Optimal Search of a Moving Target

Y. C. Kan
Additional contact information
Y. C. Kan: University of California, Berkeley, California

Operations Research, 1977, vol. 25, issue 5, 864-870

Abstract: There are n boxes. A target is initially in box i with a given probability p ı , where p ı ≧ 0, ∑ p ı = 1. Then at discrete time t = 1, 2, …, it moves from box to box. If at time t the target is in box i , then it will be in box i with probability p ij at time t + 1, where p ij ≧ 0, ∑ j p ij = 1. A search of box i costs C ı ( c ı > 0) and finds the target with probability α ı if the target is in that box. A sequential search is made. The objective is either to maximize the probability of finding the target in a given number of searches or to minimize the expected searching cost before finding the target. Optimal strategies are characterized for special types of probability matrices [ p ij ] for the n -box model.

Date: 1977
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/opre.25.5.864 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:oropre:v:25:y:1977:i:5:p:864-870

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Operations Research from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().