A novel method for determination of lethal radius for high-explosive artillery projectiles

A new model has been defined that enables the estimation of the lethal radius (radius of efficiency) of HE (High Explosive) artillery projectiles against human targets. The model is made of several modules: CAD (Computer Aided Design) modeling, fragment mass distribution estimation, fragment initial velocity prediction, fragment trajectory calculation, effective fragment density estimation, and high explosive projectile lethal radius estimation. The results were compared with the experimental results obtained based on tests in the arena used in our country, and the agreement of the results was good. This model can be used in any terminal-ballistics scenario for high explosive projectiles since it is general, para-metric, fast and relatively easy to implement.     

A generalized assignment model for dynamic supply chain capacity planning

We consider a generalization of the well‐known generalized assignment problem (GAP) over discrete time periods encompassed within a finite planning horizon. The resulting model, MultiGAP, addresses the assignment of tasks to agents within each time period, with the attendant single‐period assignment costs and agent‐capacity constraint requirements, in conjunction with transition costs arising between any two consecutive periods in which a task is reassigned to a different agent. As is the case for its single‐period antecedent, MultiGAP offers a robust tool for modeling a wide range of capacity planning problems occurring within supply chain management. We provide two formulations for MultiGAP and establish that the second (alternative) formulation provides a tighter bound. We define a Lagrangian relaxation‐based heuristic as well as a branch‐and‐bound algorithm for MultiGAP. Computational experience with the heuristic and branch‐and‐bound algorithm on over 2500 test problems is reported. The Lagrangian heuristic consistently generates high‐quality and in many cases near‐optimal solutions. The branch‐and‐bound algorithm is also seen to constitute an effective means for solving to optimality MultiGAP problems of reasonable size. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2012     

A sequential Bayesian generalization of the Jelinski–Moranda software reliability model

The Jelinski–Moranda model of software reliability is generalized by introducing a negative‐binomial prior distribution for the number of faults remaining, together with a Gamma distribution for the rate at which each fault is exposed. This model is well suited to sequential use, where a sequence of reliability forecasts is made in the process of testing or using the software. We also investigate replacing the Gamma distribution with a worst‐case assumption about failure rates (the worst‐case failure rate in models such as this is not infinite, since faults with large failure rates are immediately discovered and removed). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Branch and bound methods for a search problem

The problem of searching for randomly moving targets such as children and submarines is known to be fundamentally difficult, but finding efficient methods for generating optimal or near optimal solutions is nonetheless an important practical problem. This paper investigates the efficiency of Branch and Bound methods, with emphasis on the tradeoff between the accuracy of the bound employed and the time required to compute it. A variety of bounds are investigated, some of which are new. In most cases the best bounds turn out to be imprecise, but very easy to compute. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 45: 243–257, 1998     

Sensitivity curves for effective project management

A key problem in project management is to decide which activities are the most important to manage and how best to manage them. A considerable amount of literature has been devoted to assigning “importance” measures to activities to help with this important task. When activity times are modeled as random variables, these activity importance measures are more complex and difficult to use. A key problem with all existing measures is that they summarize the importance in a single number. The result is that it is difficult for managers to determine a range of times for an activity that might be acceptable or unacceptable. In this paper, we develop sensitivity curves that display the most useful measures of project performance (in terms of schedule) as a function of an activity's time. The structure of the networks allows us to efficiently estimate these curves for all desired activities, all desired time ranges, and all desired measures in a single set of simulation runs. The resulting curves provide insights that are not available when considering summarized measures alone. Chief among these insights is the ability to identify an acceptable range of times for an activity that will not lead to negative scheduling consequences. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 50: 481–497, 2003     

Landmarks in defense literature

Preliminary design of an experimental world-circling spaceship RM001 RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. (1946)     

Solving a (0, 1) hyperbolic program by branch and bound

A problem in (0, 1) hyperbolic programming is formulated and solved by the use of branch and bound methods. Computational results are presented including a comparison among several branching rules. Heuristic methods for quickly finding relatively good feasible solutions are presented and tested. The problem finds application in the scheduling of common carriers. In the solution of the main problem, a subproblem is identified and solved. A geometric analogue is presented, which allows an interesting interpretation of the subproblem. The subproblem itself finds application in the design of gambles.     

An exact method for finding shortest routes on a sphere,avoiding obstacles

On the surface of a sphere, we take as inputs two points, neither of them contained in any of a number of spherical polygon obstacles, and quickly find the shortest route connecting these two points while avoiding any obstacle. The WetRoute method presented here has been adopted by the US Navy for several applications. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 374–385, 2016