Model of Optimal Cooperative Reconnaissance and its Solution using Metaheuristic Methods

Abstract

The model of optimal cooperative reconnaissance as a part of the tactical decision support system to aid commanders in their decision-making processes is presented. The model represents one of the models of military tactics implemented in the system to plan the ground reconnaissance operation for the commander optimally. The main goal of the model is to explore the area of interest by multiple military elements (scouts, UAVs, UGVs) as quickly as possible. A metaheuristic solution to this problem which combines two probabilistic methods: simulated annealing and the ant colony optimisation algorithm is proposed. In the first part of this study, the optimal cooperative reconnaissance problem is formulated. Then, metaheuristic solution, which is composed of three independent steps, is presented. Finally, experiments are conducted to verify the approach to this problem.