COMPUTATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE OPTIMAL TRANSIT PATH PROBLEM

摘要

We consider a class of path design problems which arise when an object needs to traverse between two points through a specified region. The path must optimise a prescribed criterion such as risk, reliability or cost and satisfy a number of constraints such as total travel time. Problems of this type readily arise in the defence, transport and communication industries. We specifically look at the problem of determining an optimal (in terms of minimizing the overall probability of detection) transit path for a submarine moving through a field of sonar sensors, subject to a total time constraint. A computational strategy along with results are presented.