Simulation of crisis affecting critical infrastructures and industrial plants

This paper proposes a model for reproducing human behaviors and it is devoted to evaluate the operation performance in case of crisis with special attention to cases involving multiple actors such as fire-fighters, police, ambulances, civil protection and national reserve. The paper present the general scheme and the data structure used to conduct experiments related to cases of flooding and hazardous material spills in industrial and urban areas

SIMULATION AS DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR DISASTER PREVENTION

This paper describes the overall architecture of a simulator developed by Simulation Team and Genova University to address the problem of strategic decision making related to prevention and mitigation of natural disasters risks. The proposed approach combines a Decision Support System for supporting decision makers in strategic planning with interoperable simulation and serious games. The scenario used for the validation in this case focuses with a particular attention on hydrogeology and related risks within urban environments. The authors propose a multilevel and multi resolution simulation able to match the models of the flooding with that one of the population reproducing interest groups as well as single people. Indeed the population is simulated by intelligent agents (IAs) that include physiological, social and psychological parameters reproducing feelings and emotions that allow them to live and move inside the virtual city both in normal conditions as well as during the disasters. In facts in normal conditions works devoted to serve as preventive actions devoted to prevent certain events and or mitigate their impact are carried out; vice versa during the crisis, decisions change addressing the identification of convenient operational planning and/or evacuation site. Each time, an action is undertaken by the decision makers, the IAs react dynamically by changing their feelings and their political consensus, so it becomes possible to plan the actions in an effective way by maintaining the consensus and support of the population

HYPERBARIC PLANT SIMULATION FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

Several industrials sectors require to extend underwater capabilities by adopting alternative and multiple solutions both involving human divers as well as robotic technologies such as ROVs & AUVs. In general the main mandate is to improve performance reducing costs and risks. On the other side, new technologies and advancements are enabling to further develop the potential of the above mentioned solutions; for instance the authors propose a new generation of computer based Hyperbaric Plant Simulators that are pretty promising for improving training & education without rising costs of underwater man based operations. This paper proposes an innovative approach in M&S for the Hyperbaric Life Support Supervisors (LSS) as well as other operators active into diving activities

AGILE SOLUTIONS & DATA ANALITICS FOR LOGISTICS PROVIDERS BASED ON SIMULATION

The current advances are enabling the development of new solutions in data analytics and decision making in many fields; it is quite interesting to analyze the impact of this approach on logistics providers; this paper proposes examples of these challenges in this context as well as an example of a simulation based solution able to interconnect the different information sources and to fuse the data in order to analyze the logistics processes and support decisions. The proposed solution is based on web services and web application that are adopting the MSaaS concept (Modeling & Simulation as a Service) by using stochastic models

DESIGN OF CRUCIAL ELEMENTS FOR INDUSTRIAL PLANTS, OFFSHORE PLATFORMS AND UNDERWATER FACILITIES

The paper proposes some specific models to be used in design of crucial elements for Industrial Plants that previously were not easy to be addressed by simulation due their functional complexity. As examples of these kinds of elements are proposed autonomous systems for fire fighting and/or emergencies for on-shore and off shore plants as well as equipment for underwater operations. The paper proposes use of MS2G Simulation Paradigm (Modeling, interoperable Simulation and Serious Games) as solution in these specific cases to test concepts and capabilities

SIMULATION OF AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS COLLABORATING IN INDUSTRIAL PLANTS FOR MULTIPLE TASKS

The autonomous systems are continuously extending their application fields and current advances in sensors and controls are enabling the possibility to operate also inside buildings and industrial plants. These new capabilities introduce challenges to be addressed in order to carry out new tasks and missions. This paper proposes advances in Modeling, interoperable Simulation and Serious Games devoted to support researches supporting autonomous system operations within Industrial Facilities

Intelligent agents & interoperable simulation for strategic decision making on multicoalition joint operations

This paper proposes an innovative interoperable federation developed for addressing strategic decision making on multi-coalition operations. The proposed architecture integrates several different simulators in HLA and is open to be operated in different modes from stand alone basic installation to fully integrated with entity based simulations. The simulator uses Intelligent Agents, to reproduce human behavior and human factors, as well as discrete event simulation paradigm into virtual and constructive environments. The paper describes the models as well as the approach to address this problem; some experimental results related a realistic scenario are proposed as well as the different a solutions adopted to support Commander engagement in using this kind of simulation

Autonomous systems for operations in critical environments

This paper proposes an environment devoted to simulate the use of autonomous systems in the context of space exploratory missions and operations; this research focuses on supporting engineering of autonomous systems and of their innovative artificial intelligences through interoperable simulation. The proposed approach enables also development of training and educational solutions for use of robots and autonomous systems in space critical environments. The paper addresses different application areas including robotic inventory and warehouse solutions, intelligent space guard systems, drones for supporting extravehicular activities and for managing accidents and health emergencies. The paper investigates the potential of autonomous systems as well as their capability to interoperate with other systems and with humans, especially in critical environments. Finally, the paper presents the existing researches for interoperable simulators devoted to address these challenging topics within Simulation Exploratory Experience initiative

Disasters and emergency management in chemical and industrial plants: Drones simulation for education and training

The use of simulation for training is proven to be extremely effective both in term of costs and in term of its flexibility for different uses and applications, such as building situation awareness and creating scenarios for training scopes. The aim of the project proposed is to demonstrate the powerful rule of simulation in UAV pilots\u2019 cooperative training; the project presented makes use of a 3D simulation environment in order to build a realistic condition of an emergency situation in a chemical plant for the first responders. The model proposed makes use of HLA (High Level Architecture) standards in order to be potentially federated with other existing simulators. In the solution proposed, the pilot of the drone must accomplish the mission in a given time piloting a UAV; the scenario is based inside a chemical plant where a disaster is newly occurred. Then ability of the pilot is measured by the system and several constraints are reproduced to provide a realistic training scenario (such as small spaces and barriers to overcome, battery durations, risks of damages due to high temperatures zones, etc.); the system records and tracks all the actions of the pilot and gives a feedback to the user at the end of the simulation time

WEARABLE MIXED REALITY SOLUTIONS FOR INDUSTRIAL PLANTS AND PRODUCTION LINES

In the present research project, the authors developed wearable and portable solutions capable to improve safety in production lines by taking advantages of availability of exhaustive and reliable data in modern industrial plants. Indeed, the synergy between Industry 4.0 and cutting edge devices, such as smartphones and headsets for Mixed Reality demonstrated to be potentially used to assist personnel on the shop floor, especially during critical and most dangerous operations. In this paper it is presented an ongoing project devoted to develop such support systems and to evaluate their efficiency in multiple industrial environments