Classification of minimal 1-saturating sets in $PG(2,q)$, $q\leq 23$

Abstract

Minimal 1-saturating sets in the projective plane $PG(2,q)$ are considered. They correspond to covering codes which can be applied to many branches of combinatorics and information theory, as data compression, compression with distortion, broadcasting in interconnection network, write-once memory or steganography (see \cite{Coh} and \cite{BF2008}). The full classification of all the minimal 1-saturating sets in PG(2,9) and PG(2,11) and the classification of minimal 1-saturating sets of smallest size in PG(2,q), $16\leq q\leq 23$ are given. These results have been found using a computer-based exhaustive search that exploits projective equivalence properties.