In this paper, we study queue layouts of iterated line directed graphs. A k-queue layout of a directed graph consists of a linear ordering of the vertices and an assignment of each arc to exactly one of the k queues so that any two arcs assigned to the same queue do not nest. The queuenumber of a directed graph is the minimum number of queues required for a queue layout of the directed graph.
We present upper and lower bounds on the queuenumber of an iterated line directed graph L-k(G) of a directed graph G. Our upper bound depends only on G and is independent of the number of iterations k. Queue layouts can be applied to three-dimensional drawings. From the results on the queuenumber of L-k(G), it is shown that for any fixed directed graph G, L-k(G) has a three-dimensional drawing with O(n) volume, where n is the number of vertices in L-k(G). These results are also applied to specific families of iterated line directed graphs such as de Bruijn, Kautz, butterfly, and wrapped butterfly directed graphs. In particular, the queuenumber of k-ary butterfly directed graphs is determined if k is odd. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.