Optimal resource allocation for maritime safety and security

海上安全和安保包括许多类型的事件：涉及生命损失和/或财产损失的船舶事故；大大小小的泄漏和排放；以及贩毒或恐怖分子渗透等非法活动。用来应对这些威胁的两个关键战略是基于位置的问题：监视(或巡逻)和行动措施(或反应)。在监视的情况下，位置要素涉及战术规划，以确定如何根据历史交通模式、先前事件或基于风险的措施对区域进行抽样。换句话说，在海上发生紧急情况时，在哪里以及何时派遣巡逻船以最大限度地发挥其效力。可以通过最优化和统计分析来确定。同样的方法也可以扩展到使用飞机进行渔业监视或探测溢油。在应对规划的情况下，诸如搜救站等设施的布置和资源的分配是对位置敏感的。此外，在估计响应时间或距离时，避免陆地成为空间模型的重要组成部分，因为显然，船只不总是沿着直线行驶。人员和设备的最佳组合，无论是船只、飞机还是气垫船，取决于每个人的能力(航程、设备等)，以及处于危险中的事件和船只的类型(捕鱼、航运、休闲)。这些问题被认为是多准则决策模型(MCDM)。在这项研究中，地理信息系统(GIS)将被用于确定政府资源的最佳选址战略，以有效地保障海岸安全。在处理与陆地回避和多准则空间风险建模有关的理论复杂性的同时，由此产生的算法和定位战略将被纳入现有版本的海事决策辅助工具MARIS(海事活动和风险调查系统)。

Maritime Safety and Security encompass many types of events: vessel incidents involving loss of life and/or property damage; small and large spills and discharges; and illegal activities such as drug-running or terrorist infiltration.  Two of the key strategies employed to counter these threats are location-based problems: surveillance (or patrolling) and action-measures (or response).  In the case of surveillance, the location element involves tactical planning to determine how to sample the regions based on historical traffic patterns, or prior incidents, or risk-based measures.  In other words, where and when to send patrol vessels to maximize their effectiveness in case of an emergency at sea, can be determined using optimization and statistical analyses.  The same approaches can be extended to the use of aircraft for fisheries surveillance or detection of spills.   In the case of response planning, placement of facilities such as SAR (Search & Rescue) stations and allocation of resources are location-sensitive.  Furthermore, when estimating response times or distances, land-avoidance becomes an important part of the spatial modelling since, evidently, vessels cannot always travel in a straight line. The best mix of people and equipment, whether vessels, aircraft or hovercraft, depends on the capabilities of each (range, equipment, etc.), and the types of incidents and vessels at risk (fishing, shipping, recreational).  Such problems are deemed multicriteria decision models (MCDM).  In this research, geographic information systems (GIS) will be used to determine optimal location strategies of government resources for effective coastal safety and security, while addressing the theoretical complexities associated with land-avoidance and multicriteria spatial risk modelling.  The resulting algorithms and location strategies will be incorporated into the existing version of a maritime decision-aid tool MARIS (Maritime Activity & Risk Investigation System).