Searching for Mobile Intruders in a Polygonal Region by a Group of Mobile Searchers

Abstract

The problem of searching for mobile intruders in a polygonal region by mobile searchers is considered. A searcher can move continuously inside a polygon holding a flashlight that emits a single ray of light whose direction can be changed continuously. The visibility of a searcher at any time instant is limited to the points on the ray. The intruders can move continuously with unbounded speed. We denote by ps(P ) the polygon search number of a simple polygon P , which is the number of searchers necessary and sufficient to search P . Let n, r, b and g be the number of edges, the number of reflex vertices, the bushiness, and the size of a minimum guard set of P , respectively. In this paper, we present matching upper and (worst case) lower bounds of 1 + blog 3 (2b + 1)c on ps(P ). Also upper bounds on ps(P ) in terms of n; r and g are presented; ps(P ) 1 + blog 3 (n \Gamma 3)c; ps(P ) 1 + blog 3 rc, and ps(P ) 2 + dlog 2 ge. These upper bounds are tight or almost tight in the worst c..