ON SEARCHING FOR EVENTS OF LIMITED DURATION - WORKING PAPER

• NCJ Number: 17620
• Author(s): A Barnett
• Date Published: 1974
• Length: 21 pages
• Grant Number(s): GI38004
• Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation
• Corporate Author: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THIS MONOGRAPH PRESENTS A THEORETICAL DISCUSSION OF SEARCH THEORY THAT HAS BEEN MODIFIED TO INCLUDE A RANDOM NUMBER OF EVENTS OF RANDOM, BUT LIMITED, DURATION.

Abstract

AN OBSERVER WISHES TO DETECT AS MANY AS POSSIBLE OF A SET OF EVENTS. THE EVENTS ARISE AT SEVERAL DISCRETE POINTS ACCORDING TO INDEPENDENT POISSON PROCESSES, AND THE LIFETIMES OF INDIVIDUAL OCCURRENCES ARE INDEPENDENT AND IDENTICALLY DISTRIBUTED RANDOM VARIABLES. THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM IS: GIVEN THAT THE OBSERVER CAN ONLY 'VISIT' ONE POINT PER UNIT TIME, IN WHAT SEQUENCE SHOULD HE MAKE HIS 'VISITS' SO AS TO MAXIMIZE THE STEADY-STATE FRACTION OF EVENTS HE DETECTS? SOME RESULTS ABOUT THE OPTIMAL SEARCH POLICY ARE OBTAINED, AND THE BEST POLICY IS FOUND PRECISELY IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)