Using Model Checking to Find a Hidden Evader

Abstract : We present a pursuer-evader game in which the pursuer has a speed advantage over the evader but is incapable of determining the evader's location unless they both occupy the same location. By treating the players as nondeterministic finite automata, we can model the game and use it as the input for a model checker. By specifying that there is no way to guarantee the pursuer can locate the evader, the model checker will either confirm that this is the case, or it will provide a counterexample showing one search pattern for the pursuer that will guarantee the evader must eventually be caught. We show two such models and discuss variations to be investigated.