Kinetic Heap
A normal binary heap works great when priorities stay fixed.
But what happens when priorities keep changing automatically over time?
Think about GPS systems where cars keep moving, physics simulations where collision times constantly change, or game engines where enemy priority changes every frame. In these systems, rebuilding the heap again and again becomes expensive and inefficient.
That’s where the Kinetic Heap becomes interesting.
Instead of continuously recomputing everything, it predicts when the heap order will actually break in the future. The structure then processes only those specific change events using certificates and an event queue.
The beautiful part is that nothing happens between events. The structure simply waits until an ordering change is guaranteed to occur.
It’s a really interesting mix of heaps, event-driven systems, and computational geometry.
Tutorial video and presentation slides are attached below for anyone interested in exploring the topic more deeply.