrives at the input of
the i-th neuron, thereby meaning that no comparators would
be present for such cases. Cpi and Rpi denote the internal
capacitance and resistance of the i-th neuron respectively, ui
is the internal state and Rii is the self-feedback resistance of
i-th neuron. The output of other neurons Vj ; (j = 1, 2 . . . , n)
are connected to the input of i-th neuron through unipolar
comparators. The value of RC was chosen to be 1 K Ω and
the self-feedback resistance for each neuron was calculated as
RC
Rii = (1)
D−1
where D is the maximum degree amongst all nodes in the
graph to be coloured [20]. The ideal transfer characteristics of
voltage-mode bipolar and unipolar comparators are presented
in Fig. 2. One possible circuit realization for obtaining the
transfer characteristics of Fig. 2(b) is presented in Fig. 3,
which shows a diode used in conjunction with an opamp
implementing the voltage-mode bipolar voltage comparator.
The self-feedback resistance Rii can be calculated using (1).
Next, in order to ascertain values of the resistances connected
in the synaptic paths, we define a constant gij such that
 
1; i-th node connected to j-th node
gij = (2)
0; otherwise
Using (2), the resistance in the j-th synapse of the i-th
neuron is given by
Rc
Rij = (3)
gij
IMPACT-2013 312

where
N
1 X 1 1 1
= + + (6)
Ri j = 1
R ij R ii R pi
j 6= i

Using (4) in (5), we have

N
dui X Vm Vi ui
Ci = [tanh β (Vj − Vi ) + 1] + −
dt j = 1
2R ij Rii Ri
j 6= i
(7)
Also, for dynamical systems based on the Hopfield ap-
proach, the following holds [20]
dui dE
Ci =− (8)
dt dVi
Fig. 1. i-th neuron of the proposed circuit for graph colouring. (Feedback to Therefore, the energy function E of the network in Fig. 1
unipolar comparators is from all neurons corresponding to the nodes which can be given by
are adjacent to the i-th node; j = 1, 2, . . . , n; j 6= i)
N N N
1 X Vi2 Vm X X
E= − gij ln cosh (β (Vj − Vi ))
2 i=1 2Rii 4βRc i=1 j = 1
j 6= i

N N
Vm X X
− gij Vi
2Rc i=1 j = 1
j 6= i

N Z Vi
X 1
+ ui dV (9)
i=1
Ri 0

The last term in (9) is usually neglected for high values of

Fig. 2. Transfer characteristics of (a) bipolar voltage-mode comparator (b) the open-loop gain of the opamp used to realize the neurons.
unipolar voltage-mode comparator The first term on the right hand side of (9) is quadratic which
tries to minimize the number of colors. The second term has
got a negative sign. Therefore, the energy function E will be
minimized if second term is maximized. This happens when
From Fig. 1, the output of the unipolar comparator, xij can
the voltages corresponding to connected nodes in a graph are
be written as
far away from each other. The first two terms on the right hand
Vm side are balancing each other to color a graph properly. The
xij = [tanh β (Vj − Vi ) + 1] (4)
2 third term also contributes to lowering of number of different
where β is the open-loop gain of the comparator (practically colors by eliminating all those local minima in the energy
very high) and Vm is the saturation voltage level of the function for which node voltages are negative.
comparator output. Node equation for node ‘Ni ’ gives the
equation of motion of the i-th neuron in the state space as V. S IMULATION R ESULTS & VLSI I MPLEMENTATION
N
I SSUES
dui X xij Vi ui
Ci = + − (5) To ascertain the validity of the proposed approach. computer
dt j = 1
R ij Rii R i simulations using PSPICE program were performed for varous
j 6= i
random graphs as well as a standard benchmark problem for
graph coloring, myciel3.col [39]. The results of simulation runs
performed on the chosen random graphs are presented in Table
I from which it can be seen that the proposed network gives
a solution to all the problems tested and in all the cases the
solution is very near to the chromatic number of the graph.
Fig, 4 shows the result of PSPICE simulation for the graph
at S. No. 2 in Table I for the case when the network assigns
two colors. Simulation runs of the proposed network for the
myciel3.col benchmarking problem (chromatic number, χ =
Fig. 3. Obtaining the unipolar characteristics by using a bipolar comparator 4) returned the best solution of 5 colors and the PSPICE
and a diode
simulation result is presented in Fig. 5.
IMPACT-2013 313

TABLE I
PSPICE SIMULATION TEST RESULTS FOR THE PROPOSED NETWORK

Fig. 5. PSPICE simulation result for myciel3.col benchmarking problem

VI. C ONCLUSION
A non-linear feedback neural network based architecture
to solve graph coloring problem is presented. Test results of
PSPICE simulation for different graphs including the my-
ciel3.col benchmark problem are presented. The proposed
circuit was found to correctly assign colors to the chosen
graphs and in all cases the number of colors assigned was very
close to the chromatic number of the graphs. The technique is
suitable for VLSI implementation as the ubiquitous opamp is
employed to emulate the functionality of the neurons and the
non-linear synapses.

Fig. 4. PSPICE simulation result for graph no. 2 in Table I
The proposed circuit is amenable for contemporary CMOS
integration processes by virtue of the use of operational
amplifiers as the active building block for emulating neuronal
functionality. The presence of floating resistors could make
the process cumbersome and MOSFET-based resistors can be
utilized to make the circuit more compatible for fabrication
[40]. A better alternative from the viewpoint of chip area
conservation would be the use of transconductance elements,
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paths [41]. Conveying of the synaptic signals as currents
reduces the overall number of resistances drastically and
[11] R.-B. Lin and S.-Y. Chen. Conjugate conflict continuation graphs
makes the circuit favorable from the viewpoint of actual VLSI
implementation.
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