An iterative Mixed Integer Linear Programming Approach to pursuit evasion problems in polygonal environments

In this paper, we address the multi pursuer version of the pursuit evasion problem in polygonal environments. It is well known that this problem is NP-hard, and therefore we seek efficient, but not optimal, solutions by relaxing the problem and applying the tools of Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) and Receding Horizon Control (RHC). Approaches using MILP and RHC are known to produce efficient algorithms in other path planning domains, such as obstacle avoidance. Here we show how the MILP formalism can be used in a pursuit evasion setting to capture the motion of the pursuers as well as the partitioning of the pursuit search region into a cleared and a contaminated part. RHC is furthermore a well known way of balancing performance and computation requirements by iteratively solving path planning problems over a receding planning horizon, and adapt the length of that horizon to the computational resources available. The proposed approach is implemented in Matlab/Cplex and illustrated by a number of solved examples.