Solving the Total Coverage Problem using a Multiple Mobile Sensor Network

Abstract : The use of drone have been increased recently both in civilian and military operations. In this research, we investigate the coverage of a given area using a fleet of drone. Drones are equipped with on-board camera pointing down, an image sensor, whose objective is to monitor a given area. Covering means that every point in the area should be covered at least by one drone. To achieve the full coverage area we define a new strategy based on the arc coverage. The problem is modelled and formulated as an integer linear program and has been solved optimally and tested successfully using the Solver CPLEX. Computational experiments are generated on different grid sizes.