A Generalized Orienteering Problem for Optimal Search and Interdiction Planning

Abstract

In order to support search planning for counterdrug operations, we introduce a generalized Orienteering Problem (OP) where transit on arcs in a network and reward collection at nodes both consume a variable amount of the same limited resource. We exploit this resource trade-o through a specialized branch-and-bound algorithm that relies on partial path relaxation problems, which often yield tight bounds and lead to substantial pruning in the enumeration tree. We present the Smuggler Search Problem (SSP) as a real-world application of our generalized OP. Numerical results show that our algorithm applied to the SSP outperforms standard mixed-integer nonlinear programming solvers for problems with seven or more targets. We present model enhancements that allow practitioners to represent realistic search planning scenarios. We investigate how evolving uncertainty in planning data can be addressed by a multi-stage stochastic programming model.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA589550

Entities

People

  • Jesse Pietz

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Algorithms
  • Coast Guard
  • Flow Network
  • Mathematical Programming
  • National Security
  • Nonlinear Programming
  • Operations Research
  • Optimization
  • Probability Distributions
  • Random Variables
  • Scheduling (Production)
  • Search Theory
  • United States
  • United States Southern Command
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Operations Research