Date of Award

3-21-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Operations Research

Department

Department of Operational Sciences

First Advisor

Bruce A. Cox, PhD

Abstract

United States Coast Guard District 14 is responsible for the execution of eleven statutory missions across the Pacific region. Despite having the largest geographic area of responsibility (AOR), District 14 has command of among the fewest resources to accomplish these missions. When search and rescue (SAR) emergencies occur, these events take immediate priority because the ability to rapidly coordinate available assets can be the difference between saving or losing a life. Using historic records of SAR incidents for District 14, we leverage an approach called the stochastic zonal distribution model to evaluate spatiotemporal trends in emergency rates and response strategies for the probabilistic modeling of future SAR events' location and frequency. The results from this analysis inform the demand parameters of three location problem formulations, which determine the operational posture of the District 14 fleet that minimizes the response to forecasted SAR emergencies. This research provides recommendations regarding the seasonal posturing of assets around the Hawaiian is- lands, the expansion of Coast Guard stations across the Pacific Ocean, the acquisition and placement of new maritime assets, and the potential impact of forward deploying assets away from their present homeports.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-ENS-MS-19-M-123

DTIC Accession Number

DTIC Pending

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