Project Number:
08-04
Research Project:
Integrated Modeling and Simulation Framework for Freight Transportation in Metropolitan Areas
P.I. Name & Address:
Viktor Prasanna
University of Southern California
Department of Electrical Engineering
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2562
Email: prasanna@usc.edu
Website: http://ceng.usc.edu/~prasanna/contact.php
Phone: (213) 740-4483
Fax: (213) 821-4418
Co-P.I.:
Amol Bakshi
University of Southern California
Department of Electrical Engineering
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2562
Email: amol@usc.edu
Website: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~abakshi/
Phone: (213) 821-2930
Fax: (213) 821-4418
Project Objective:
Globalization, international trade and economic developments let to an increasing with time volume of freight flows by all transport modes. Freight traffic at ports, airports, rail yards, warehouse/distribution nodes contributes to congestion, environmental pollution, and traffic accidents and puts tremendous pressure on Metropolitan areas to deal with such issues. Economic forecasts are unanimous in predicting the need for additional capacity in order to keep pace with rising demand. Adding capacity by following the traditional way of building new infrastructure is no longer as feasible as it used to be especially in Metropolitan areas where the scarcity and cost of land are obstacles difficult to overcome.
Advances in information technology, telecommunications, data management and computation tools, together with recent research in systems optimization and control, makes possible new approaches to the freight transportation problem. A prerequisite for proposing any solution that would make the existing freight transportation system more efficient - especially in complex environments such as in a Metropolitan area - is a careful and accurate analysis and understanding of freight movements. This by itself is a very challenging problem due to the presence of multiple modes of transportation which interact and affect each other in a complex manner which cannot be captured by a single mathematical or simulation model. What is needed is a large simulation environment where all modes of freight transportation can be modeled together with their interactions, data can be collected and processed in real time, new approaches can be tested and evaluated, the impact of predicted future demands can be analyzed, etc.
In this study we propose to develop such a software environment for the Metropolitan area of Los Angeles with emphasis on the area that includes the two major ports and the adjacent highway and rail network(s).
Given that the development of a full simulation environment is a multi year project, the emphasis of this project would be to set up the structure of this simulation environment where researchers developing different models, optimization and control algorithms, data analysis algorithms, etc., would be able to insert their modules into this overall simulation environment with little effort and without disturbing neighboring modules and algorithms. Therefore our simulation environment system for freight transportation will be an evolving machine allowing additions, improvements, changes on a modular basis while maintaining the integrated nature of the overall system.
We plan to demonstrate our system by integrating existing models developed by METRANS researchers such as: (i) the train model by Dr Dessouky, (ii) terminal and traffic network models by Dr Ioannou and Dr Chassiakos, (iii) terminal cost model by Dr Ioannou and others. In addition we plan to use real traffic data from the roadway network adjacent to the Los Angeles/Long Beach ports and demonstrate how such incoming data can be processed (filtering, vehicle classification, etc.) within our simulation environment to generate inputs for use by other modules. In our effort we plan to interact with other METRANS researchers as well as researchers in the field and Caltrans in an effort to establish our simulation environment as the core of a test bed for studying freight transportation in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area.
Task Descriptions:
Task 1.1 Scoping and framing: Identify the simulation/optimization models, tools and data sources to be integrated, investigate and document the interface issues and other ‘special requirements’ for integration. These will include models developed by METRANS researchers such as the train model of Dr. Dessouky, the traffic network based on VISSIM and terminal model by Dr Ioannou and Chassiakos as well as the terminal cost model developed by Dr Ioannou's group and others to be identified.
(Months 1-3)
Task 1.2 Metamodel definition (assets and scenarios): Define the modeling paradigm in consultation with domain experts, create a prototype meta model using MetaGME, generate a visual 9 modeling environment, test, and debug, obtain feedback from end users and refine the metamodel accordingly.
(Months 1-3)
Task 1.3 Service interface definition: Create web service interface definitions for each tool and data source to be integrated. Implement the web service wrappers for each tool.
(Months 4-6)
Task 1.4 Workflow management: Create the software agents (GME model interpreters) to configure the system-wide simulation from the scenario definition in GME. Investigate workflow management technologies.
(Months 7-9)
Task 1.5 Data Aggregation: Identify, design, implement, and test software modules for aggregating the variety of output data produced by simulators; store the aggregated results back into the model database for visualization.
(Months 7-9)
Task 1.6 Demonstration using Freight Transportation Scenarios: Use several freight transportation scenarios to demonstrate the use of the simulation environment in the Metropolitan Los Angeles area adjacent to the two major ports. This may include the gate appointment system, empty container reuse strategies, traffic flow control algorithms etc.
(Months 8-11)
Milestones, Dates:
September 1, 2007 – August 31, 2008
Total Budget:
$89,999
Student Involvement:
One student at 100% for 12 months
One student at 50% for 9 months
Relationship to Other Research Projects:
Related to 07-19; part of the goods movement focus area
Technology Transfer Activities:
Project report will be posted soon
Potential Benefits of the Project:
This software will allow for a simulation environment in which all freight transportation modes can be modeled together.
TRB Keywords:
Freight, Goods Movement, Truck, Rail, Simulation Model, Infrastructure, Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach
