Maritime Search and Rescue (MSAR) Operations: An Analysis of Optimal Asset Allocation

Abstract

Managing sea rescue assets and their distribution in the various search and rescue (SAR) locations should be carried out according to some well-defined criteria in order to cover SAR areas of the world properly. In this chapter, we intend to give a comparative literature review of maritime search and rescue (MSAR) operations with more emphasis on asset allocation. A framework of a new approach that aims to locate SAR stations and allocate SAR assets to the stations is introduced to the MSAR literature that takes into account the traffic density of sea and air roads over an SAR responsibility area. The model itself is not covered within this book chapter, but instead its main features are discussed and the differences and novelties with respect to the modeling approaches generally used in the literature are presented.