Lesson plan
Weapon-target assignment problem
The weapon-target assignment (WTA) problem is a class of combinatorial optimization problems present in the fields of optimization and operations research. It consists of finding an optimal assignment of a set of weapons of various types to a set of targets in order to maximize the total expected damage done to the opponent. The basic problem is as follows: :There are a number of weapons and a number of targets. The weapons are of type i = 1, \ldots, m . There are W_{i} available weapons of type i . Similarly, there are j = 1, \ldots, n targets, each with a value of V_{j} . Any of the weapons can be assigned to any target. Each weapon type has a certain probability of destroying each target, given by p_{ij} . Notice that as opposed to the classic assignment problem or the generalized assignment problem, more than one agent (i.e., weapon) can be assigned to each task (i.e., target) and not all targets are required to have weapons assigned. Thus, we see that the WTA allows one to formulate optimal assignment problems wherein tasks require cooperation among agents. Additionally, it provides the ability to model probabilistic completion of tasks in addition to costs. Both static and dynamic versions of WTA can be considered. In the static case, the weapons are assigned to targets once.…
Article summary
The weapon-target assignment (WTA) problem is a class of combinatorial optimization problems present in the fields of optimization and operations research. It consists of finding an optimal assignment of a set of weapons of various types to a set of targets in order to maximize the total expected damage done to the opponent. The basic problem is as follows: :There are a number of weapons and a number of targets. The weapons are of type i = 1, \ldots, m . There are W_{i} available weapons of type i . Similarly, there are j = 1, \ldots, n targets, each with a value of V_{j} . Any of the weapons can be assigned to any target. Each weapon type has a certain probability of destroying each target, given by p_{ij} . Notice that as opposed to the classic assignment problem or the generalized assignment problem, more than one agent (i.e., weapon) can be assigned to each task (i.e., target) and not all targets are required to have weapons assigned. Thus, we see that the WTA allows one to formulate optimal assignment problems wherein tasks require cooperation among agents. Additionally, it provides the ability to model probabilistic completion of tasks in addition to costs. Both static and dynamic versions of WTA can be considered. In the static case, the weapons are assigned to targets once.…
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.