text: Given a set @math of @math points in the plane, we solve the problems of constructing a geometric planar graph spanning @math 1) of minimum degree 2, and 2) which is 2-edge connected, respectively, and has max edge length bounded by a factor of 2 times the optimal; we also show that the factor 2 is best possible given appropriate connectivity conditions on the set @math , respectively. First, we construct in @math time a geometric planar graph of minimum degree 2 and max edge length bounded by 2 times the optimal. This is then used to construct in @math time a 2-edge connected geometric planar graph spanning @math with max edge length bounded by @math times the optimal, assuming that the set @math forms a connected Unit Disk Graph. Second, we prove that 2 times the optimal is always sufficient if the set of points forms a 2 edge connected Unit Disk Graph and give an algorithm that runs in @math time. We also show that for @math , there exists a set @math of @math points in the plane such that even though the Unit Disk Graph spanning @math is @math -vertex connected, there is no 2-edge connected geometric planar graph spanning @math even if the length of its edges is allowed to be up to 17 16.
  @cite_2: We study the following problem: given a geometric graph G and an integer k, determine if G has a planar spanning subgraph (with the original embedding and straight-line edges) such that all nodes have degree at least k. If G is a unit disk graph, the problem is trivial to solve for k = 1. We show that even the slightest deviation from the trivial case (e.g., quasi unit disk graphs or k = 2) leads to NP-hard problems.
summary: A related problem is studied in @cite_2 . The authors prove that it is NP-hard to decide whether @math contains a spanning planar graph of minimum degree 2 even if @math itself has minimum degree 2. They also posed and studied the problem of finding the minimum radius @math so that @math has a geometric planar spanning subgraph of minimum degree 3 provided that @math has a spanning subgraph of minimum degree 3.