InControl supports communities with corona test track simulation

InControl supports communities with corona test track simulation

During the Covid-19 pandemic, communities and municipalities in particular have to deal with many challenges. The preparation and planning of tests, training and vaccination locations are top of mind. Besides drive-in locations such as event centers, stadiums and public buildings have to be properly arranged, facilitated and people trained. 

Figure 1: Example of drive-in test facility

A municipality in Austria asked InControl to support the organization of test tracks by delivering data, plans and insights. In this case the planned tests and training staff facility is a combined elementary and middle school.

Simulation and visualization can support and improve decision-making processes; they can support and visualize the design and optimize key processes, costs and provide feedback during every stage. InControl contributes to the security issues and procedures as well. 

Test tracks for the upcoming Covid-19 swab tests has to be set up in a municipality in Austria and these should be evaluated and validated in advance. The thorough preparation is contributing to the test and training activities but forms a good set up for the vaccination activities as well. There are rooms available for this purpose at both schools, primarily organized on the ground floor. In this case a total of 6 test tracks are designed, planned and evaluated.

Figure 2: Middle and elementary school – test tracks 1 to 6

A test track includes: the outside waiting area, the registration and the test area. The flow of people should not cross, so separate entrances and exits and a marked route (one-way system) are specified in order to minimize personal contacts.

Figure 3: Example for test track 1 in detail

Compliance with the general distance rules and local protocols are taken into consideration in the entire test area and is also part of the simulation model and scenarios. In Austria, a personal indoor distance of 2 meters is applicable.

Information on the simulation with Pedestrian Dynamics® was made available to InControl by the municipality, based on both scientific and empirical values. So in this case the assumption was that 1000 people per day (8 hours) has to be tested. Another assumption is that no values for the arrival distribution has to be taken into consideration. The documents required for registration will be announced in the waiting area and can be verified too. The registration should take place in 2 till 5 minutes and in the test area 3 minutes are accepted at each station.

To analyze the routes, simulation runs were carried out in order to check the capacities and distance regulations. The assumption described above was refuted on the basis of the simulation results; only 60% of the people can be tested in 8 hours. The capacity check has shown in this case that there is a lack of time and staff. In addition to the simulation experiments, necessary changes in the process were discussed directly with the community and health care representatives and adopted in the test planning, routing, staff training and real time execution.

Pedestrian Dynamics® is a leading crowd simulation tool that has been used for more than a decade to model large crowds in all types of infrastructure. Pedestrian Dynamics® helped answer questions about capacity, keeping in mind the safety and comfort related to crowded places.

Cities and municipalities are struggling with organizational and financial hurdles due to the Corona crisis. InControl would like to get involved and support communities by not charging the usual daily rates for simulation engineers for this type of projects.

If you need support with the test streets and / or vaccination routes, check capacity with the Pedestrian Dynamics® simulation software and / or model according to COVID-19 measures and guidelines including physical distancing in any environment, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Student using Enterprise Dynamics® Software successfully at Royal Schiphol Group

Student using Enterprise Dynamics Software successfully at Royal Schiphol Group

During my graduation project of the master Operations Management and Logistics at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) I conducted a research project at the Royal Schiphol Group. In my research I worked with the software of InControl Enterprise Dynamics to improve the trucks’ lead time designated for the air cargo handling. This software was preferred since Royal Schiphol Group already collaborated with InControl before. Besides, the software is suitable for the proposed model since it is able to develop discrete-event simulations, shows the flow of the trucks, and has the possibilities to analyze and visualize the model in 2D and 3D perspectives. Moreover, the TU/e provided a user license to the students for this software.

In more detail, my research investigated the flow of trucks arriving at five airport locations to pick up or deliver goods. Specifically, their waiting times at each location were evaluated for the current situation and how the waiting times would change with the adoption of a new concept. The new concept was called Drop and Collect and allows trucks to park their trailers at a truck parking until their goods need to be further processed. This concept ensures more control of the trucks’ flow and a just-in-time handling of goods when they are needed for the next stage of transport (e.g. flying to the next destination). Since a truck parking is added to the current situation, the trucks’ waiting times will change. Enterprise Dynamics was able to measure the change in time well. The design of my models consisted of three steps. Thereafter, the results were analyzed and evaluated.

First, I developed a simulation model of the current situation in the software. Before I started this research I had never worked with Enterprise Dynamics. However, a lot of information could be extracted from the InControl community where a lot of students had asked questions that were similar to my questions. Besides, tutorials and videos were available with basic models to compare and receive information. And what I really liked about InControl is that they were very accessible to ask questions.

Second, I developed additional models for five different scenarios of the Drop and Collect concept in Enterprise Dynamics. These scenarios were more complex than the current situation. Additional simulation objects were necessary to model these scenarios. Also changes in the behavior of the model was necessary. The new scenarios required a lot of capacity and processing constraints. These could be easily implemented using the Enterprise Dynamics Script language 4DScript.

Third, I run the models using the real data sets. During the development phase of the models I worked with small self-conceived data sets to build accurate models. After the models are validated and verified real data sets were used. Therefore, the corresponding trucks’ waiting times could be analyzed by running the models. The software was really helpful by analyzing and quantifying the trucks’ flows.

Last, the results of the simulation were evaluated and conclusions about the adoption of the Drop and Collect concept were drawn.

Overall, the software of InControl gave a good representation of the trucks’ flow at the airport and show where bottlenecks occur. The possibility to show the movements in 3D are very valuable for the understanding of the system and possible errors could be found more easily.

Are you interested in a thesis project about modeling with Enterprise Dynamics? The Enterprise Dynamics Pro license is an affordable license for students working on their bachelor’s or master’s thesis. Please find more information here or contact the research education team via email. 

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