MONALISA 2.0 and the sea traffic management - a concept creating the need for new maritime information standards and software solutions

Postprint (published version

Exitus: An Agent-Based Evacuation Simulation Model For Heterogeneous Populations

Evacuation planning for private-sector organizations is an important consideration given the continuing occurrence of both natural and human-caused disasters that inordinately affect them. Unfortunately, the traditional management approach that is focused on fire drills presents several practical challenges at the scale required for many organizations but especially those responsible for national critical infrastructure assets such as airports and sports arenas. In this research we developed Exitus, a comprehensive decision support system that may be used to simulate large-scale evacuations of such structures. The system is unique because it considers individuals with disabilities explicitly in terms of physical and psychological attributes. It is also capable of classifying the environment in terms of accessibility characteristics encompassing various conditions that have been shown to have a disproportionate effect upon the behavior of individuals with disabilities during an emergency. The system was applied to three unique test beds: a multi-story office building, an international airport, and a major sports arena. Several simulation experiments revealed specific areas of concern for both building managers and management practice in general. In particular, we were able to show (a) how long evacuations of heterogeneous populations may be expected to last, (b) who the most vulnerable groups of people are, (c) the risk engendered from particular design features for individuals with disabilities, and (d) the potential benefits from adopting alternate evacuation strategies, among others. Considered together, the findings provide a useful foundation for the development of best practices and policies addressing the evacuation concerns surrounding heterogeneous populations in large, complex environments. Ultimately, a capabilities based approach featuring both tactical and strategic planning with an eye toward the unique problems presented by individuals with disabilities is recommended

Development in building fire detection and evacuation system-a comprehensive review

Fire is both beneficial to man and his environment as well as destructive and deadly among all the natural disasters. A fire Accident occurs very rarely, but once it crops up its consequences will be devastating. The early detection of fire will help to avoid further consequences and saves the life of people. During the fire accidents, it is also important to guide people within the building to exit safely. Because of this, the paper gives a review of literature related to recent advancements in building fire detection and emergency evacuation system. It is intended to provide details about fire simulation tools with features, suitable hardware, communication methods, and effective user interface

A Comprehensive Framework for Fire Evacuation Modelling

Strategic planning for the evacuation of occupants from buildings becomes crucial during disaster response operations, especially in the context of fire emergencies that pose a direct threat to human lives. This study addresses the specific challenges associated with fire evacuation in smart buildings within the Internet of Things environment. Despite their enhanced connectivity and accessibility, these buildings are still vulnerable to crises; therefore, efficient and swift occupant evacuation planning is necessary. Developing a successful evacuation plan for these situations calls for in-depth knowledge of smart building characteristics, evacuation factors, and skilful modelling. In order to overcome this problem, the research proposed a metamodel approach that serves as a modelling grammar and syntax for systematic design. The metamodel is constructed based on common evacuation model terminology and fire emergency variables. Through the use of a graphical editor and model transformation, the metamodel undergoes validation using a model-checking technique. In abstract modelling, this validation technique provides crucial insights into the accuracy and completeness of the metamodel in enhancing the resilience of smart building evacuation systems

A Macroscopic Validation of the Evacuation Simulation Prediction Tool on Highway Travel Times

The purpose of this applied research study was to test the sensitivity of the Evacuation Simulation Prediction (ESP) tool in predicting travel time during high volume traffic periods. The discrete event-based simulation tool was designed to aid local evacuation planning contingencies. Research of the Florida Department of Transportation traffic count data demonstrated parallel trends in rush hour volume versus hurricane evacuation volume. A model validation was designed to test if the model closely predicted high volume travel on a major interstate. For this macroscopic sensitivity test, volume, travel time and speed were collected to examine the baseline predictability under crash and non-crash, high volume travel periods. The comparative field data included collection during the 2006 Volusia County wildfire evacuations. The tool demonstrated a highly predictive fit; the variance accounted for (r2) was 0.993. The results of this study will be useful in the continued calibration and ESP tool validation

Application of a Blockchain Enabled Model in Disaster Aids Supply Network Resilience

The disaster area is a dynamic environment. The bottleneck in distributing the supplies may be from the damaged infrastructure or the unavailability of accurate information about the required amounts. The success of the disaster response network is based on collaboration, coordination, sovereignty, and equality in relief distribution. Therefore, a reliable dynamic communication system is required to facilitate the interactions, enhance the knowledge for the relief operation, prioritize, and coordinate the goods distribution. One of the promising innovative technologies is blockchain technology which enables transparent, secure, and real-time information exchange and automation through smart contracts. This study analyzes the application of blockchain technology on disaster management resilience. The influences of this most promising application on the disaster aid supply network resilience combined with the Internet of Things (IoT) and Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS) algorithm are explored employing a network-based simulation. The theoretical analysis reveals an advancement in disaster-aids supply network strategies using smart contracts for collaborations. The simulation study indicates an enhance in resilience by improvement in collaboration and communication due to more time-efficient processing for disaster supply management. From the investigations, insights have been derived for researchers in the field and the managers interested in practical implementation

Augmented reality for pedestrian evacuation research: Promises and limitations

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e-Sanctuary: open multi-physics framework for modelling wildfire urban evacuation

The number of evacuees worldwide during wildfire keep rising, year after year. Fire evacuations at the wildland-urban interfaces (WUI) pose a serious challenge to fire and emergency services and are a global issue affecting thousands of communities around the world. But to date, there is a lack of comprehensive tools able to inform, train or aid the evacuation response and the decision making in case of wildfire. The present work describes a novel framework for modelling wildfire urban evacuations. The framework is based on multi-physics simulations that can quantify the evacuation performance. The work argues that an integrated approached requires considering and integrating all three important components of WUI evacuation, namely: fire spread, pedestrian movement, and traffic movement. The report includes a systematic review of each model component, and the key features needed for the integration into a comprehensive toolkit