This invention relates to a method for users localization and guidance of the movements of the users through a building in relation to an event, along paths leading to one or more given target places, the guidance being adapted to each user.
In the face of natural and technological risk, personal security is a major issue: by way of example, fires in the case of high-rise buildings (for example, 2635 deaths caused by fires in the USA in 2015) and underground transport (subway).
Crowd evacuation models have been widely researched.
The simulations are however oriented toward the pre-disaster part in order to dimension the paths and exits (locations, widths etc.): such as the Olympic stadium in Beijing which had to be evacuated in 8 minutes in the event of an alert.
Despite the diversity of current alert systems (sonic systems, display systems etc.), these solutions are still not capable of supplying simple and effective evacuation solutions (real-time alerts, evacuation route, updating of the route according to events in real time etc.)
The main reasons for these limits are:
lack of flexibility: evacuation notifications generally follow predefined evacuation plans, regardless of the type and degree of threat or danger. This can lead people to dead ends (collapsed ceilings, destroyed staircases, blocked exits etc.) or give rise to more severe problems (leading to spaces with gas leaks and possible explosions).
a lack of “judgement” and panic: in a situation of danger, people hurry to the same exits, which causes congestion at these exits, and thus considerable delays in the evacuation besides collisions and crushes.
insufficient information and instructions: for people who are not familiar with the building, the evacuation instructions may not be useful, or even be useless.
Certain severe catastrophes (power cut, fire etc.) which reduce visibility can aggravate the situation.
It is then necessary to put in place a new strategy to solve the problem, by placing the user as the central point, to offer the user the necessary and relevant information at the right time to better react to the incident.
The invention uses the current trend to use communication technology, particularly the Internet of Things and digital BIM models which have inspired the idea of extracting possible paths for evacuation in the building, in particular.
The invention allows a method of individualized guidance, in relation to an event, through a building which has enclosed spaces and/or open spaces delimited by obstacles, user movements along paths leading to several given target places, with connected objects in a communication link with a remote resource server which is a control server accessible by a communication network, for example of “cloud computing” type,
comprising the following steps:
the nodes being divided into:
each edge linking two successive nodes by crossing the spaces without encountering obstacles and without loss of visibility between two successive nodes;
vii— each user is guided, via the connected object of the user or connected objects of the building, by personalized interfaces/signals, to follow the associated sub-graph DODAG′, toward a given target place, and the preceding steps ii to vi are repeated, to update the guidance, at a given frequency that is adapted to the event.
The event can take place in real time and can create obstacles which will over time restrict or where applicable increase the DAG (number of nodes and edges), updated at a certain frequency or in real time.
the associated sub-graph (DODAG′) by user is computed using:
For example, the “general objective function” makes it possible to optimize the waiting lists of all the passage nodes (N), in order to limit the time or distance of travel (which are in this case the input parameters) of all the users toward the target place or places. For this purpose, to ensure total evacuation in an optimal time, a user could make a long detour and be redirected toward a gate further away than the nearest one which he could have taken if he had been the only user.
Thus, for example for certain applications, the input parameters may be considered as the flow parameters of the people in the building
Other objectives, features and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings given by way of illustration and without limitation, among which:
(a) Nodes in rooms, stairs, hall, lift and exits (“South” side view);
(b) Summary view of all the nodes of the building (“South-East” side view);
Ia
The system is composed of a modular architecture with three sections:
The invention is broken down into give complementary modules:
In other words, the method according to the invention has the following steps:
the nodes being divided into:
each edge A linking two successive nodes by crossing the spaces without encountering the obstacles and without loss of visibility between two successive nodes; it is possible to take into account the “architectural” space delimited by panels and the separating walls, and also truly “navigable” spaces within the “architectural spaces”, taking into consideration the actual obstacles and obstructions to the passage of users, which may be objects or other users; thus the obstacles comprise panels and walls but also objects or other obstructions to the passage of users; thus the spaces have nodes and edges which are delimited by obstacles to the movements of the users; whether these obstacles are walls and/or objects or otherwise, and whether they are generated by the event or not;
vii— via the connected object of the user T or the connected objects T of the building, by personalized interfaces/signals, each user is guided to follow the associated sub-graph DODAG′, toward a given target place, and the preceding steps ii to vi are repeated, at a given frequency that is adapted to the event.
Thus, during the guidance, the user may be caused to have a target place that changes as a function of the event and of the itineraries of the other users.
An enclosed space is a space defined as a space wherein the user can connect via its connected object to the control server S, solely via communication access terminals B installed in the building (local connection only) and in communication link with the control server S. Unlike the open space in which the connection of the connected object of the user is possible either by communication access terminals B or by cell access.
This invention specifically considers the truly “navigable” spaces (taking into consideration the actual obstacles and obstructions to the passage of users: case of fixed or heavy furniture, stadium seats and armchairs of event venues or amphitheaters, installations and equipment in machines and workshops, stands in rooms and exhibition halls, by way of illustration; similarly, the navigable spaces must exclude, in a dynamic way that varies over time, certain perimeters in the case of alerts and security measures in the environs of suspect baggage or sources and leaks of toxic substances or smoke in the case of fire etc.); furthermore, additional obstacles, which may arise from the fact that any event (earthquakes, fire, physical threats, leakages of substances etc.) are automatically and dynamically, in real time, taken into account for the updating of “truly navigable” spaces
The dispatcher nodes Nd are nodes which users may take. They are linked to the passage nodes N (which are the nodes through which the user must necessarily pass to exit)
In an open space, there are several possibilities for locating the connected object:
The connected objects T embedded by the users may be used either solely to compute the position of the users (and in this case there are connected objects T located in the building which make it possible to guide the users), or to compute the position of the users and to guide the users.
Advantageously, the computation for each user of the sub-graph DODAG′ is performed using:
to optimize at the output, the waiting lists of all the passage nodes N, with respect to input parameters or input criteria (for example, the time or distance of travel of all the users toward the target places such as (“E”, “S”, “W”).
In other words, advantageously, the “general objective function” delivers as output all the sub-graphs, (DODAG′) of the users, computed to optimize the input parameters (for example reducing the time and/or distance of travel of all users), taking into account each of their profiles and their location in the building. The “general objective” function thus makes it possible to select for each user, from among all the possible DODAG′ of each user determined by the “individual objective function”, the DODAG for each user of the user group that allows the optimization of the input parameters.
In other words, the “general objective function” delivers the waiting lists of all the nodes, varying over time and which are temporally optimized (here as small as possible at each step of travel of all the users between two neighbor nodes) taking into account each profile and their position in the building (to authorize only certain movements or specific movement distances for given users). By way of example, to ensure a total evacuation in optimal time, a user could make a long detour and be redirected, due to the overall waiting time or conflicting trajectories in the case of crossed flows of people, toward a gate further away than the nearest, which he would have taken if he had been the sole user.
Advantageously, the optimization of the “general objective function” is performed with one of the following strategies:
This function is standardized by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) in the form of an RFC (Request For Comments) number: 6719; a publication reference is Omprakash Gnawali and Philip Levis. (2012).
The “individual objective function” can also be fuzzy logic.
With an individual objective function, at the dispatcher node Nd level (vertex: Vj, j being the node index),
where α=membership value
and
the relative weight vector for normalization Γ=[γ0, γ1, . . . , γk], with the parameter value intervals:
and the optimum bound by the “general objective function” corresponding to the whole tree
on the oasis or the functions on each Dispatcher node Nd “vertex: Vj”.
Advantageously, the profiles of the users may include the following information, for the purpose of computing the personalized DODAG′:
The event may be:
Advantageously in step ii, the nature of the event and its actual location in the building are determined:
a) automatically by algorithms and/or
b) manually by inputting user information which is sent to the control server S, in order to determine in the evacuation graph the nearest nodes to the event.
There are several techniques for detection of anomalies, for example based on video surveillance.
The two most commonly used approaches are:
1) based on trajectory analysis,
2) based on pixel analysis.
Here are examples of references:
For fire detection algorithms, the following references may be considered:
The event detection sensors C that can be used may be of various types: camera, sniffer detector, or the connected object itself.
This therefore includes all physical sensors C (such as for detection of fire, toxic gas etc.), but also virtual sensors C which are data merging and analysis algorithms (scalar or multimedia). For example, singularity detection on the basis of an image or video analysis. Often machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques are used.
In an embodiment the building has several floors, and in step vi a sub-graph DODAG′ is computed, on the basis of each passage node, on all the floors interconnected via the inter-floor passage nodes (stairs, ramps, escalator, lifts etc.) which is extracted from the overall DAG to process any position in the building.
Advantageously, in step ii, in a learning step, a measurement is taken of the power of the reception signal of the connected object located at known positions in the building as a function of the wireless communication terminals B and the power relationship of the reception signal and position in the building is determined, for example with a KNN algorithm.
Advantageously, the personalized interfaces/signals of step vii are:
This invention also relates to the device for individualized location and guidance D, in relation to an event, of user movements, through a building which has enclosed spaces and/or open spaces delimited by obstacles, along paths leading to several given target places.
This device has:
These computing means M make it possible, in a first step:
Next, these computing means M make it possible, in a second and third step, to:
Next, these computing means M make it possible, in a fourth and fifth step, to:
These computing means M make it possible, in a sixth step, to:
Finally, these computing means M make it possible, in a seventh step, to:
Advantageously, these computing means M compute the sub-graph DODAG′, using:
The dispatcher nodes Nd can be centroidal points in a space such as a room, a hall, a corridor etc.
The passage nodes can be doors, entrances and exits of lifts, top and bottom points of ramps or stairs etc.
The distinction between dispatcher nodes Nd and passage nodes makes it possible to streamline passings through all the passage nodes of the building for all users.
The connected objects T may be chosen from among the following list:
The connected objects T may be linked to the control server S with a distinction made between two possible modes: “individual mode” or “group mode”.
Wireless communication terminals B may be fixed and/or mobile (on drones, users with sniffers or users who are agents and evacuation assistants).
The connected objects T may have an interface for the users to manually enter the event and information, which are sent to the control server S, in order to determine in the evacuation graph the nearest nodes to the event;
The connected objects T may have means for notifying users of the updating of the path.
The notifications are information messages sent by the server to the connected objects T to inform them of the updates to the evacuation trajectory and/or of the estimated time to evacuate the building. The display of notifications is either textual or graphic, with the new indications on the updated path.
The building can be of any type, for example: an education facility, a mall, a sports facility, a concert hall, a “fan zone”.
Example of a Building Chosen as an Illustration
The building chosen as an illustration consists of:
1. Two floors, see
2. The floor “R1” contains, see
3. The “R0” contains, see
4. Two stairs, see
5. An lift, see
Extraction of the Nodes and Edges A
Nodes
The nodes are “virtual” points. They are of two types, see
Edges A
The edges A, bidirectional links except for special cases, are virtual line segments which link two successive nodes without encountering any obstacles and without loss of visibility.
They are defined according to the following methodology, see
By way of example, one may consider the following cases, for the transfer surfaces:
NOTE: It should be noted that in reality these transfer surfaces can themselves be defined as spaces (as is the case for corridors), in digital models (BIM or CIM).
In this case, the extreme points (points “top”, “bottom”, “intermediate”) will be considered as “passage nodes” linked to the dispatcher nodes Nds of the intermediate spaces (their centroids).
DAG: Directed Acyclic Graph
The Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) is defined by the tree entirely composed of the “nodes” and the “edges A” linking them pairwise, see
1. On the floor “R1”, the graph is composed of a sub-graph (sub-DAG “R1”), defined as follows:
2. For the transfer of the floor “R1” to the ground floor “R0”, the graph includes a sub-graph (sub-DAG “R1 to R0”), defined as follows:
3. At the “R0” level, the graph is composed of a sub-graph (sub-DAG), defined as follows:
Users: Associated Dispatcher Nodes Nds
As an illustration, various users (USAGERS) including PMR (People with Reduced Mobility) are arbitrarily positioned in the building, see
1. On the floor “R1”, the users are identified in the positions illustrated in
2. On the floor “R0”, the users are identified in the positions illustrated in
DODAG′: DAG Specifically Directed at Each User
As a reminder, the DAG concerns the overall building: a “nodes N, Nd-edges A” graph. It depends on the architecture (distribution of the spaces): it describes the paths from any place of the building to the exits.
The DODAG′, specific to each user, is a portion thereof (a dynamic sub-graph), starting from the current position (user), to guide the user toward the best possible exit (optimal guidance according to the user profile and the crowds present), see Table 1:
Waiting Lists and Optimal Guided Evacuation
On the basis of the DODAG's, compiled for each user (see Table 1), the waiting lists of the passage nodes are then compiled from the nodes furthest from the DAG (rooms of level “R1”) all the way to the target nodes ((“E”, “S”, “W”)):
1. The waiting lists of the target nodes are compiled, on the basis of the positions of the users present in the hall “R0” (users associated with the dispatcher node Nd of the space: “hall R0”). Layer 1 of these lists then contains the list of people and their position, in terms of distance to reach the door.
To simplify understanding, a virtual checkerboard with a (50 cm×50 cm) grid is projected onto the surface of the floorboards. The users are placed at the centers of the checkerboard cells.
Their distance to the exit door can be expressed in terms of the number of squares separating the user of the door, in order to facilitate the illustration thereof, see
(a) Door “E”:
waitList(E)=[P0: 27cases]; [P10: 12cases]; [P11: 20cases] (1)
(b) Door “S”
waitList(S)=[P0: 18cases]; [P10: 7cases]; [P11: 5cases] (2)
(c) Door “W”
waitList(W)=[P0: 30cases]; [P10: 21cases]; [P11: 13] (3)
2. For the other users, they must first be able to access the hall (“hall R0”) in order to then be associated with the centroid node of the hall and be able to be transferred to the waiting lists of the 3 exit doors (since they are adjoining the “hall R0”). Specifically, this centroid inherits the waiting lists of the adjoining passage nodes, namely the nodes (door sills):
(w0), (r0w), (r0m), (r0e), (t0), (L0) and (e0).
For the 3 exit doors (“E”, “S”, “W”), they thus inherit the lists of the upper layers (layers 2 and above). These lists are compiled as follows, see
waitList(r0w)=[P1: 8cases]; [P2: 2cases] (4)
waitList(r0w)=[P5: 3cases]; [P6: 6cases]; [P7: 3cases] (6)
waitList(r0w)=[P8: 0case]; [P9: 4cases] (7)
NOTE: It should be noted that these lists of passage nodes are transmitted, by inheritance, to those of the 3 exit doors. The distance (number of squares) from the current position of the user to the exit door is obtained by adding the distance between the node of the door (of the room, for example “r0w”) to the exit door (for example, exit 3. Starting from the exit doors (as the lowest level in terms of layers in the waiting lists), the furthest layers would be those that will be inherited from the nodes (door sills) of the rooms of the floor “R1”), see
waitList(r1w)=[P13: 6cases]; [P14: 2cases] (8)
waitList(r1m)=[P15: 6cases]; [P16: 5cases] (9)
waitList(r1e)=[P17: 3cases]; [P18: 5cases]; [P7: 8cases] (10)
waitList(t1)=[Pmr20: 2cases]; [P21: 4cases] (11)
Implementation of the Waiting List Optimization Algorithm
Once the various waiting lists of the passage nodes have been compiled, the users are stored according to the distance to the intermediate passage nodes in question, which ordered lists are inherited from nearest neighbor to nearest neighbor via the passage nodes all the way to the exit doors of the building or the withdrawal areas and shelters (case of people with reduced mobility, for example, who must go to the areas that are specially furnished and dedicated to them).
In order to show the performance of the developed algorithm and the subject of the claims of this invention, two examples have been chosen as an illustration.
Specifically, two meeting rooms have been chosen with two particular configurations, to provide evidence of the performance of the developed algorithm:
1. Extraction Scenario in “Zip” Form, See
2. Extraction Scenario in the Case of a Densely Occupied Room (99 People) Having 2 Doors, See
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19306270 | Oct 2019 | EP | regional |
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WO2021/064225 | 4/8/2021 | WO | A |
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