How to Find a Point on a Line Within a Fixed Distance

It is well known that on a line, a target point in unknown position can be found by walking a path at most 9 times as long as the distance from the start to the target point, in the worst case. This competitive factor of 9 is optimal. We investigate the case where the target is known to be within a fixed distance, r, of the start point, and determine the optimum competitive factor, C(r) < 9, that can be achieved by a competitive strategy S(r), under this additional assumption. Key words: On-line algorithm, competitive analysis, doubling, navigation, autonomous vehicle, robotics, computational geometry.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 1999
• Where: DAM
• Authors: Christoph A. Hipke, Christian Icking, Rolf Klein, Elmar Langetepe
• Keywords: Competitive Factor, DAM 1999, Optimum Competitive Factor, Target Point