How do I find the smallest enclosing circle around uniform circles?

Question

Given N amount of uniform circles of radius R, how do I find the radius of the smallest enclosing circle around the uniform circles?

Answer 1

I assume this is in the plane. You want to take the minimum enclosing circle of the centres of your $N$ circles and add $R$ to its radius. Finding the minimum enclosing circle is not simple, but according to that Wikipedia page it can be done in time linear in $N$.