Recent advances in BDD based representations for Boolean functions: a survey

ROBDDs are frequently used as the representation of choice to solve various CAD problems such as synthesis, digital-system verification and testing. However, the size of an ROBDD for a function can be exponential in the number of independent variables of the function. This so called "memory explosion problem" limits the applicability of ROBDD based algorithms and has been the locus of intense research over the past several years. Recently, some new techniques have been proposed which have significantly extended the frontiers of ROBDD based methods. This paper surveys some of these recent advances in this area and discusses their merits and shortcomings.