Instance-Optimal Imprecise Convex Hull

Abstract

Imprecise measurements of a point set P = (p₁, …, p_n) can be modelled by a family of regions F = (R₁, …, R_n), where each imprecise region R_i ∈ F contains a unique point p_i ∈ P. A retrieval models an accurate measurement by replacing an imprecise region R_i with its corresponding point p_i. 
We construct the convex hull of an imprecise point set in the plane, by determining the cyclic ordering of the convex hull vertices of P as efficiently as possible. Efficiency is interpreted in two ways: (i) minimising the number of retrievals, and (ii) the computation time to determine the set of regions that must be retrieved. 
Previous works focused on only one of these two aspects: either minimising retrievals or optimising algorithmic runtime. Our contribution is the first to simultaneously achieve both. Let r(F, P) denote the minimal number of retrievals required by any algorithm to determine the convex hull of P for a given instance (F, P). For a family F of n constant-complexity polygons, our main result is a reconstruction algorithm that performs Θ(r(F, P)) retrievals in O(r(F, P) log³ n) time. 
Compared to previous approaches that achieve optimal retrieval counts, we improve the runtime per retrieval from polynomial to polylogarithmic. We extend the generality of previous results to simple k-gons, to pairwise disjoint disks with radii in [1,k], and to unit disks where at most k disks overlap in a single point. Our runtime scales linearly with k.