EFRI ARES-CI Embedded Distributed Simulation for Transportation System Management

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PI: Hunter, Michael P.Institution: Georgia Institute of TechnologyProposal Number: 0735991EFRI ARES-CI Embedded Distributed Simulation for Transportation System ManagementUnexpected events ranging from traffic accidents on freeways to major catastrophes such as hurricanes or man-made disasters require sophisticated system reconfiguration processes. The complexity of such systems mandates the exploitation of sophisticated on-line decision support tools to effectively manage major crises. This project addresses research challenges concerning the effective realization of autonomously reconfigurable engineering systems enabled by cyberinfrasturcture. The research is applied to the management of surface transportation systems. The research explores a new, potentially transformative approach to real-time system simulation and system management, namely, ad-hoc distributed simulations incorporating real-time information rapidly producing reliable forecasts of future system states for use in system management and optimization. Ad-hoc distributed simulations feature dynamic collections of autonomous simulators interacting with each other and real-time data in a continuously running real-time distributed simulation environment. They combine concepts from two traditionally separate domains: distributed simulation and output analysis of replicate simulation runs. Computational research focuses on the underlying theory and algorithms necessary to create effective ad hoc distributed simulations, considering paradigms with and without roadside infrastructure. Analytical research focuses on on-line statistical methods to process data collected from the environment as well as adaptive learning techniques to calibrate simulation predictions in real-time. Experimental research focuses on aspects concerning the engineering of ad-hoc distributed simulation systems and will deploy a prototype system on instrumented vehicles and wireless enabled roadside computers.This research into the surface transportation arena has the potential to lead to better tools and techniques for the study, analysis, and mitigation of system weaknesses, decision support tools for better emergency response planning, and visualizations offering better situational awareness during emergencies. The ad-hoc distributed simulation concept also has broad applicability to a wide variety of systems in addition to transportation, such as manufacturing and supply chain management. Educational outreach activities will increase participation of underrepresented groups in engineering and computing by involving one or two teachers in the project each summer and hosting minority undergraduate students as interns. The investigators will also incorporate research activities and results in graduate-level curriculum and the statistical advancements will be incorporated into a Ph.D.-level simulation course.