Energy Consumption and Routing Model for First Responder Vehicles

The ongoing research and prototyping of electric vehicles (EVs) offers numerous opportunities to investigate their performance in various service contexts. As EVs are integrated into society, the reliable prediction of fuel consumption and routing time becomes particularly important in emergency response services. This project develops a preliminary stochastic model that can route and predict the energy consumption and travel time for hypothetical emergency vehicles operating on an electric battery cell. Using a Monte-Carlo framework, we constructed a routing model designed to minimize travel time and resource consumption under various simulated conditions. In doing so, we establish the foundation for balancing the demands of time and energy in a relatively unexplored context and determined the impact of elevation, distance, time, and other factors on energy consumption for these large vehicle types. My model computes likely travel times, power consumption, and best-suited resulting route for emergency vehicles from the Orange County Fire Station to four locations on the University of Central Florida campus: Millican Hall, Lake Claire, Jay Bergman Field, and the Creative School for Children. My model provides consistent results that are comparable to real-world travel times recorded by the Orange County Fire Station. Future work will include more robust and accurate iterations of the model that could ultimately be a useful tool for both first responders as well as other EV services that require efficient resource allocation and time forecasting in routing

A review of wildland fire spread modelling, 1990-present 3: Mathematical analogues and simulation models

In recent years, advances in computational power and spatial data analysis (GIS, remote sensing, etc) have led to an increase in attempts to model the spread and behvaiour of wildland fires across the landscape. This series of review papers endeavours to critically and comprehensively review all types of surface fire spread models developed since 1990. This paper reviews models of a simulation or mathematical analogue nature. Most simulation models are implementations of existing empirical or quasi-empirical models and their primary function is to convert these generally one dimensional models to two dimensions and then propagate a fire perimeter across a modelled landscape. Mathematical analogue models are those that are based on some mathematical conceit (rather than a physical representation of fire spread) that coincidentally simulates the spread of fire. Other papers in the series review models of an physical or quasi-physical nature and empirical or quasi-empirical nature. Many models are extensions or refinements of models developed before 1990. Where this is the case, these models are also discussed but much less comprehensively.Comment: 20 pages + 9 pages references + 1 page figures. Submitted to the International Journal of Wildland Fir

Productivity and cost of a cut-to-length commercial thinning operation in a northern California redwood forest

Cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting systems have recently been introduced to the redwood forests of California’s north coast. These machines are being used to commercially thin dense redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) stands which tend to form clumps of stems that vigorously sprout from stumps after a harvest. One of the challenges is to avoid damaging residual trees which can decrease productivity, increase costs, and lower the market value of trees. The goal of this study was to evaluate the productivity and costs associated with CTL systems used in a redwood forests and use that data to develop equations for predictions. Time and motion study methods were used to calculate the productivity of a harvester and forwarder used during the winter and summer seasons. Regression equations for each machine were developed to predict delay-free cycle (DFC) times. Key factors that influenced productivity for the harvesters was tree diameter and distance between harvested trees. Productivity for the harvesting ranged from 28.8 to 35.6 m3 per productive machine hour (PMH). For the forwarders, the number of logs per load and travel distance were important factors affecting productivity. Forwarder productivity ranged from 22.4 to 23.3 m3 per PMH. Total stump-to-truck costs for CTL harvesting system ranged from US$17.1 to$22.8 per m3