pathfinding

noun

1. a person who finds or makes a path, way, route, etc., especially through a previously unexplored or untraveled wilderness.
2. an airplane, or a person dropped from a plane, sent into a target area to illuminate the area for succeeding aircraft.
3. a radar beacon beamed into a target area to provide guidance for missiles seeking the target.
4. (initial capital letter) an unmanned spacecraft that landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, to obtain climatic and geologic data.

noun

1. a person who makes or finds a way, esp through unexplored areas or fields of knowledge
2. an aircraft or parachutist who indicates a target area by dropping flares, etc
3. a radar device used for navigation or homing onto a target

n.1839 (Cooper), from path + finder. n.

1. A filiform bougie for introduction through a narrow stricture as a guide for the passage of a larger instrument.