EURO 2025 Leeds
Abstract Submission

2845. MIP and CP formulations for the maritime search and rescue routing problem

Invited abstract in session WB-15: Discrete, continuous or stochastic optimization and control in networks, transportation and design 2, stream Combinatorial Optimization.

Wednesday, 10:30-12:00
Room: Esther Simpson 1.08

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Grigorios Kasapidis
Operations and Supply Chain Management, University of Liverpool
2. Dimitris Paraskevopoulos
Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), City, University of London
3. Tolga Bektas
University of Liverpool Management School, University of Liverpool

Abstract

Efficient search and rescue (SAR) operations can be the difference between life and death in maritime emergencies. In such environments, rapidly changing weather conditions can lead to unpredictable movements of individuals, making effective SAR routing increasingly complex. To address this, weather forecasts or simulations of wind, currents, and waves can help estimate the most probable location of an individual at a given time after an incident. In the literature, such SAR scenarios are typically modeled as moving target search problems. However, despite existing research, key operational challenges—such as dynamic weather conditions, the safety of both rescuers and those in distress, and diminishing survival probabilities—remain insufficiently addressed. As a result, developing a mathematical framework to solve large-scale, realistic SAR problems presents significant theoretical challenges. This paper proposes a mixed-integer programming model to tackle this integrated problem and explores Constraint Programming (CP) models, which have proven effective in solving complex discrete optimization problems. Computational experiments conducted on newly designed benchmark instances inspired by real-world scenarios will be presented.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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