I am working on a project, in which I have to optimize the placement of N unequal circles in a given rectangular area, such that if these circles are considered as a sensor field, I can possibly reduce the points from where intrusions are possible.
The total area of N unequal circles is not fixed with respect to the given rectangle, i.e. combined area of circles can be less or approximately equal to the area of the rectangle.
So, basically I have to create a particular optimised configuration where there are minimal voids and intrusions. I need an algorithm to implement this, such that I get relative coordinates of circles in such an optimal configuration.
I don't know how to maximize the area covered. However the following is an approximation. Put a grid of points on top of the rectangle. Then maximize the number of points covered by at least one sensor. Assume we have given set of sensors each with a given radius. Then we can formulate a Mixed Integer Quadratically Constrained Programming (MIQCP) problem as follows:
Solvers like Cplex and Gurobi handle these type of problems. The results for some invented small data can look like: