Algorithms for the sensor cover problem

Author(s)

Rafael da Ponte Barbosa

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Matemática e Estatística (IME/SBI)
• Defense date: 2011-12-12

Examining board members

Yoshiko Wakabayashi; Gordana Manic

• Advisor: Yoshiko Wakabayashi

Abstract

We study the algorithmic aspects of the Sensor Cover Problem. Broadly speaking, in this problem the input consists of a region to be covered by a set of sensors previously positioned, each one powered with a battery of limited duration, and the objective is to assign to each sensor an initial time, so as to cover the given region for as long as possible. We focus our study on the one-dimensional case of the problem, called Restricted Strip Cover Problem, in which the region to be covered is an interval (of the real line). We study several variants, according to the type of the subintervals the sensors cover (if they have fixed length or not), to the duration of the batteries (if uniform or not). We also study the preemptive case: when the sensors can be turned on and off more than once. For this case, we designed a simple polynomial-time algorithm. The Restricted Strip Cover Problem is NP-hard in the non-preemptive case in which the sensors have non-uniform duration batteries. For this case, in 2009 Gibson and Varadarajan designed a polynomial-time algorithm which they proved to be a 5-aproximation. We prove that this algorithm has approximation ratio 4, and show that this ratio is tight. We also present two integer linear formulations for this case, and report on the computational results obtained with this approach. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/03589-0 - Algorithms for sensor cover problems
• Grantee: Rafael da Ponte Barbosa
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master