Search Detection and Subsequent Action: Some Problems on the Interfaces

Surveillance operations in general involve detection devices, search (allocation-of-effort) procedures, and decisions leading to action of some kind. There has been a tendency to model the three phases of search, detection, and action separately, albeit the output parameters of one such model often are used as the inputs to others. This paper considers some of the interfaces between these phases and includes some simple examples of the relation between search, detection, and decision theories involving false alarms, continuous surveillance, localization, and selection of appropriate measures of effectiveness.