A route decision method for maritime search and rescue based on novel intelligent water drops algorithm

In order to implement the emergency rescue operations effectively, this paper purposes an intelligent maritime search and rescue route decision method which is based on the novel intelligent water drops(NIWD) algorithm. The neighborhood expansion mechanism and the optimal solution emphasizing mechanism are introduced into the original intelligent water drops (IWD) algorithm to avoid premature convergence and to speed up the convergence rate. The convergence property of NIWD is confirmed both by theoretical proofs and numerical experiments. The comparative experimental result suggests that the proposed method provides a timely and effective way for maritime search and rescue route decision.