POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF SEARCH THEORY TO RESCUE MISSIONS IN THE CANADIAN NORTH.

Currently, search and rescue procedures for crashed aircraft in the Canadian north attempt to use some quantitative data in a qualitative manner. The goat of this paper is to use search theory to improve the strategies and tactics of these search missions. The paper gives a mathematical model of decision-making for search based on existing data and statistics that can be obtained empirically. The model is a resource allocation problem (the scarce resource is time) and is constructed by the juxtaposition of two formulations originally given by Koopman. The model can be used to simulate the mix of aircraft used in a search mission and to simulate the impact of new equipment on search costs and strategies. The model can also serve as a foundation for the consideration of search as a co-operative process where survivors can take positive action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]