Modelling interactions in agent based models of transportation terminals

Abstract

The paper deals with the modelling of interactions among mobile entities (e.g. vehicles, handling equipment, pedestrians) in agent-oriented simulation models of transportation terminals. Presented model of transportation terminal is based on the ABAsim simulation architecture, which provides means for efficient creation of flexible, highly maintainable simulation models of complex service systems. Two types of agents are utilised: managing agents organised in static hierarchical structure and dynamic agents that are representing intelligent entities of modelled system. The simplified internal structure of generic simulation model of transportation terminal is presented, focusing on the modelling of various transportation modes found in transportation terminals (e.g. rail, road) and their mutual interactions. Interaction zones are utilised to define distinct areas where two or more transportation modes collide (such as railway crossing or pedestrian crossing). We propose a dedicated managing agent responsible for zones handling and managing of the interactions among mobile entities of the system. According to defined rules, the agent grants/denies zone entry permissions to agents responsible for modelling of specific transportation mode. Presented concept has been developed for the generic transportation terminal simulation tool Villon.