A Theoretical Evaluation of Various Search Salvage Procedures for Use with Narrow-Path Locators. Part II. Locating Objects whose Apparent Presence and Approximate Position are Known

The present report, representing Part 2 of a two part study of search salvage procedures for use with narrow-path locators, is concerned with the accurate location of objects whose apparent presence and approximate position have been previously established by wide-path detectors, by intelligence, or by other means. The locator characteristics are specified by an over-all width of searched path W and a probability beta of detecting on any single locator pass any object which has a random location within W. It is found that the most effective search procedures differ according to whether the navigational errors are substantially smaller than, or are substantially larger than, or are of the same order of magnitude as the uncertainty in the object position. For each of these three cases practical search procedures are formulated for attaining a searching efficiency close to the theoretical maximum efficiency. Sufficient data are presented for each searching procedure to permit a quick determination of the amount of searching required to obtain sufficient assurance that a contact being investigated does not represent an object if none has been found, and an estimate of the average time required to find an object when one exists. Most of the analysis is concerned with locators that are perfect identifiers, but it is shown how the results can be applied to the location of objects by means of locators with limited classification capabilities.
See also part 1, AD881408