Geometric zoning and selective routing for surveillance and coverage operations

Taking fast action, and effectively utilizing the available resources, are important when conducting time-critical surveillance missions. In addition, the potential complexity of the search, such as the ruggedness of the terrain or large size of the search region, should be considered. Such issues can be tackled by using a heterogeneous fleet of manned and unmanned vehicles equipped with different sensors by considering speed, coverage and flexibility. This article centres on designing a fast solution approach for planning coverage missions through zoning and routing. The challenge is to cover an area where targets can be potentially found with a variable likelihood. The search area is modelled using a scoring map to support the choice of search in sub-areas, where the scores represent the importance of tasks. Heuristic approaches are proposed to automate search processes and plan missions, given a small time budget.