The problem of computing such minimal active sensor which can cover the target region completely is NP-hard. This paper designs a novel method, in which the detection area is divided into lots of virtual grid. So area coverage can approximately be considered as point coverage. Then the problem of area coverage turns into set covering problem. An improved ant colony algorithm is proposed for the minimal set covering. Experimental results show that the lever of algorithmic complication is

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... d and the searching time is reduced, and the proposed algorithm outperforms the other algorithm in terms of the constructed cover set.