General Guidance - Perceptronics Solutions

General Guidance
Looking for Help / Links to this document
You can find links to this document within the DARTWeb user interface. Look for the
or
icons - they are
strategically placed in easily accessible and observable places, like across the top of each user-interface page.
DARTWeb Navigation
The DARTWeb application is web-based user-interface - a series of web pages that run in your browser like most
other web pages. However unlike other web pages, DARTWeb is built with some web-technologies that help give
you a desktop application-like experience. There is no concept of going back/forth via the back/forward buttons of
your browser. Nor is there a concept of refreshing. So, don’t hit the refresh button, this will restart the application!
1.
Logging into the system
To access the DARTWeb web application, the operator must first ensure they have received an authorized
account and password from Perceptronics Solutions. At this time, we are not allowing operators to create an
account without direct assistance from the Perceptronics Solutions Inc. team. Once an account and password
have been secured, the operator may simply log in using the fields shown in the image below.
After clicking the “submit” button, take note of the log-in progress message (see below). When you see this,
DART is preparing a simulation service that will host your simulations. After a few seconds, the message will
disappear and you will be directed to the DART Dashboard, when the DART service is ready for you to use.
Logging into DARTWeb and the Login progress notification
2.
The Dashboard - Configuring a New Simulation
After logging-in, you will be directed to the DARTWeb dashboard. From here, you may now begin the creation of a
new simulation. While there are a variety of other options and content that may be accomplished from the
dashboard, we will focus on creating simulations.
DARTWeb provides a helpful simulation configuration-wizard to guide you through the steps on created a new
simulation. To access the configuration-wizard, click on the lightning-bolt icon, located on left-side toolbar of the
screen, as seen below. Selecting the Configure New Simulation option will begin the configuration process. Also,
take note of the Completed Simulations option - this will be covered later in the guide.
Accessing the Simulation Configuration menu
Once the Configure New Simulation option has been clicked, the Simulation Configuration Wizard will begin.
From here, the operator will determine the parameters that affect how their simulated scenario is run and calculated.
3.
Selecting Distribution Points and Sources of water
The first step of the Simulation Configuration Wizard is the selection of Distribution-points and Water-sources. The
list of available Distribution-points and Water-sources have been selected from a set of reasonable candidates found
in your region. These locations can be easily customized by contacting Perceptronics Solutions. If you have a set of
well-known Distribution Points and Water Sources, contact us to get them included.
Distribution Point and Water Source Configuration
Across the top of page (see red box above), is the wizard progress bar. You can look at this to get a sense of where
you are in the overall simulation configuration process. This will show the current location (marked with a black
arrow), the upcoming steps (marked in gray circles), and completed content (marked by a circle with a green
check). This bar may be used to navigate through the simulation creation process. Forward progress from this bar is
restricted until the operator has clicked the Next button located at the bottom of the screen (see blue boxes above) to
continue to the next section of creation. Once a stage has been accessed, it may be navigated to and from using this
progress bar as well as the Next and Previous buttons.
From the page shown above, the operator may enable/disable specific Distribution-point or Water-source locations
to create a variety of unique simulation configurations. Distribution-point or Water-source locations are
selected/deselected by toggling the on/off buttons. The toggle button will turn green when the location is selected,
and red when deselected.
For both the Distribution-point and Water Source tables, available locations may be filtered using the search bar.
Location names matching the search term will be shown, while other items are hidden from view. Clearing the
search term will reset the table contents.
Distribution Point Table
Distribution-points
A Distribution-point is a location dedicated and configured to putting some kind commodity into the hands of needy
people (i.e. water, food, supplies to people after a disaster). If the Distribution-point supports the local storage of
bulk-water, a water-tower icon (see the blue box in the diagram above) will be shown next to it. The ability to
locally cache water allows your bulk-transports vehicle (bulk-water trucks) to more quickly off-load water, and
return to service other water delivery task. DART factors- in local-water storage and simulates bulk-transports
vehicle behavior accordingly. DART also considers the demand (the desire for some resource or commodity) at a
Distribution-point. Adjusting the demand at a Distribution-point tells DART how to deplete the commodity over
time and how to schedule commodity replacement, letting you realistically model the flow of commodities in and
out of the location. To adjust the demand expected at any given Distribution-point, click the Settings button next to
it (see the red box in the diagram above). This will cause the Demand-schedule dialog to appear:
Distribution Point Type and Demand Scheduler
Using the slider-controls as seen above, a demand value (between 0 and 20 people per minute) can be specified for
every hour of a daily cycle. The Distribution-point’s hours of operation are implied by the demand-schedule:
operation-start is the first hour with a non-zero demand, and operation-end is the last hour with non-zero-demand.
Referring to the demand-schedule dialog above, note there is a slider across the top that reflects the FEMA Type.
This slider allows you to specify one of three standard FEMA configurations:
•
Type III – Provides support for 5,000 people a day, requires a minimum of 150 feet by 300 feet of
space, and a staff of 19 per day and 4 per night to maintain the site.
•
Type II – Serves 10,000 people a day, requires a minimum of 250 feet by 300 feet of space, and a staff
of 34 per day and 6 per night to maintain the site.
•
Type I - Serves 20,000 people a day, requires a minimum of 250 feet by 500 feet of space, and a staff
of 78 per day and 10 per night to maintain the site.
Water-sources
A Water-source is a location that can specifically provide some finite amount of water in either bulk or palleted
form. Bulk water must be transported by bulk-vehicles (i.e. tanker trucks). Palleted water is usually bottled
water that has been arranged in pallets that must be transported by a flatbed-vehicle.
Water Source Table
Referring to the Water-source table above, selection follows the same process as Distribution-points discussed
earlier. Distribution-point locations with truck-icons (see blue box in table above) next to them are bulk-water
sites they can only accept bulk-transportation vehicles. Locations with pallet-icons (see red box in table above)
next to them are palleted site – they can only accept palleted-transportation vehicles.
Whether a Water-source location is bulk or palleted depends on what the site can support. This factors heavily
when the DART simulation selects the type of transport resource to send to the Water-source to pick up water.
For example, if DART is told it only has bulk-transport vehicles at its disposal for simulation purposes, and all
Water-sources required palleted-vehicle (or vis-a-versa), DART will accurately simulate the impossibility of
delivering water. Selecting vehicle resources and their drivers are discussed in the next section.
4.
Selecting Truck and Driver availability
Truck and Driver Availability Selection
When selecting the fleet of available trucks to be used, DARTWeb allows for selection from 4 types of truck. For
each truck, the simulation assumes 2 hours of maintenance be scheduled every 24 hours. The 4 Classes are defined
as follows:
•
Class A – 2,500 Gal capacity, 60 Gal of fuel, 11 MPG, 30,000lb Gross Weight
•
Class B – 4,500 Gal capacity, 100 Gal of fuel, 7 MPG, 55,000lb Gross Weight
•
Class C (Semi Trailer) – 9,100 Gal capacity, 250 Gal of fuel, 5 MPG, 78,000lb Gross Weight with tractor
•
Class D (24 ft flatbed) – 10 Pallet capacity, 145 Gal of fuel, 12 MPG, 28,000lb Gross Weight
Truck Availability Selection
The selection of drivers follows a similar process. Operators may choose from two types of driver, Civilian and
Military. The distinction between the two types is:
•
Civilian drivers require 8 hours of rest every 24 hours
•
Military drivers require 4 hours of rest every 24 hours
Driver Availability Selection
With each of these selected, the various Distribution and Water Source locations will receive simulated allotments of
trucks and drivers. The vehicle and human resource distribution will be calculated to fit the availability profile as
outlined during this step of the process. After the correct resource selections have been made, determination of the
simulated state of the environment of operation will take place.
5.
Determining Environmental Conditions
Environmental variable selection
The first component of the simulation of environmental factors is the selection of the status of road, traffic, and
weather conditions. Each of these variables has 3 discrete states to leverage during simulation. For these factors, the
effect is seen as a global degradation to the simulated region. More specific degradations are explained further in
this document. The 3 factors and the degradation experienced are:
•
•
•
Road Conditions
o
Nominal – No apparent travel time increases are seen on nominal roads
o
Diminished – Travel time on these roads is increased by 25%
o
Damaged – Travel time on these roads increases by 150%
Traffic Conditions
o
Nominal – No apparent travel time increases are seen in nominal traffic
o
Moderate – Travel time to and from locations will increase by 33%
o
Heavy – Travel time to and from locations will increase by 67%
Weather Conditions
o
Nominal – No apparent travel time increases are seen during nominal weather
o
Moderate – Travel time due to restricted visibility will increase by 33%
o
Heavy – Travel time due to severely restricted visibility will increase by 67%
Environmental Factors Selection Table
To change the setting for each condition type, the operator may click on the boxes shown with a red box around
them above. Each click will change the setting states in the order listed on the previous page. All condition types are
set by default to “Nominal”.
Each of these selection values are taken into effect for the transportation of resources to and from all Distribution
Points and Water Sources selected for this simulation. The effect of multiple declined states (Damaged Roads and
Heavy Traffic) is experienced as a multiplied constant. For example, under nominal conditions, the amount of time
it takes to complete a route with each variable “Nominal”, a degradation value of 1 would be applied; all three
variables are operating at full capacity and therefore no increase to distribution time is seen during calculation.
However, if roads have a nominal value, 1.0 (or 100%), weather has a moderate value, 1.333 (or 133.3%), and
traffic is heavy, 1.666 (or 166.6%), therefore we multiply the initial travel time value by 1.0 * 1.333 * 1.666, or by
2.22, so a travel time of 5 experiences an increase of 2.22 and becomes a time of 11.11.
In addition to these settings, the operator may choose to degrade individual roads in the area of operations.
Degrade routes right-click menu and options
The image shown above presents a menu that is accessed by right-clicking on the map interface (shown on the right
half of the environmental parameters stage of simulation creation). The operator may select specific roads to be
given an individual severity of degradation, to extend beyond the Roads, Traffic, and Weather parameters that have
been set.
Operators may choose from, Light (25% degraded throughput), Moderate (50% degraded), Severe (75%), and
Impassable (100%) degradation options. To most clearly view where the degradation will be placed and ensure it is
placed properly, zoom to street level of the specific route intended to be degraded. This will also help to reduce
other map clutter and ensure the proper location of degradation.
Each of these constraints will be calculated during the running of the simulation; however, as the operator creates
degraded routes, the map will show the severity icon over the route. This degradation process will restrict or redirect
the planning algorithms to determine if, and where other possible navigable routes exist for distribution.
6.
Specifying Simulation Timing
The Simulation service is structured to condense many hours or days of simulated scenario time into the space of
minutes or hours of total computation time. This allows the operator to generate a large variety of very specific or a
series of what-if style simulations. These can be leveraged to view a scenario in a fraction of the time it would take
to oversee a real-time representation of the same process.
As this is the case, the selection of simulated hours parameterizes the extent to which water will be needed, and can
help to calculate total water needs given the series of constraints applied during the initial stages of the Simulation
creation. Operators may run up to a simulated 700 hours of operation time. This is particularly beneficial if the
scenario being considered is an operation that may last upward of a week (1 week = 168 hrs.). As more simulated
hours are requested of the system, the computation time necessary for calculations increases.
Simulation Timing Selection
7.
Verification of Proper Course of Action
Once all parameters have been entered into the Simulation creation process, the operator will receive a Simulation
Configuration overview, as shown below. This is the final stage before the simulation calculations occur. The
operator may return to previous screens (using the Next/Previous buttons along the bottom) in the creation process
and modify any parameters before the simulation service is run.
Simulation Configuration Finalization screen
Clicking “Finish” in the bottom right corner of this screen will send the selected Simulation Configuration to the
DART simulation engine. You will immediately see the Simulation Submission status indicator:
Simulation Submission indicator
8.
Running and Viewing a completed Simulation
After a simulation has been submitted to DART, the simulation will immediately begin running. A Simulation
Progress indicator (show below) will indicate the simulation’s progress. When the simulation calculations have
completed, the progress indicator will be replaced with the Completed Simulations dashboard.
Simulation Progress indicator
When the simulation calculations have completed, the progress indicator will be replaced with the Completed
Simulations dashboard:
Completed Simulations dashboard
This dashboard will display information regarding the completed simulations. A table of completed simulations (see
blue box above) will appear on the left side of the dashboard, and details of a simulation will be displays in the
Simulation Results Overview sections. To select and display the simulation result, click the play (see red box
above) button next to the desired simulation. This will populate the Simulation Results Overview. To delete the
simulation, click the delete (see green box above) button next to the desired simulation. Refer to the Simulation
Results Overview diagram below for details about a selected simulation result:
Simulation Result Overview populated with simulation data
Once a simulation has been selected, note that the play button has become a stop button – click this to un-select the
simulation. You can also see that the simulation’s status has been set to loaded (see red box above). The
simulation’s parameters (Attributes/Settings) are shown above (see blue box). The Distribution-points and Water
sources are also displayed on the map-area of the overview (see green box above).
Referring to the diagram below, the simulation’s output is conveyed through a series of graphs. These graphs are
accessible by scrolling down within the dashboard after selecting a simulation. The x-axis of each graph represents
simulation time. The simulation’s times-pan is dictated by the Simulation-Length parameters that was specified
when the simulation was created. The y-axis represents specific values measured at discrete points in the
simulation’s execution. There is one graph for each critical aspect of the simulation:
Example simulation graph output
Each of these graphs may be expanded to view their data more closely, while placing the mouse pointer over any
point in the graph will provide more specific information about that point in the graph. Operators may turn on and
off the visibility of data in each graph by clicking on the data names listed in the graph key on the right side of the
graph. Clicking a name will hide it from the graph charting and clicking it again will unhide the content.