Optimal Acoustic Search Path Planning For Sonar System Based On Genetic Algorithm

The design of an efficient search path to maximize Cumulative Detection Probability (CDP) is mainly dependent on experience and intuition when a searcher detects an ocean target using sonar. Recently, with the advance of modeling and simulation methods, it has become possible to access the optimization problem more systematically. In this paper, a method for the optimal search path calculation is developed by combining the genetic algorithm (GA) with a detection algorithm. We consider the continuous system for the search path, space and time, and use the sonar movement direction as the GA gene. Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches are used to model a moving target. The developed algorithm, Optimal Acoustic Search Path Planning (OASPP), is shown to be effective, via a simulation, in finding the optimal search path for the case where the intuitive solution exists.