The Clustered Multimode Set Covering Location Problem
The idea of locating facilities of different types while keeping them close together in compact clusters applies in many settings. For instance, in sensor and surveillance networks, different devices such as motion detectors, temperature monitors, and acoustic units often need to operate together in the same area. Placing them nearby allows faster data exchange and energy consumption. This example illustrates how compact multi-type placement can improve overall system performance where both coverage and spatial arrangement matter. To addres it, we introduce the Clustered Multimode Set Covering Location Problem (CMM-SCLP), a new variant of the classic SCLP. In this problem, each demand node must be covered by k facilities of different types. The objective is to minimize the total location cost, while also ensuring that facilities are grouped into compact clusters, each composed with one facility of every type. The model is solved via a tailored branch-and-cut procedure.
Keywords: Location Covering problem