Regional Data Archiving and Management for Northeast Illinois

This project studies the feasibility and implementation options for establishing a regional data archiving system to help monitor and manage traffic operations and planning for the northeastern Illinois region. It aims to provide a clear guidance to the regional transportation agencies, from both technical and business perspectives, about building such a comprehensive transportation information system. Several implementation alternatives are identified and analyzed. This research is carried out in three phases. In the first phase, existing documents related to ITS deployments in the broader Chicago area are summarized, and a thorough review is conducted of similar systems across the country. Various stakeholders are interviewed to collect information on all data elements that they store, including the format, system, and granularity. Their perception of a data archive system, such as potential benefits and costs, is also surveyed. In the second phase, a conceptual design of the database is developed. This conceptual design includes system architecture, functional modules, user interfaces, and examples of usage. In the last phase, the possible business models for the archive system to sustain itself are reviewed. We estimate initial capital and recurring operational/maintenance costs for the system based on realistic information on the hardware, software, labor, and resource requirements. We also identify possible revenue opportunities. A few implementation options for the archive system are summarized in this report; namely: 1. System hosted by a partnering agency 2. System contracted to a university 3. System contracted to a national laboratory 4. System outsourced to a service provider The costs, advantages and disadvantages for each of these recommended options are also provided.ICT-R27-22published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Gestión inteligente de sistemas de distribución de agua

The United Nations predicts that the world's population in 2050 will reach 9.7 billion people. This exponential growth will mean an increase in the global demand for water available for human consumption. In addition, the advance of climate change is causing the occurrence of more frequent droughts, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. Indirectly, this means an increase in the costs associated with water transport and purification, as water must be drawn from sources that are increasingly distant from the points of consumption and the quality is getting worse. The traditional management of urban water supply is changing towards a more sustainable model aimed at an efficient use of resources (water, energy, labour) that not only reduces management costs but is also more environmentally friendly. This transformation is taking place due to the development of other transversal disciplines (cloud computing, communication systems, Big Data, electronics, etc.) applied to many fields of science, which applied to water management, can bring considerable benefits. Furthermore, to achieve intelligent management of a water supply network, it is necessary to rely on current tools that provide objective knowledge of the system. For example, geographic information systems (GIS) together with hydraulic models serve as a georeferenced database where the behaviour of any hydraulic network in different scenarios can be simulated. The Internet of Things (IoT) allows the connection of a network of sensors to know the main hydraulic variables at any time, providing key information for hydraulic models to faithfully reproduce the behaviour of modelled systems in real time. Digitalisation itself favours the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to convert traditional management into smart management. For these reasons, new studies are needed to assess the potential and applicability of these new tools. This thesis is organised in 6 chapters focused on the development and application of a decision support system that allow the manager of a water supply network to make decisions based on data recorded on real-time. All the tools developed throughout this thesis have been tested in a real water supply network located in the south of Spain, managed by the Provincial Water Company of Cordoba (EMPROACSA). Chapter 1 shows the trajectory of urban supply management: explaining the starting point and where it is expected to achieve. Then, Chapter 2 describes the main objective and the specific objectives of this thesis, as well as the structure of this document. Chapter 3 presents a methodology that serves as a basis for starting the digitisation process in water supply networks. The system developed is based on three pillars: the geographic information system, the hydraulic model, and the application for mobile devices. The geographic information system provides a georeferenced database of the infrastructures that compose the hydraulic network; the hydraulic model simulates the response of the network to different operation scenarios; and finally, the mobile application facilitates the feedback of the system to keep it always up to date with changes in the systems. One of the distinguishing features of this work is the use of free software (Qgis, Epanet and Google My Maps) in all stages, which fosters digitisation in supply companies with a low budget. Chapter 4 develops an early warning system based on water pressure monitoring. The communication node developed ad-hoc for this work, sends water pressure data to the cloud, where users can visualise them with a device with an internet connection. Among its advantages are its low cost, it allows the use of different communication systems and has a high autonomy powered by batteries, which makes it well adapted to supply systems. The proposed monitoring system detects failures in the network due to pressure drops, alerting managers of the affected zone. Chapter 5 explains the decision support tool developed to deal with failures in water transmission networks. The web platform that supports this tool is divided into 3 independent modules: fault detection, alerts, and fault repair. The first module is responsible for detecting, geolocating and classifying faults in the hydraulic network using the information recorded in real time by the pressure monitoring system described in the previous chapter. The second module is responsible for sending alerts selectively to the workers in the area of the failure. Finally, the third module estimates, applying the hydraulic model, the maximum time that the manager has to fix failures, avoiding supply cuts using the water stored in regulation tanks when the failure occurs. The fault detection and classification module has demonstrated a 95% accuracy when applied to a real case. Chapter 6 contains the general conclusions of the thesis, as well as possible lines of future work. In summarise, water management is experiencing a paradigm shift. This transformation requires sufficiently mature technologies to ensure good results. Therefore, studies are needed that not only advance towards smart management, but also evaluate the tools available now and their integration into the current management model. This thesis presents a decision support system applied to supply networks, which help managers to make decisions based on objective information, not on intuition or experience. The use of open-source software and hardware in all the developments of this thesis must be emphasised. This specific feature allows the adoption of the methodologies proposed by water companies, regardless of size or financial resources, enabling the whole system or only part of it to be adapted to the operation of the company.Las Naciones Unidas prevén que la población mundial en 2050 alcanzará los 9.700 millones de personas. Este crecimiento exponencial supondrá un aumento de la demanda global de agua disponible para el consumo humano. Además, el avance del cambio climático está provocando la aparición de sequías más frecuentes, especialmente en las zonas áridas y semiáridas. Indirectamente, esto supone un aumento de los costes asociados al transporte y la depuración del agua, ya que hay que extraerla de fuentes cada vez más alejadas de los puntos de consumo y la calidad es cada vez peor. La gestión tradicional del abastecimiento de agua en las ciudades está cambiando hacia un modelo más sostenible orientado a un uso eficiente de los recursos (agua, energía, mano de obra) que además de reducir los costes de gestión, es más respetuoso con el medio ambiente. Esta transformación se está produciendo gracias al desarrollo de otras disciplinas transversales (computación en la nube, sistemas de comunicación, Big Data, electrónica, etc.) aplicadas a diversos campos de la ciencia, que aplicadas a la gestión del agua, pueden aportar considerables beneficios. Además, para conseguir una gestión inteligente de una red de abastecimiento de agua, es necesario apoyarse en herramientas actuales que proporcionen un conocimiento objetivo del sistema. Por ejemplo, los sistemas de información geográfica (SIG) junto con los modelos hidráulicos sirven como base de datos georreferenciada donde se puede simular el comportamiento de cualquier red hidráulica en diferentes escenarios. El Internet de las Cosas (IoT) permite la conexión de una red de sensores para conocer las principales variables hidráulicas en cada momento, aportando información clave para que los modelos hidráulicos reproduzcan fielmente el comportamiento de los sistemas modelizados en tiempo real. La propia digitalización favorece el uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) para convertir la gestión tradicional en una gestión inteligente. Por estas razones, son necesarios nuevos estudios para evaluar el potencial y la aplicabilidad de estas nuevas herramientas. Esta tesis se organiza en 6 capítulos centrados en el desarrollo y aplicación de un sistema de apoyo a la decisión que permita al gestor de una red de abastecimiento de agua tomar decisiones basadas en datos registrados en tiempo real. Todas las herramientas desarrolladas a lo largo de esta tesis han sido probadas en una red real de abastecimiento de agua situada en el sur de España, gestionada por la Empresa Provincial de Aguas de Córdoba (EMPROACSA). El capítulo 1 muestra la trayectoria de la gestión del abastecimiento urbano: explicando el punto de partida y hacia dónde se espera llegar. A continuación, el capítulo 2 describe el objetivo principal y los objetivos específicos de esta tesis, así como la estructura de este documento. El capítulo 3 presenta una metodología que sirve de base para iniciar el proceso de digitalización de las redes de abastecimiento de agua. El sistema desarrollado se basa en tres pilares: el sistema de información geográfica, el modelo hidráulico y la aplicación para dispositivos móviles. El sistema de información geográfica proporciona una base de datos georreferenciada de las infraestructuras que componen la red hidráulica; el modelo hidráulico simula la respuesta de la red ante diferentes escenarios de operación; y, por último, la aplicación móvil facilita la retroalimentación del sistema para mantenerlo siempre actualizado con los cambios en los sistemas. Uno de los rasgos distintivos de este trabajo es el uso de software libre (Qgis, Epanet y Google My Maps) en todas las etapas, lo que favorece la digitalización en empresas de abastecimiento con bajo presupuesto. El capítulo 4 desarrolla un sistema de alerta temprana basado en la monitorización de la presión del agua. El nodo de comunicación desarrollado ad-hoc para este trabajo, envía los datos de la presión del agua a la nube, donde los usuarios pueden visualizarlos con un dispositivo con conexión a internet. Entre sus ventajas están su bajo coste, permite el uso de diferentes sistemas de comunicación y tiene una gran autonomía alimentada por baterías, lo que hace que se adapte bien a los sistemas de abastecimiento. El sistema de monitorización propuesto detecta fallos en la red por caídas de presión, alertando a los gestores de la zona afectada. El capítulo 5 explica la herramienta de apoyo a la toma de decisiones desarrollada para hacer frente a las averías en las redes de abastecimiento en alta. La plataforma web, que soporta esta herramienta, se divide en 3 módulos independientes: detección de averías, alertas y reparación de averías. El primer módulo se encarga de detectar, geolocalizar y clasificar las averías en la red hidráulica a partir de la información registrada en tiempo real por el sistema de monitorización de presiones descrito en el capítulo anterior. El segundo módulo se encarga de enviar alertas de forma selectiva a los trabajadores de la zona de la avería. Por último, el tercer módulo estima, aplicando el modelo hidráulico, el tiempo máximo del que dispone el gestor para solucionar las averías, evitando los cortes de suministro con el agua almacenada en los depósitos de regulación cuando se produce la avería. El módulo de detección y clasificación de averías ha demostrado una precisión del 95% cuando se aplica a un caso real. El capítulo 6 contiene las conclusiones generales de la tesis, así como posibles líneas de trabajo futuras. En resumen, la gestión del agua está experimentando un cambio de paradigma. Esta transformación requiere tecnologías suficientemente maduras para garantizar buenos resultados. Por ello, son necesarios estudios que no sólo avancen hacia una gestión inteligente, sino que evalúen las herramientas disponibles en la actualidad y su integración en el modelo de gestión actual. Esta tesis presenta un sistema de apoyo a la decisión aplicado a las redes de suministro de agua, que ayuda a los gestores a tomar decisiones basadas en información objetiva y no en la intuición o la experiencia. Cabe destacar el uso de software y hardware de código abierto en todos los desarrollos de esta tesis. Esta particularidad permite la adopción de las metodologías propuestas por las empresas de agua, independientemente de su tamaño o recursos financieros, permitiendo adaptar todo el sistema o sólo una parte de él al funcionamiento de la empresa

The case of Ferbritas Cadastre Information System

The processes of mobilization of land for infrastructures of public and private domain are developed according to proper legal frameworks and systematically confronted with the impoverished national situation as regards the cadastral identification and regularization, which leads to big inefficiencies, sometimes with very negative impact to the overall effectiveness. This project report describes Ferbritas Cadastre Information System (FBSIC) project and tools, which in conjunction with other applications, allow managing the entire life-cycle of Land Acquisition and Cadastre, including support to field activities with the integration of information collected in the field, the development of multi-criteria analysis information, monitoring all information in the exploration stage, and the automated generation of outputs. The benefits are evident at the level of operational efficiency, including tools that enable process integration and standardization of procedures, facilitate analysis and quality control and maximize performance in the acquisition, maintenance and management of registration information and expropriation (expropriation projects). Therefore, the implemented system achieves levels of robustness, comprehensiveness, openness, scalability and reliability suitable for a structural platform. The resultant solution, FBSIC, is a fit-for-purpose cadastre information system rooted in the field of railway infrastructures. FBSIC integrating nature of allows: to accomplish present needs and scale to meet future services; to collect, maintain, manage and share all information in one common platform, and transform it into knowledge; to relate with other platforms; to increase accuracy and productivity of business processes related with land property management

National freight transport planning: towards a Strategic Planning Extranet Decision Support System (SPEDSS)

This thesis provides a `proof-of-concept' prototype and a design architecture for a Object Oriented (00) database towards the development of a Decision Support System (DSS) for the national freight transport planning problem. Both governments and industry require a Strategic Planning Extranet Decision Support System (SPEDSS) for their effective management of the national Freight Transport Networks (FTN). This thesis addresses the three key problems for the development of a SPEDSS to facilitate national strategic freight planning: 1) scope and scale of data available and required; 2) scope and scale of existing models; and 3) construction of the software. The research approach taken embodies systems thinking and includes the use of: Object Oriented Analysis and Design (OOA/D) for problem encapsulation and database design; artificial neural network (and proposed rule extraction) for knowledge acquisition of the United States FTN data set; and an iterative Object Oriented (00) software design for the development of a `proof-of-concept' prototype. The research findings demonstrate that an 00 approach along with the use of 00 methodologies and technologies coupled with artificial neural networks (ANNs) offers a robust and flexible methodology for the analysis of the FTN problem domain and the design architecture of an Extranet based SPEDSS. The objectives of this research were to: 1) identify and analyse current problems and proposed solutions facing industry and governments in strategic transportation planning; 2) determine the functional requirements of an FTN SPEDSS; 3) perform a feasibility analysis for building a FTN SPEDSS `proof-of-concept' prototype and (00) database design; 4) develop a methodology for a national `internet-enabled' SPEDSS model and database; 5) construct a `proof-of-concept' prototype for a SPEDSS encapsulating identified user requirements; 6) develop a methodology to resolve the issue of the scale of data and data knowledge acquisition which would act as the `intelligence' within a SPDSS; 7) implement the data methodology using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) towards the validation of it; and 8) make recommendations for national freight transportation strategic planning and further research required to fulfil the needs of governments and industry. This thesis includes: an 00 database design for encapsulation of the FTN; an `internet-enabled' Dynamic Modelling Methodology (DMM) for the virtual modelling of the FTNs; a Unified Modelling Language (UML) `proof-of-concept' prototype; and conclusions and recommendations for further collaborative research are identified

NASA SBIR abstracts of 1990 phase 1 projects

The research objectives of the 280 projects placed under contract in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 1990 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 program are described. The basic document consists of edited, non-proprietary abstracts of the winning proposals submitted by small businesses in response to NASA's 1990 SBIR Phase 1 Program Solicitation. The abstracts are presented under the 15 technical topics within which Phase 1 proposals were solicited. Each project was assigned a sequential identifying number from 001 to 280, in order of its appearance in the body of the report. The document also includes Appendixes to provide additional information about the SBIR program and permit cross-reference in the 1990 Phase 1 projects by company name, location by state, principal investigator, NASA field center responsible for management of each project, and NASA contract number

An intelligent Geographic Information System for design

Recent advances in geographic information systems (GIS) and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been summarised, concentrating on the theoretical aspects of their construction and use. Existing projects combining AI and GIS have also been discussed, with attention paid to the interfacing methods used and problems uncovered by the approaches. AI and GIS have been combined in this research to create an intelligent GIS for design. This has been applied to off-shore pipeline route design. The system was tested using data from a real pipeline design project. [Continues.