Computer automated multi-paradigm modelling for analysis and design of traffic networks

Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. H. Vangheluwe, and J. de Lara, "Computer automated multi-paradigm modelling for analysis and design of traffic networks", Proceedings of the 2004 Winter Simulation Conference, 2004, Volumen 1, Heidelberg, Germany, 2004Computer automated multiparadigm modelling (CAMPaM) is an enabler for domain-specific analysis and design. Traffic, a new untimed visual formalism for vehicle traffic networks, is introduced. The syntax of traffic models is meta-modelled in the entity-relationship diagrams formalism. From this, augmented with concrete syntax information, a visual modelling environment is synthesized using our CAMPaM tool AToM3, a tool for multiformalism and meta-modelling. The semantics of the traffic formalism is subsequently modelled by mapping traffic models onto Petri net models. As models' abstract syntax is graph-like, graph rewriting can be used to transform models. The advantages of a domain-specific formalism such as traffic as opposed to a generic formalism such as Petri nets are presented. We demonstrate how mapping onto Petri nets allows one to employ the vast array of Petri net analysis techniques. A coverability graph is generated and conservation analysis is automated by transforming this graph into an integer linear programming specificationJuan de Lara’s work has been partially sponsored by the Spanish Interdepartmental Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT), project number TIC2002-01948. Hans Vangheluwe gratefully acknowledges partial support for this work by a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Individual Research Grant. The authors wish to thank Ms. Sokhom Pheng for her work on the Petri Net conservation analysis during her “Modelling and Simulation Based Design” project at McGill Universit

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Nowadays, universities and companies have a huge need for simulation and modelling methodologies. In the particular case of traffic and transportation, making physical modifications to the real traffic networks could be highly expensive, dependent on political decisions and could be highly disruptive to the environment. However, while studying a specific domain or problem, analysing a problem through simulation may not be trivial and may need several simulation tools, hence raising interoperability issues. To overcome these problems, we propose an agent-directed transportation simulation platform, through the cloud, by means of services. We intend to use the IEEE standard HLA (High Level Architecture) for simulators interoperability and agents for controlling and coordination. Our motivations are to allow multiresolution analysis of complex domains, to allow experts to collaborate on the analysis of a common problem and to allow co-simulation and synergy of different application domains. This paper will start by presenting some preliminary background concepts to help better understand the scope of this work. After that, the results of a literature review is shown. Finally, the general architecture of a transportation simulation platform is proposed

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From Social Simulation to Integrative System Design

As the recent financial crisis showed, today there is a strong need to gain "ecological perspective" of all relevant interactions in socio-economic-techno-environmental systems. For this, we suggested to set-up a network of Centers for integrative systems design, which shall be able to run all potentially relevant scenarios, identify causality chains, explore feedback and cascading effects for a number of model variants, and determine the reliability of their implications (given the validity of the underlying models). They will be able to detect possible negative side effect of policy decisions, before they occur. The Centers belonging to this network of Integrative Systems Design Centers would be focused on a particular field, but they would be part of an attempt to eventually cover all relevant areas of society and economy and integrate them within a "Living Earth Simulator". The results of all research activities of such Centers would be turned into informative input for political Decision Arenas. For example, Crisis Observatories (for financial instabilities, shortages of resources, environmental change, conflict, spreading of diseases, etc.) would be connected with such Decision Arenas for the purpose of visualization, in order to make complex interdependencies understandable to scientists, decision-makers, and the general public.Comment: 34 pages, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

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The Ordnance Survey, the National Mapping Agency (NMA) for Great Britain, has recently begun to research the possible extension of its 2-dimensional geographic information into a multi-dimensional environment. Such a move creates a number of data creation and storage issues which the NMA must consider. Many of these issues are highly relevant to all NMA’s and their customers alike, and are presented and explored here. This paper offers a discussion of initial considerations which NMA’s face in the creation of multi-dimensional datasets. Such issues include assessing which objects should be mapped in 3 dimensions by a National Mapping Agency, what should be sensibly represented dynamically, and whether resolution of multi-dimensional models should change over space. This paper also offers some preliminary suggestions for the optimal creation method for any future enhanced national height model for the Ordnance Survey. This discussion includes examples of problem areas and issues in both the extraction of 3-D data and in the topological reconstruction of such. 3-D feature extraction is not a new problem. However, the degree of automation which may be achieved and the suitability of current techniques for NMA’s remains a largely unchartered research area, which this research aims to tackle. The issues presented in this paper require immediate research, and if solved adequately would mark a cartographic paradigm shift in the communication of geographic information – and could signify the beginning of the way in which NMA’s both present and interact with their customers in the future