An improved PTAS for covering targets with mobile sensors

Nonthaphat Wongwattanakij (), Nattawut Phetmak (), Chaiporn Jaikaeo () and Jittat Fakcharoenphol ()
Additional contact information
Nonthaphat Wongwattanakij: Kasetsart University
Nattawut Phetmak: Kasetsart University
Chaiporn Jaikaeo: Kasetsart University
Jittat Fakcharoenphol: Kasetsart University

Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, 2025, vol. 49, issue 2, No 3, 22 pages

Abstract: Abstract This paper considers a movement minimization problem for mobile sensors. Given a set of n point targets, the k-Sink Minimum Movement Target Coverage Problem is to schedule mobile sensors, initially located at k base stations, to cover all targets minimizing the total moving distance of the sensors. We present a polynomial-time approximation scheme for finding a $$(1+\epsilon )$$ ( 1 + ϵ ) approximate solution running in time $$n^{O(1/\epsilon )}$$ n O ( 1 / ϵ ) for this problem when k, the number of base stations, is constant. Our algorithm improves the running time exponentially from the previous work that runs in time $$n^{O(1/\epsilon ^2)}$$ n O ( 1 / ϵ 2 ) , without any target distribution assumption. To devise a faster algorithm, we prove a stronger bound on the number of sensors in any unit area in the optimal solution and employ a more refined dynamic programming algorithm whose complexity depends only on the width of the problem.

Keywords: Polynomial-time approximation schemes; Mobile sensors; Point coverage; Movement minimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10878-024-01253-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jcomop:v:49:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10878-024-01253-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer.com/journal/10878

DOI: 10.1007/s10878-024-01253-4

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Combinatorial Optimization is currently edited by Thai, My T.

More articles in Journal of Combinatorial Optimization from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().