An Excel-Based Surveillance Planning and Scoring Tool for the Scud Hunting Mission

The research effort presented here is focused on the development of a basic mathematical model to simulate multiple sensors surveiling multiple targets akin to the scud-hunting problem which faced coalition forces during Operation DESERT STORM and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Drawing on similarities between the scud-hunting problem and the classical fractional knapsack problem, a greedy heuristic is employed in an attempt to maximize the overall surveillance contribution of each individual sensor. Using Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a model is constructed which builds sensor flight paths to maximize the overall surveillance effort from the group of sensors, scores the overall effectiveness of the surveillance effort, and provides this information to the analyst in a timely manner. Recommendations for further research to improve the utility of the model are included.