A Comparative Study of the Algorithms for Path finding to Determine the Adversary Path in Physical Protection System of Nuclear Facilities

The shortest path algorithm is the process of finding a path on a weighted graph that minimizes the number of the weights of the path-forming side. Thus, the resulting path is the distance that has the least weight or distance. In physical protection systems (PPS), the implementation of the shortest path algorithm is determining the most vulnerable adversary path to penetrate the physical protection system of a nuclear facility. The paths between points at a facility passed by the adversary will form a directed and weighted graph. The weights on the graph represent the ability of a protective device (e.g. CCTV, sensor, alarm etc.). The formed graph will be processed using algorithms to determine the most vulnerable path. In this paper, we study and examine the performance of two types of algorithms namely Dijkstra and A*. The purpose of this study is to compare the two algorithms which we will use it to determine the most vulnerable path related to the physical protection system of nuclear facilities. Our results show that the A* algorithm provides more efficient path results than the Dijkstra algorithm. (paper)