I'm trying to build a model of a 360-degree view of the surrounding environment from a distance sensor for continuous rotation (radar). I require a data structure for making a quickly computable strategy that will bring a robot to the first clear of obstacles point (or where the obstacle is far away).
I thought to a matrix of 360 numerical elements in which each element represents the detected distance in that degree of circumference.
Do you know a name for this data structure (used in this way)? There are better representations for the situation I described?
The main language for the controller is Java.