Branch-and-Price Decomposition to Design a Surveillance System for Port and Waterway Security

This paper formulates an integer program to design a surveillance system for port and waterway security. The model represents relevant practical considerations and prescribes the types of sensors, the number of each type, and the location of each sensor to meet surveillance requirements while minimizing total cost. A Branch-and-Price decomposition approach is formulated to solve the problem and effective implementation techniques are identified. Data representing the Houston Ship Channel is used as a test bed to benchmark relative to a commercial solver, analyze the influence of parameters on run time, and explore the relevant sensitivity of system cost to parameters.