A Constant‐Factor Approximation Algorithm for Optimal 1.5D Terrain Guarding

Boaz Ben‐Moshe, Matthew J. Katz, Joseph S. B. Mitchell
2007 SIAM journal on computing (Print)  
We present the first constant-factor approximation algorithm for a non-trivial instance of the optimal guarding (coverage) problem in polygons. In particular, we give an O(1)-approximation algorithm for placing the fewest point guards on a 1.5D terrain, so that every point of the terrain is seen by at least one guard. While polylogarithmic-factor approximations follow from set cover results, our new results exploit geometric structure of terrains to obtain a substantially improved approximation algorithm.
doi:10.1137/s0097539704446384 fatcat:ejrwz5fkkfb6tjaebznghaumry