Abstract
Due to the characteristic that A* algorithm takes a long time when traversing an OPEN table and a CLOSED table, an improved method is proposed that is a new way of array storing in an OPEN table and a CLOSED table. Compared to the original A* algorithm, the way of array storing accesses the array elements by locating the number ranks each time you visit a specified element, which can be done by only one operation. The original A* algorithm requires the traverse of multiple nodes in order to find a specified element. The experimental results show that the comparison of the improved A* algorithm with the original A* algorithm shows that the operating efficiency is improved by more than 40%. Based on the improved A* algorithm the method preserves the advantages of the original A* algorithm, improving the operating efficiency of A* algorithm.