Rensselear Researchers Unveil Prototype Disaster Management Simulator

Engineers and scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are working to develop powerful new decision-making and data visualization tools for emergency management. These tools aim to help law enforcement, health officials, water and electric utilities, and others to collaboratively and effectively respond to disasters.

The interdisciplinary research project is a collaboration between William “Al” Wallace ’61, the Yamada Corporation Professor at Rensselaer, and a member of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE); Barbara Cutler, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science; and David Mendonça ’01, associate professor in ISE. All three faculty members will present today.

“Just as disaster response is a collaboration between many different agencies and decision makers, a project of this scope and ambition requires the expertise of faculty and students from different disciplines,” said Wallace, who has a joint appointment in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “We are delighted to share our progress with our friends and partners at federal, state, and other agencies. Their feedback, comments, and suggestions are vital to the progress and success of our research.”

This new technology combines Wallace’s world-leading expertise in infrastructure systems, Cutler’s research on augmented reality and data visualization, and Mendonça’s research on improvisation and decision making in unique disaster and emergency situations. The prototype features a map of a disaster area projected onto the movie theater-sized screen, with overlays detailing the location of hospitals, power plants, temporary shelters, and many other key landmarks, infrastructure, and critical data. Due to the complexity and interconnectedness of these infrastructure systems and data, responding organizations must collaborate to be effective. The researchers’ new system enables emergency officials from different backgrounds and different agencies to interact with the data collaboratively and at the same time.

The researchers are also developing ways to use this kind of environment to better study decision making. For a variety of reasons, it is rare for researchers to have an opportunity to observe the work of emergency response managers and responding organizations during an actual disaster. So the new technology is able to simulate emergency situations using data from past disasters and other simulations techniques.

Funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Coastal Hazards Center of Excellence, as well as a Seed Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research at Rensselaer, this project is expected to advance basic knowledge of sources of resilience—or “bounce back”—in infrastructure systems, and to produce tools and technologies for leveraging these sources.

Wallace will present on his work developing a web-enabled, open-source decision technology platform named MUNICIPAL, which is based on emergency response and restoration activities and data from a New Hanover County, N.C., hurricane situation. This project looks at different independently managed systems—such as power, water, communications, transportation, and hospitals—from a 30,000-foot perspective in order to map out and better understand the interdependencies among the varied infrastructure systems.

Wallace’s MUNICIPAL software helps emergency response officials identify these interdependencies ahead of time, and plan accordingly. The software also enables officials to input data about a particular storm or hurricane, in order to forecast how much damage will be wrought by the extreme weather.

Featured

  • Mall of America Deploys AI-Powered Analytics to Enhance Parking Intelligence

    Mall of America®, the largest shopping and entertainment complex in North America, announced an expansion of its ongoing partnership with Axis Communications to deploy cutting-edge car-counting video analytics across more than a dozen locations. With this expansion, Mall of America (MOA) has boosted operational efficiency, improved safety and security, and enabled more informed decision-making around employee scheduling and streamlining transportation for large events. Read Now

  • Security Industry Association Launches New “askSIA” AI Tool

    The Security Industry Association (SIA) has unveiled a brand-new SIA member benefit – askSIA, a conversational AI agent designed to help users get the most out of their SIA membership, easily access SIA resources and find the latest information on SIA’s training and courses, reports and publications, events, certification offerings and more. SIA members can easily find askSIA by visiting the SIA homepage or looking for the askSIA icon in the top left of webpages. Read Now

    • Industry Events
  • Industry Embraces Mobile Access, Biometrics and AI

    A combination of evolving workplace dynamics, technology innovation and new user expectations is changing how people enter and interact with physical spaces. Access control is at the heart of these changes. Combined with biometrics and AI, mobile access control has become increasingly crucial for deploying entry solutions that are seamless, secure and adaptive to user needs. Read Now

  • Sustainable Video Solution Delivered for Landmark City of London Office Development

    An advanced, end-to-end video solution from IDIS, with a focus on reducing waste and costs, has helped a major office development in the City of London align its security with sustainability objectives. Read Now

  • DHS to End ‘Shoes-Off’ Travel Policy

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced a new policy today which will allow passengers traveling through domestic airports to keep their shoes on while passing through security screening at TSA checkpoints. Read Now

New Products

  • Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems, an industry-leading manufacturer of pedestrian and vehicle secure entrance control access systems, is pleased to announce the release of its groundbreaking V07 software. The V07 software update is designed specifically to address cybersecurity concerns and will ensure the integrity and confidentiality of Automatic Systems applications. With the new V07 software, updates will be delivered by means of an encrypted file.

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.