Framework for Interoperable Operations in Port Facilities

Among the most advanced techniques, interoperable simulation is actually emerging in those application fields where different entities/components dynamically interacts. Currently such a technology is becoming more and more effective in new areas, reproducing the experiences already collected in military sectors. For instance, logistics infrastructures and ports see many entities interacting dynamically, their synergy strongly affects the overall efficiency of the port terminals as well as the safety of the operators. DIPTEM is involved in a new research, funded by COSMOLAB Consortium, for creating a distributed federation able to reproduce port operations with special emphasis on the dock cranes; in fact DIPTEM collected over the last five years multiple experiences in this sector and in bordering areas: SITRANET and INNOVARE researchs for Intermodal Terminal, RESET for River Logistic. CYBERSAR FEDERATION FOR PORTAINER SIMULATION The aim of the research is to simulate the behavior of intermodal equipment (cranes, stackers, trucks etc.) through the development of federates characterized by the capabilitiy to operate stand-alone or to be integrated in the HLA federation for cooperating. In such way, different trainees are able to work together in order to simulate real cases and complete missions. Consider a crane operator moving a container from a ship on a truck, driven by another operator, a third one is expected to move the container on a free area of the terminal using a reach-stacker simulator. Monitoring and supervising the results of the mission and operating both in LAN both in WAN the operators can act as previously described; in general sense not only driver simulators have to be integrated, the DIPTEM applied DIS in their past researches in order to create training exercise for managers/planners (i.e. dock manager, yard planner, control room, etc.). In the same way it is possible to integrate in the Federation also these entities directing the operators, providing support for testing policies and procedures. The interaction among the terminal vehicles as prime cause of accidents and injuries in port operations has to be stressed; at the same time the handling policies and procedures are the key factors for improving productivity and safety. Based on such a consideration it is clear that past experiences in extended application in military sector combined with new technologies enabling low cost simulation, allow to export these Proceedings 22nd European Conference on Modelling and Simulation ©ECMS Loucas S. Louca, Yiorgos Chrysanthou, Zuzana Oplatková, Khalid Al-Begain (Editors) ISBN: 978-0-9553018-5-8 / ISBN: 978-0-9553018-6-5 (CD) experiences in new areas, such as port training or industrial facilities. The proposed case is related to the development of a federation focusing on the Portainers or dock gantry cranes: big equipment devoted to load/unload container ships. The proposed integration among simulators is based on HLA (High Level Architecture) while the simulation engine is developed by the DIPTEM. The proposed engine guarantees to have simulators fully scalable combining different federates in order to distributed/construct complex combinations (i.e. distributing heavy computational workload among federates); the most complex cranes are equipped of static mock-ups (i.e. port truck drivers) and full motion 6Degree of Freedom simulators. The design of the entire architecture needs special attention, actually the configuration is based on: • one full scope simulator • 6DOF motion platform • advanced visualization solution integrated with eye tracking system (crane operator) • interactive pilot station