Projects

Measured Response

Measured Response is a simmulation event that creates the opportunity for first responders, government agencies, industry and citizens to come together and create awareness about and respond to a simulated, high-consequence crisis situation. The goal is to create awareness and inform the community of the risks and responses to terrorist attacks, as well as to deveelop and analyze policies and operating procedures to manage public mood, maintain public health, mitigate the risk of contagion, and contain the crisis. Another goal is to create a virtual test-bed to plan various response and recovery strategies by the industry and the government.

Measured Response is a two day simulation event that brought together participants from all over the country. Participants ranged from Federal, State and Local departments of the government, with representation from but not limited to the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Transportation. Members of the community as well as industry are invited to participate in the exercise along with first responders like the police, fire and health personnel.

Air Traffic Control

Air Traffic Management & Control is a complex problem and in day-today operations needs a human in loop to resolve various routine and emergency scenarios. This project created a Simulated Air Traffic control using a system-of-systems approach. The ultimate objective being to simulate various emergency scenarios as part of homeland security initiative, and also to simulate an environment where manned and unmanned air vehicles travel through the national airspace with minimum inputs from ATC and maximum information.

Fire, Structure, Agent Simulation

A Dynamic Data Driven Application System (DDDAS) was created to study interaction between fire and agent models during a fire evacuation. The analysis from that research can be used to validate proposed ideas in evacuation and building designs to ensure safety of buildings given various agent behaviors. Two separate models were used to simulate the components of the emergency situation: fire and agent. The independent models w ere able to run using data computed by the other interacting models, allowing careful examination of real-time interactions in a situation. Through study of the interactions, a better understanding is gained of how individual variables such as exit position and width affect the evacuation process and escape rate in the given scenario. Exits can be relocated and changed to quickly assess the effect on the model. The results can be used for improving building design and regulations as well as training first responders.

Food Defense

The Food Defense Simulation modeled the food supply chain from processors to distributors and retail stores. A contaminant was then introduced somewhere in the supply chain, and participants were given a chance to react to the ensuing situation and see how their decisions effected the scenario, as well as public opinion of their products.

Operation Sinbad

Federal, state and local first responders gathered at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center for a live training exercise called Operation SINBAD in December 2005. About 25 local agencies from various different counties, from police, fire and health agencies, along with several hospitals and universities, participated in the two day live exercise event sponsored by the Indiana DHS.

The simulation provided a way to model a much larger geographic area, as well as a larger population, to provide more detailed analysis of the impact of the bioterrorist attack. While first responders were at the scene enacting their response to the bioterrorist attack, the simulation was capturing all the decisions being made. Decisions such as actions taken, resources allocated and time needed to complete such actions were taken into account and recorded. These decisions would impact the public health statistics of virtual Indiana, along with a measure of the economic impact and public approval rating.

The goal of the exercise was to allow multiple agencies to address any issues that may arise when responding to the scenario. Inter-agency communication and coordination were the two obvious hurdles any agency had to deal with, along with resource allocation and management. The live exercise included testing lab protocols, mass immunization plans and the use of the CDC national stockpile.