Research on Optimal Model of Maritime Search and Rescue Route for Rescue of Multiple Distress Targets

Abstract

Coastal countries began to develop green energy, and offshore wind power equipment in coastal areas was gradually built. Since coastal wind power generation often requires carrying out maintenance between wind turbines with the assistance of service operation vessels, this situation may cause coastal areas to be prone to people falling into the water. However, traditional maritime search and rescue plans take a long time to gather information from man overboard incidents. In order to minimize injuries to people in distress, the maritime search and rescue process must be as short as possible. Despite that all the search and rescue plans are based on the concept of the shortest path, the efficient plans must not only consider the distance but also consider the cost of search and rescue. Therefore, this study established a set of practices applicable to the on-site commander (OSC) to dispatch rescue ships, as well as the planning of maritime search and rescue route models. Based on the easy-to-observe state of the target in distress, the model is analyzed and calculated by Floyd–Warshall algorithm and Grey relational analysis so as to sort the rescue plan and optimize the effect of the search and rescue route at sea. According to the simulation analysis, when the man overboard incident occurs in the coastal area, the OSC can immediately use this model to plan the best search and rescue route and dispatch a reasonable number of rescue ships.