1,816 research outputs found
Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)
This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio
Model for flood control using two reservoirs in parallel
Este artículo presenta un modelo matemático que permite simular el comportamiento de embalses en paralelo, como infraestructura primaria para el control de inundaciones, utilizando el concepto de embalse multipropósito. El modelo se conforma de un conjunto de ecuaciones que representan los flujos de entrada y salida de los embalses y las restricciones asociadas al control de inundaciones. La validación del modelo se realiza utilizando los parámetros técnicos de dos embalses del Sistema Eléctrico Colombiano. Con este desarrollo se ofrece al mercado eléctrico nuevas herramientas orientadas a la toma de decisiones relacionadas con la prevención y el control de inundaciones
This article presents a mathematical model to simulate the behavior of two reservoirs in parallel as primary infrastructure for flood control using the concept of Multipurpose Reservoir. The model is made up of a set of equations that represent the inflows and outflows of reservoirs and constraints associated with flood control. Model validation is performed using the technical parameters of two reservoirs of the Colombian Electric System. With this development, new decision-oriented tools are offered to the electricity market related to flood prevention and control.
 
Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)
This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried
out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information
Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The
goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for
students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a
team of “volunteer mappers”. Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental
and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities
of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection,
integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training
activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According
to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after
emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic
methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial
photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional
systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is
to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities
and the Civil Protection
Real-Time Control of Water Quality and Quantity
The paper considers the application of estimation, forecasting, and control techniques to the problem of combined real-time control of stream discharge and water quality in a river basin. A simple recursive estimation procedure is presented for the on-line estimation of pollutant movement and dispersion in a reach of a river. Some important features of the linear multivariable control system design problem are then considered in the context of controlling downstream discharge and quality given an upstream effluent discharge and surface storage facility as input control variables. Because of the very basic difficulties of visualizing water quality regulation according to most conventional control engineering approaches, a final section of the paper offers a speculative examination of the possibilities for fuzzy control applications in operational river basin management
Multi-agent system for flood forecasting in Tropical River Basin
It is well known, the problems related to the generation of floods, their control, and management,
have been treated with traditional hydrologic modeling tools focused on the study and
the analysis of the precipitation-runoff relationship, a physical process which is driven by the
hydrological cycle and the climate regime and that is directly proportional to the generation
of floodwaters. Within the hydrological discipline, they classify these traditional modeling
tools according to three principal groups, being the first group defined as trial-and-error models
(e.g., "black-models"), the second group are the conceptual models, which are categorized
in three main sub-groups as "lumped", "semi-lumped" and "semi-distributed", according to
the special distribution, and finally, models that are based on physical processes, known as
"white-box models" are the so-called "distributed-models". On the other hand, in engineering
applications, there are two types of models used in streamflow forecasting, and which are
classified concerning the type of measurements and variables required as "physically based
models", as well as "data-driven models".
The Physically oriented prototypes present an in-depth account of the dynamics related
to the physical aspects that occur internally among the different systems of a given hydrographic
basin. However, aside from being laborious to implement, they rely thoroughly
on mathematical algorithms, and an understanding of these interactions requires the abstraction
of mathematical concepts and the conceptualization of the physical processes that
are intertwined among these systems. Besides, models determined by data necessitates an
a-priori understanding of the physical laws controlling the process within the system, and
they are bound to mathematical formulations, which require a lot of numeric information
for field adjustments. Therefore, these models are remarkably different from each other
because of their needs for data, and their interpretation of physical phenomena. Although
there is considerable progress in hydrologic modeling for flood forecasting, several significant
setbacks remain unresolved, given the stochastic nature of the hydrological phenomena, is
the challenge to implement user-friendly, re-usable, robust, and reliable forecasting systems,
the amount of uncertainty they must deal with when trying to solve the flood forecasting
problem. However, in the past decades, with the growing environment and development of
the artificial intelligence (AI) field, some researchers have seldomly attempted to deal with
the stochastic nature of hydrologic events with the application of some of these techniques.
Given the setbacks to hydrologic flood forecasting previously described this thesis research
aims to integrate the physics-based hydrologic, hydraulic, and data-driven models under the
paradigm of Multi-agent Systems for flood forecasting by designing and developing a multi-agent system (MAS) framework for flood forecasting events within the scope of tropical
watersheds.
With the emergence of the agent technologies, the "agent-based modeling" and "multiagent
systems" simulation methods have provided applications for some areas of hydro base
management like flood protection, planning, control, management, mitigation, and forecasting
to combat the shocks produced by floods on society; however, all these focused on
evacuation drills, and the latter not aimed at the tropical river basin, whose hydrological
regime is extremely unique.
In this catchment modeling environment approach, it was applied the multi-agent systems
approach as a surrogate of the conventional hydrologic model to build a system that operates
at the catchment level displayed with hydrometric stations, that use the data from hydrometric
sensors networks (e.g., rainfall, river stage, river flow) captured, stored and administered
by an organization of interacting agents whose main aim is to perform flow forecasting and
awareness, and in so doing enhance the policy-making process at the watershed level.
Section one of this document surveys the status of the current research in hydrologic
modeling for the flood forecasting task. It is a journey through the background of related
concerns to the hydrological process, flood ontologies, management, and forecasting. The
section covers, to a certain extent, the techniques, methods, and theoretical aspects and
methods of hydrological modeling and their types, from the conventional models to the
present-day artificial intelligence prototypes, making special emphasis on the multi-agent
systems, as most recent modeling methodology in the hydrological sciences. However, it is
also underlined here that the section does not contribute to an all-inclusive revision, rather
its purpose is to serve as a framework for this sort of work and a path to underline the
significant aspects of the works.
In section two of the document, it is detailed the conceptual framework for the suggested
Multiagent system in support of flood forecasting. To accomplish this task, several works
need to be carried out such as the sketching and implementation of the system’s framework
with the (Belief-Desire-Intention model) architecture for flood forecasting events within the
concept of the tropical river basin. Contributions of this proposed architecture are the
replacement of the conventional hydrologic modeling with the use of multi-agent systems,
which makes it quick for hydrometric time-series data administration and modeling of the
precipitation-runoff process which conveys to flood in a river course. Another advantage is
the user-friendly environment provided by the proposed multi-agent system platform graphical
interface, the real-time generation of graphs, charts, and monitors with the information
on the immediate event taking place in the catchment, which makes it easy for the viewer
with some or no background in data analysis and their interpretation to get a visual idea of
the information at hand regarding the flood awareness.
The required agents developed in this multi-agent system modeling framework for flood
forecasting have been trained, tested, and validated under a series of experimental tasks,
using the hydrometric series information of rainfall, river stage, and streamflow data collected
by the hydrometric sensor agents from the hydrometric sensors.Como se sabe, los problemas relacionados con la generación de inundaciones, su control y
manejo, han sido tratados con herramientas tradicionales de modelado hidrológico enfocados
al estudio y análisis de la relación precipitación-escorrentía, proceso físico que es impulsado
por el ciclo hidrológico y el régimen climático y este esta directamente proporcional a la
generación de crecidas. Dentro de la disciplina hidrológica, clasifican estas herramientas
de modelado tradicionales en tres grupos principales, siendo el primer grupo el de modelos
empíricos (modelos de caja negra), modelos conceptuales (o agrupados, semi-agrupados o
semi-distribuidos) dependiendo de la distribución espacial y, por último, los basados en la
física, modelos de proceso (o "modelos de caja blanca", y/o distribuidos). En este sentido,
clasifican las aplicaciones de predicción de caudal fluvial en la ingeniería de recursos hídricos
en dos tipos con respecto a los valores y parámetros que requieren en: modelos de procesos
basados en la física y la categoría de modelos impulsados por datos.
Los modelos basados en la física proporcionan una descripción detallada de la dinámica
relacionada con los aspectos físicos que ocurren internamente entre los diferentes sistemas de
una cuenca hidrográfica determinada. Sin embargo, aparte de ser complejos de implementar,
se basan completamente en algoritmos matemáticos, y la comprensión de estas interacciones
requiere la abstracción de conceptos matemáticos y la conceptualización de los procesos
físicos que se entrelazan entre estos sistemas. Además, los modelos impulsados por datos no
requieren conocimiento de los procesos físicos que gobiernan, sino que se basan únicamente
en ecuaciones empíricas que necesitan una gran cantidad de datos y requieren calibración
de los datos en el sitio. Los dos modelos difieren significativamente debido a sus requisitos
de datos y de cómo expresan los fenómenos físicos. La elaboración de modelos hidrológicos
para el pronóstico de inundaciones ha dado grandes pasos, pero siguen sin resolverse algunos
contratiempos importantes, dada la naturaleza estocástica de los fenómenos hidrológicos, es
el desafío de implementar sistemas de pronóstico fáciles de usar, reutilizables, robustos y
confiables, la cantidad de incertidumbre que deben afrontar al intentar resolver el problema
de la predicción de inundaciones. Sin embargo, en las últimas décadas, con el entorno
creciente y el desarrollo del campo de la inteligencia artificial (IA), algunos investigadores
rara vez han intentado abordar la naturaleza estocástica de los eventos hidrológicos con la
aplicación de algunas de estas técnicas.
Dados los contratiempos en el pronóstico de inundaciones hidrológicas descritos anteriormente,
esta investigación de tesis tiene como objetivo integrar los modelos hidrológicos,
basados en la física, hidráulicos e impulsados por datos bajo el paradigma de Sistemas de múltiples agentes para el pronóstico de inundaciones por medio del bosquejo y desarrollo
del marco de trabajo del sistema multi-agente (MAS) para los eventos de predicción de
inundaciones en el contexto de cuenca hidrográfica tropical.
Con la aparición de las tecnologías de agentes, se han emprendido algunos enfoques
de simulación recientes en la investigación hidrológica con modelos basados en agentes y
sistema multi-agente, principalmente en alerta por inundaciones, seguridad y planificación
de inundaciones, control y gestión de inundaciones y pronóstico de inundaciones, todos estos
enfocado a simulacros de evacuación, y este último no dirigido a la cuenca tropical, cuyo
régimen hidrológico es extremadamente único.
En este enfoque de entorno de modelado de cuencas, se aplican los enfoques de sistemas
multi-agente como un sustituto del modelado hidrológico convencional para construir un
sistema que opera a nivel de cuenca con estaciones hidrométricas desplegadas, que utilizan
los datos de redes de sensores hidrométricos (por ejemplo, lluvia , nivel del río, caudal del
río) capturado, almacenado y administrado por una organización de agentes interactuantes
cuyo objetivo principal es realizar pronósticos de caudal y concientización para mejorar las
capacidades de soporte en la formulación de políticas a nivel de cuenca hidrográfica.
La primera sección de este documento analiza el estado del arte sobre la investigación actual
en modelos hidrológicos para la tarea de pronóstico de inundaciones. Es un viaje a través
de los antecedentes preocupantes relacionadas con el proceso hidrológico, las ontologías de
inundaciones, la gestión y la predicción. El apartado abarca, en cierta medida, las técnicas,
métodos y aspectos teóricos y métodos del modelado hidrológico y sus tipologías, desde
los modelos convencionales hasta los prototipos de inteligencia artificial actuales, haciendo
hincapié en los sistemas multi-agente, como un enfoque de simulación reciente en la investigación
hidrológica. Sin embargo, se destaca que esta sección no contribuye a una revisión
integral, sino que su propósito es servir de marco para este tipo de trabajos y una guía para
subrayar los aspectos significativos de los trabajos.
En la sección dos del documento, se detalla el marco de trabajo propuesto para el sistema
multi-agente para el pronóstico de inundaciones. Los trabajos realizados comprendieron el
diseño y desarrollo del marco de trabajo del sistema multi-agente con la arquitectura (modelo
Creencia-Deseo-Intención) para la predicción de eventos de crecidas dentro del concepto
de cuenca hidrográfica tropical. Las contribuciones de esta arquitectura propuesta son el
reemplazo del modelado hidrológico convencional con el uso de sistemas multi-agente, lo
que agiliza la administración de las series de tiempo de datos hidrométricos y el modelado
del proceso de precipitación-escorrentía que conduce a la inundación en el curso de un río.
Otra ventaja es el entorno amigable proporcionado por la interfaz gráfica de la plataforma del
sistema multi-agente propuesto, la generación en tiempo real de gráficos, cuadros y monitores
con la información sobre el evento inmediato que tiene lugar en la cuenca, lo que lo hace
fácil para el espectador con algo o sin experiencia en análisis de datos y su interpretación
para tener una idea visual de la información disponible con respecto a la cognición de las
inundaciones.
Los agentes necesarios desarrollados en este marco de modelado de sistemas multi-agente
para el pronóstico de inundaciones han sido entrenados, probados y validados en una serie de tareas experimentales, utilizando la información de la serie hidrométrica de datos de lluvia,
nivel del río y flujo del curso de agua recolectados por los agentes sensores hidrométricos de
los sensores hidrométricos de campo.Programa de Doctorado en Ciencia y Tecnología Informática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: María Araceli Sanchis de Miguel.- Secretario: Juan Gómez Romero.- Vocal: Juan Carlos Corrale
State-of-the-Art Report on Systems Analysis Methods for Resolution of Conflicts in Water Resources Management
Water is an important factor in conflicts among stakeholders at the local, regional, and even international level. Water conflicts have taken many forms, but they almost always arise from the fact that the freshwater resources of the world are not partitioned to match the political borders, nor are they evenly distributed in space and time. Two or more countries share the watersheds of 261 major rivers and nearly half of the land area of the wo rld is in international river basins. Water has been used as a military and political goal. Water has been a weapon of war. Water systems have been targets during the war. A role of systems approach has been investigated in this report as an approach for resolution of conflicts over water. A review of systems approach provides some basic knowledge of tools and techniques as they apply to water management and conflict resolution. Report provides a classification and description of water conflicts by addressing issues of scale, integrated water management and the role of stakeholders. Four large-scale examples are selected to illustrate the application of systems approach to water conflicts: (a) hydropower development in Canada; (b) multipurpose use of Danube river in Europe; (c) international water conflict between USA and Canada; and (d) Aral See in Asia. Water conflict resolution process involves various sources of uncertainty. One section of the report provides some examples of systems tools that can be used to address objective and subjective uncertainties with special emphasis on the utility of the fuzzy set theory. Systems analysis is known to be driven by the development of computer technology. Last section of the report provides one view of the future and systems tools that will be used for water resources management. Role of the virtual databases, computer and communication networks is investigated in the context of water conflicts and their resolution.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wrrr/1005/thumbnail.jp
SCADA and related technologies for irrigation district modernization
Presented at SCADA and related technologies for irrigation district modernization: a USCID water management conference on October 26-29, 2005 in Vancouver, Washington.Includes bibliographical references.Overview of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) -- Total Channel Control™ - The value of automation in irrigation distribution systems -- Design and implementation of an irrigation canal SCADA -- All American Canal Monitoring Project -- Taking closed piping flowmeters to the next level - new technologies support trends in data logging and SCADA systems -- Real-time model-based dam automation: a case study of the Piute Dam -- Effective implementation of algorithm theory into PLCs -- Optimal fuzzy control for canal control structures -- SCADA over Zigbee™ -- Synchronous radio modem technology for affordable irrigation SCADA systems -- A suggested criteria for the selection of RTUs and sensors -- Irrigation canals in Spain: the integral process of modernization -- Ten years of SCADA data quality control and utilization for system management and planning modernization -- Moderately priced SCADA implementation -- Increasing peak power generation using SCADA and automation: a case study of the Kaweah River Power Authority -- Eastern Irrigation District canal automation and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) -- Case study on design and construction of a regulating reservoir pumping station -- Saving water with Total Channel Control® in the Macalister Irrigation District, Australia -- Leveraging SCADA to modernize operations in the Klamath Irrigation Project -- A 2005 update on the installation of a VFD/SCADA system at Sutter Mutual Water Company -- Truckee Carson Irrigation District Turnout Water Measurement Program -- The myth of a "Turnkey" SCADA system and other lessons learned -- Canal modernization in Central California Irrigation District - case study -- Remote monitoring and operation at the Colorado River Irrigation District -- Web-based GIS decision support system for irrigation districts -- Using RiverWare as a real time river systems management tool -- Submerged venturi flume -- Ochoco Irrigation District telemetry case study -- Uinta Basin Replacement Project: a SCADA case study in managing multiple interests and adapting to loss of storage -- Training SCADA operators with real-time simulation -- Demonstration of gate control with SCADA system in Lower Rio Grande Valley, in Texas -- Incorporating sharp-crested weirs into irrigation SCADA systems
Selected Issues of Design and Implementation od Decision Support Systems
The paper presents selected issues related to design and implementation of model based Decision Support Systems (DSS). For over ten years the SDS Program has been involved in cooperation with various projects at IIASA and in collaborating research institutes. This cooperation has resulted in the development of many DSS, which in turn stimulated research on the theory and methodology of decision analysis. An overview of selected DDS developed within the cooperation with IIASA is presented. Different concepts of DSS are briefly discussed and one specific type of DSS, namely model based, aspiration-led DSS is characterized. Finally, selected problems of designing and implementation of a DSS are discussed in more detail. A short description of software packages developed within the cooperation with the MDA Project is provided. The paper also gives a short summary of recent activities of the Methodology of Decision Analysis Project and of the DSS software available from the MDA Project
Reinforcement Learning
Brains rule the world, and brain-like computation is increasingly used in computers and electronic devices. Brain-like computation is about processing and interpreting data or directly putting forward and performing actions. Learning is a very important aspect. This book is on reinforcement learning which involves performing actions to achieve a goal. The first 11 chapters of this book describe and extend the scope of reinforcement learning. The remaining 11 chapters show that there is already wide usage in numerous fields. Reinforcement learning can tackle control tasks that are too complex for traditional, hand-designed, non-learning controllers. As learning computers can deal with technical complexities, the tasks of human operators remain to specify goals on increasingly higher levels. This book shows that reinforcement learning is a very dynamic area in terms of theory and applications and it shall stimulate and encourage new research in this field
- …