Gorilla: An Open Interface for Smart Agents and Real-Time Power Microgrid System Simulations

A recurring issue when studying agent-based algorithms and strategies for Power Microgrid Systems is having to construct an interface between the agent domain and the electrical model domain being simulated. Many different tools exist for such simulations, each with its own special external interface. Although many interfacing efforts have been published before, many of them support only special cases, while others are too complex and require a long learning curve to be used for even simple scenarios. This work presents a simple programming application interface (API) that aims to provide programming access to the electrical system model for any real-time simulation tool, from any agent-based platform, or programming language. The simplicity of the interface stems from the assumption that the simulation happens in real-time and the agent domain is not being simulated. We propose four basic operations for the API: read, write, call, and subscribe/call-back. We tested these by supporting two examples. In one of the examples, we present a creative way to have the model access libraries that are not available in the simulated environment.

Download Full-text

A Real-Time Simulation Tool for Real-Time Control

IFAC Proceedings Volumes ◽

10.1016/s1474-6670(17)44516-2 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 325-329

Author(s):

Wook Hyun Kwon ◽

Ki Baek Kim ◽

Sang Yong Moon ◽

Seong-Gyu Choi ◽

Young Sin Kim

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Simulation Tool ◽

Real Time Control ◽

Real Time Simulation ◽

Time Control ◽

Time Simulation

Download Full-text

Towards real-time human participation in virtual evacuation through a validated simulation tool

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part O Journal of Risk and Reliability ◽

10.1177/1748006x17705046 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 232 (5) ◽

pp. 476-490 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gabriele Montecchiari ◽

Gabriele Bulian ◽

Paolo Gallina

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Real Time ◽

Design Research ◽

Simulation Tool ◽

Immersive Virtual Reality ◽

Social Force ◽

Evacuation Simulation ◽

Batch Mode ◽

Agent Based ◽

Computer Controlled

The analysis of the ship layout from the point of view of safe and orderly evacuation represents an important step in ship design, which can be carried out through agent-based evacuation simulation tools, typically run in batch mode. Introducing the possibility for humans to interactively participate in a simulated evacuation process together with computer-controlled agents can open a series of interesting possibilities for design, research and development. To this aim, this article presents the development of a validated agent-based evacuation simulation tool which allows real-time human participation through immersive virtual reality. The main characteristics of the underlying social-force-based modelling technique are described. The tool is verified and validated by making reference to International Maritime Organization test cases, experimental data and FDS + Evac simulations. The first approach for supporting real-time human participation is then presented. An initial experiment embedding immersive virtual reality human participation is described, together with outcomes regarding comparisons between human-controlled avatars and computer-controlled agents. Results from this initial testing are encouraging in pursuing the use of virtual reality as a tool to obtain information on human behaviour during evacuation.

Download Full-text