A capability-based approach to analyzing the effectiveness and robustness of an offshore patrol vessel in the search and rescue mission

Abstract

In this thesis, a model of effectiveness for an offshore patrol vessel conducting search and rescue missions is developed and described. Beginning with a brief overview of work done by colleagues from the University of Genoa, Italy, as well as documents currently in use by the United States Navy and Coast Guard for search and rescue, this thesis provides a link between physical ship design factors and the operational effectiveness of a search and rescue mission. The methodology involved developing a search model, then using an enhanced experimental design to explore how operational noise factors, along with physical ship characteristics, impact the effectiveness of search and rescue. Those characteristics include the ships maximum speed, the number of helicopters onboard, and the number of unmanned aerial vehicles onboard. Operational noise factors include the visibility, the direction of the wind, the maximum speeds as well as the search speeds of the other search entities, the distance to the last known datum, the uncertainty radius of the last known datum, and other environmental factors. Four metamodels are then developed to express which factors have the greatest impact on the performance of the ship as a function of cumulative probability detection threshold in a search and rescue mission.