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Rendezvous of three agents on the line

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  • Steve Alpern
  • Wei Shi Lim

Abstract

This paper considers a three‐person rendezvous problem on the line which was introduced earlier by the authors. Three agents are placed at three consecutive integer value points on the real line, say 1, 2, and 3. Each agent is randomly faced towards the right or left. Agents are blind and have a maximum speed of 1. Their common aim is to gather at a common location as quickly as possible. The main result is the proof that a strategy given by V. Baston is the unique minimax strategy. Baston's strategy ensures a three way rendezvous in time at most 3.5 for any of the 3!23 = 48 possible initial configurations corresponding to positions and directions of each agent. A connection is established between the above rendezvous problem and a search problem of L. Thomas in which two parents search separately to find their lost child and then meet again. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 49: 244–255, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/nav.10005

Suggested Citation

  • Steve Alpern & Wei Shi Lim, 2002. "Rendezvous of three agents on the line," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(3), pages 244-255, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:navres:v:49:y:2002:i:3:p:244-255
    DOI: 10.1002/nav.10005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wei Shi Lim & Steve Alpern & Anatole Beck, 1997. "Rendezvous Search on the Line with More Than Two Players," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 45(3), pages 357-364, June.
    2. Shmuel Gal, 1999. "Rendezvous Search on the Line," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(6), pages 974-976, December.
    3. J. V. Howard, 1999. "Rendezvous Search on the Interval and the Circle," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(4), pages 550-558, August.
    4. Vic Baston, 1999. "Note: Two rendezvous search problems on the line," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 335-340, April.
    5. Steve Alpern & Anatole Beck, 1999. "Rendezvous Search on the Line with Limited Resources: Maximizing the Probability of Meeting," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(6), pages 849-861, December.
    6. Alpern, Steve & Beck, Anatole, 1997. "Rendezvous search on the line with bounded resources: expected time minimization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 588-597, September.
    7. Reyniers, Diane J., 1996. "Coordinated search for an object hidden on the line," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 663-670, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Leone, Pierre & Buwaya, Julia & Alpern, Steve, 2022. "Search-and-rescue rendezvous," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 297(2), pages 579-591.

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