Title: Optimal spiral search plan for a randomly located target in the plane

Authors: Mohamed Abd Allah El-Hadidy

Addresses: Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt

Abstract: This paper addresses the problem of searching for a located target in the plane by using a unit-speed searcher starting at (0, 0). The plane is divided into cells. The searcher moves along spiral with line segment curve. It is desired to search in an optimal manner to minimise the expected time for detecting the target. An illustrative example has been given to demonstrate the applicability of this technique.

Keywords: spiral search; line segment; unit-speed searcher; revolution; circular normal distribution; optimal search path; randomly located targets.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2015.068561

International Journal of Operational Research, 2015 Vol.22 No.4, pp.454 - 465

Received: 06 Mar 2013
Accepted: 10 Jul 2013
Published online: 09 May 2015 *

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