Regulating the Searching Behaviour of Parked Vehicles Attempting to Locate Moving, Missing Entities

In this work, feedback regulation is added to a system that otherwise consists of a large, high-density network of parked vehicles. When awoken by an administrative centre, this network proceeds to search for moving, missing entities of interest using RFID-based techniques. RIFD readers and antennae are placed within the vehicles, while RFID passive tags are carried on the entity of interest via some means, e.g., a wrist band. Specifically, we seek to regulate the number and geographical distribution of parked vehicles that are 'Switched On', and thus actively searching for the moving entity of interest. In doing so, we seek to conserve vehicular energy consumption while, at the same time, maintain good geographical coverage of the city such that the moving entity of interest is likely to be located within an acceptable time frame. Which vehicles are 'Switched On' at any point in time is a matter determined periodically through the use of stochastic techniques. The regulated system is demonstrated through the use case of a missing Alzheimer's patient in inner-city Dublin, Ireland.