SARPlan: A decision support system for Canadian Search and Rescue Operations

We present SARPlan, a geographic decision support system designed to assist the Canadian Forces in the optimal planning of search missions for missing aircraft. Its primary purpose is to ensure that the available search resources are deployed in a way that will maximize the mission's probability of success. The optimization modules are based on search theory, on gradient search methods and on constraint satisfaction programming. We include results that demonstrate that SARPlan improves the performance when compared to the current manual method. This improvement translates to an increase in the chances of finding lost aircraft and survivors, resulting in more saved lives. Another benefit of using SARPlan is a potential decrease in the operations costs. In 2001, SARPlan was the winner of three prestigious excellence awards in the information technology domain.