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For a set 𝒟 of disks in the plane, its disk graph G(𝒟) is the graph with vertex set 𝒟, where two vertices are adjacent if and only if the corresponding disks intersect. Given a set 𝒟 of n weighted disks, computing a maximum independent set of G(𝒟) is NP-hard. In this paper, we present an O(n³log n)-time algorithm for this problem in a special setting in which the disks are in convex position, meaning that every disk appears on the convex hull of 𝒟. This setting has been studied previously for disks of equal radius, for which an O(n^{37/11})-time algorithm was known. Our algorithm also works in the weighted case where disks have weights and the goal is to compute a maximum-weight independent set. As an application of our result, we obtain an O(n³log² n)-time algorithm for the dispersion problem on a set of n disks in convex position: given an integer k, compute a subset of k disks that maximizes the minimum pairwise distance among all disks in the subset.

Given a set P of n points in the plane, its unit-disk graph G(P) is a graph with P as its vertex set such that two points of P are connected by an edge if their (Euclidean) distance is at most 1. We consider several classical problems on G(P) in a special setting when points of P are in convex position. These problems are all NP-hard in the general case. We present efficient algorithms for these problems under the convex position assumption. ● For the problem of finding the smallest dominating set of G(P), we present an O(knlog n) time algorithm, where k is the smallest dominating set size. We also consider the weighted case in which each point of P has a weight and the goal is to find a dominating set in G(P) with minimum total weight; our algorithm runs in O(n³log² n) time. In particular, for a given k, our algorithm can compute in O(kn²log² n) time a minimum weight dominating set of size at most k (if it exists). ● For the discrete k-center problem, which is to find a subset of k points in P (called centers) for a given k, such that the maximum distance between any point in P and its nearest center is minimized. We present an algorithm that solves the problem in O(min{n^{4/3}log n+knlog² n,k² nlog²n}) time, which is O(n²log² n) in the worst case when k = Θ(n). For comparison, the runtime of the current best algorithm for the continuous version of the problem where centers can be anywhere in the plane is O(n³ log n). ● For the problem of finding a maximum independent set in G(P), we give an algorithm of O(n^{7/2}) time and another randomized algorithm of O(n^{37/11}) expected time, which improve the previous best result of O(n⁶log n) time. Our algorithms can be extended to compute a maximum-weight independent set in G(P) with the same time complexities when points of P have weights. - If we are looking for an (unweighted) independent set of size 3, we derive an algorithm of O(nlog n) time; the previous best algorithm runs in O(n^{4/3}log² n) time (which works for the general case where points of P are not necessarily in convex position). - If points of P have weights and are not necessarily in convex position, we present an algorithm that can find a maximum-weight independent set of size 3 in O(n^{5/3+δ}) time for an arbitrarily small constant δ > 0. By slightly modifying the algorithm, a maximum-weight clique of size 3 can also be found within the same time complexity. ● For the dispersion problem, which is to find a subset of k points from P for a given k, such that the minimum pairwise distance of the points in the subset is maximized. We present an algorithm of O(n^{7/2}log n) time and another randomized algorithm of O(n^{37/11}log n) expected time, which improve the previous best result of O(n⁶) time. - If k = 3, we present an algorithm of O(nlog² n) time and another randomized algorithm of O(nlog n) expected time; the previous best algorithm runs in O(n^{4/3}log² n) time (which works for the general case where points of P are not necessarily in convex position).