Optimal placement of multiple types of detectors under a small vessel attack threat to port security

•Multiple types of detectors.•A nonlinear binary integer program.•Strong dominance and weak dominance.•Two branch and bound based exact algorithms.•A case study in New York Harbor.

We focus on a threat scenario where a terrorist would utilize a small vessel to attack a maritime target. We consider how to place multiple types of detectors to protect maritime targets from such an attack. Detectors are not perfectly reliable. The resulting detector placement problem is formulated as a nonlinear binary integer program such that the expected damage cost caused by the small vessel attack is minimized. Two exact algorithms and a greedy adding heuristic are proposed. Moreover, we conduct a detailed computational study and provide a case study in New York Harbor.