  We consider the Set Once Strip Cover problem, in which n wireless sensors are
deployed over a one-dimensional region. Each sensor has a fixed battery that
drains in inverse proportion to a radius that can be set just once, but
activated at any time. The problem is to find an assignment of radii and
activation times that maximizes the length of time during which the entire
region is covered. We show that this problem is NP-hard. Second, we show that
RoundRobin, the algorithm in which the sensors simply take turns covering the
entire region, has a tight approximation guarantee of 3/2 in both Set Once
Strip Cover and the more general Strip Cover problem, in which each radius may
be set finitely-many times. Moreover, we show that the more general class of
duty cycle algorithms, in which groups of sensors take turns covering the
entire region, can do no better. Finally, we give an optimal O(n^2 log n)-time
algorithm for the related Set Radius Strip Cover problem, in which all sensors
must be activated immediately.
