Covering a polygonal region by rectangles

The problem of covering a compact polygonal region, called target region, with a finite family of rectangles is considered. Tools for mathematical modeling of the problem are provided. Especially, a function, called I-function, is introduced which indicates whether the rectangles with respect to their configuration form a cover of the target region or not. The construction of the I-function is similar to that of I broken vertical bar-functions which have been proved to be an efficient tool for packing problems. A mathematical model of the covering problem based on the I-function is proposed as well as a solution strategy. The approach is illustrated by an example and some computational results are presented.