Optimal Search for Hidden Targets by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles under Imperfect Inspections

Abstract

Assume that a target is hidden or lost in one of several possible locations and is to be found by the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A target can be either a hostile object or missing personnel in remote areas. Prior probabilities of target locations are known. Inspection operations done by the UAVs are imperfect, namely, probabilities of overlooking the hidden target and probabilities of false alarms exist for any possible location. The UAV has to sequentially inspect the locations so that to find the target with the minimum loss or damage incurred by the target before it is detected subject to a required level of confidence of target identification. A fast (polynomial-time) priority-based algorithm for finding an optimal search strategy is developed.