  The coverage problem in wireless sensor networks deals with the problem of
covering a region or parts of it with sensors. In this paper, we address the
problem of covering a set of line segments in sensor networks. A line segment `
is said to be covered if it intersects the sensing regions of at least one
sensor distributed in that region. We show that the problem of finding the
minimum number of sensors needed to cover each member in a given set of line
segments in a rectangular area is NP-hard. Next, we propose a constant factor
approximation algorithm for the problem of covering a set of axis-parallel line
segments. We also show that a PTAS exists for this problem.
