An Advanced Risk-Based Route Planning System

Typical route planning systems only take a few factors into account when planning an optimal path, namely the overall length of the path and the type of road in order to find the shortest traversal time. This proposal intends to augment existing known path and route planning algorithms - taking additional factors into account when planning a path. The concept of the “shortest traversal time” will be augmented by assigning environmental ‘risk factors’ to different segments of the candidate path. These factors include descriptors such as hostility to foreign presence, time of day, sensitive areas or buildings, or areas with known risks for snipers or IED attacks. The logistics planner or operator can use this software to find the shortest paths with an acceptable risk factor. The advanced path planning software will be able to find the optimal path and it can provide a series of alternative paths. Operators can also specify a known path and have the algorithm calculate the risk level. The advanced path planning software will be able to identify why a particular path was assigned a particular level of risk, what the different risk factors are, and why the path was recommended or rejected.