Deterministic and stochastic global optimization techniques for planar covering with ellipses problems

Problems of planar covering with ellipses are tackled in this work. Ellipses can have a fixed angle or each of them can be freely rotated. Deterministic global optimization methods are developed for both cases, while a stochastic version of the method is also proposed for large instances of the latter case. Numerical results show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed methods.

► We solve planar covering problems with ellipses to optimality.
► Ad-hoc global optimization methods are introduced.
► MINLP formulations are introduced, allowing the ellipses to rotate.