Interactive Model-Based Decision Making for Time-Critical Vehicle Routing

Abstract

Advances in technology, software algorithms, and operations research methods provide the opportunity for effectively coupling the human decision maker with optimization modelling algorithms in large-scale systems operating in dynamic and uncertain environments. In military applications, such as search and rescue/destroy missions or real-time route planning or re-planning provide time windows within which critical decisions need to be made. Using a specially constructed human-computer integrated routing application, an evaluation was conducted to compare the effects of interactive model-based solutions with respect to automated solutions generated by mathematical modelling algorithms in the context of unmanned aerial vehicle route planning. Results indicate that significantly more high priority targets were covered in the human integrated approach compared to the automated solution without any significant degradation with respect to all the other dependent measures including percentage of total targets covered, low priority targets covered, total targets covered in threat zone, high priority targets covered in threat zone, and low priority targets covered in threat zone.