Improved Approximation for Guarding Simple Galleries from the Perimeter

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new approximation algorithm for guarding simple polygons from the perimeter, achieving a better approximation ratio than previous methods by utilizing epsilon-nets and set system techniques.

Contribution

It presents the first O(log log OPT)-approximation algorithm for perimeter guarding, improving upon previous O(log OPT) bounds using novel epsilon-net construction.

Findings

Achieves O(log log OPT)-approximation ratio.

Develops polynomial-time epsilon-net construction for guarding problems.

Extends the approach to cases with unrestricted guard placement.

Abstract

We provide an O(log log OPT)-approximation algorithm for the problem of guarding a simple polygon with guards on the perimeter. We first design a polynomial-time algorithm for building epsilon-nets of size O(1/epsilon log log 1/epsilon) for the instances of Hitting Set associated with our guarding problem. We then apply the technique of Bronnimann and Goodrich to build an approximation algorithm from this epsilon-net finder. Along with a simple polygon P, our algorithm takes as input a finite set of potential guard locations that must include the polygon's vertices. If a finite set of potential guard locations is not specified, e.g. when guards may be placed anywhere on the perimeter, we use a known discretization technique at the cost of making the algorithm's running time potentially linear in the ratio between the longest and shortest distances between vertices. Our algorithm is the first to improve upon O(log OPT)-approximation algorithms that use generic net finders for set systems of finite VC-dimension.