A Cost Minimization Approach to Synthesis of Linear Reversible Circuits

Abstract: This paper presents a heuristic cost minimization approach to synthesizing linear reversible circuits. Two bidirectional linear reversible circuit synthesis methods are introduced, the Alternating Elimination with Cost Minimization method (AECM) and the Multiple CNOT Gate method (MCG). Algorithms, example syntheses, and extensions to these methods are presented. An MCG variant which incorporates line reordering is introduced. Tests comparing the new cost minimization methods with the best known method for large circuits are presented. Results show that of the three methods MCG had the lowest average CNOT gate counts for linear reversible circuits up to 24 lines, and that AECM had the lowest counts between 28 and 60 lines.