IoT-based real time intelligent routing for emergent crowd evacuation
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-11-2017-0251 |
| Date | 16 September 2019 |
| Pages | 604-624 |
| Published date | 16 September 2019 |
| Author | Yanlan Mei,Ping Gui,Xianfeng Luo,Benbu Liang,Liuliu Fu,Xianrong Zheng |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information user studies,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
IoT-based real time intelligent
routing for emergent
crowd evacuation
Yanlan Mei
School of Resource and Environmental Engineering,
Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China and
School of Management, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Ping Gui, Xianfeng Luo and Benbu Liang
School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China
Liuliu Fu
Department of Information Systems,
California State University –Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA, and
Xianrong Zheng
Department of Information Technology and Decision Science,
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to take advantage of Internet of Things (IoT) for intelligent route
programming of crowd emergency evacuation in metro station. It is a novel approach to ensure the crowd
safety and reduce the casualties in the emergency context. An evacuation route programming model is
constructed to select a suitable evacuation route and support the emergency decision maker of metro station.
Design/methodology/approach –The IoT technology is employed to collect and screen information, and
to construct an expert decision model to support the metro station manager to make decision. As a feasible
way to solve the multiple criteria decision-making problem, an improved multi-attributive border
approximation area comparison (MABAC) approach is introduced.
Findings –The case study indicates that the model provides valuable suggestions for evacuation route
programming and offers practical support for the design of an evacuation route guidance system. Moreover,
IoT plays an important role in the process of intelligent route programming of crowd emergency evacuation
in metro station. A library has similar structure and crowd characteristics of a metro station, thus the
intelligent route programming approach can be applied to the library crowd evacuation.
Originality/value –The highlightsof this paper are listedas followings: the accuracyand accessibility of the
metro station’s real-time information are improved by integrating IoT technology with the intelligent route
programming of crowd emergency evacuation. An improved MABAC approach is introduced to the expert
support model.It promotes the applicabilityand reliability of decision makingfor emergency evacuationroute
selection in metrostation. It is a novel way to combine the decision-making methods with practice.
Keywords Internet of things, Decision support system, Intelligent route programming,
Library crowd evacuation, MABAC, Metro station emergency evacuation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
With the rapid population growth and urbanization, 34 cities have been operating the
metros in China. The total accumulated mileage was accounted to 4,547 kilometers in 2017,
which hit the longest record in the world. Metro system, an important part of urban public
transport, has become sign of a city’s rapid development. It has many advantages such as
safety, convenience, energy saving, environmental friendly, comfort and promptness.
However, crowding and limited space of the metro station bring lots of difficulties and
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 37 No. 3, 2019
pp. 604-624
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-11-2017-0251
Received 29 November 2017
Revised 12 November 2018
Accepted 13 November 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
This research is supported by National Social Science Foundation of China (Project No. 15AGL021).
604
LHT
37,3
challenges for timely evacuation in an emergency. Therefore, potential safety hazards are
of great importance to formulate an evacuation route to reduce the casualties and the scope
of disruption. The IoT provides a brand new way to collect real-time data by connecting
the wireless sensor with the WSN. (Bi et al., 2014; Civerchia et al., 2017; Gürdür and Asplund,
2018; Fan et al., 2014; Kim, 2017; Li, Oikonomou, Tryfonas, Chen and Xu, 2014; Mao et al.,
2016; Wang, Bi and Xu, 2014; Whitmore et al., 2015; Xiao et al., 2014; Yang et al., 2018; Zheng
et al., 2014, Tang et al., 2014). Such technology makes it possible to plot
real-time intelligent evacuation routes, which can greatly improve data accuracy as well
as its reliability of test data. The application of IoT technology to the evacuation route
programming in the metro can effectively enhance the operation safety, enhance the ability
of accurate decision making and give early warning of passenger congestion.
The reminder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 briefly reviews the
literatures about evacuation route programing. In Section 3, we discuss the fundamental
problems of crowd evacuation in metro station, and develop the model of intelligent route
programming of crowd emergency evacuation in metro station based on IoT. Then in
Section 4, the detailed calculation steps of evacuation route programing model are
formulated. Section 5 uses a simulation approach to test the proposed model. Finally
discussions to the results and conclusions are given in Section 6. The flow chart shows the
logical organization of this paper as shown in Figure 1.
2. Literature review
Emergency evacuation is an important part for public safety management (Li, Wang and
Wang, 2014). It is a process to displace people from dangerous places and relocate them to
safe shelters. In case of emergency incident in the metro station, timely and efficient
evacuation route programing can promote a fast evacuation process. It has been with great
interest of putting forward a proper evacuation route programing to minimize the risk for
occupants, reduce casualties and save lives. There are many papers about the research of
evacuation route management (Chen and Zhan, 2008; Lee, 2013; So and Daganzo, 2010). Four
perspectives are covered by current researches:
(1) Evacuation route programming: Osman and Ram (2017) proposed a spatio-temporal
algorithm for time-dependent point-to-point evacuation routing and scheduling.
Support TechnologyThe characteristics of the crowd
The model of real-time intelligent route programming
The expert
evaluate the
alternatives
Aggregate the
evaluation values
Determine the weight
of the criteria
Normalized the
decision matrix
Determine the
border
approximation
area matrix
Acquire the
distance matrix
Obtain the best
alternative
Implementation of emergency
evacuation route
Figure 1.
The flow chart
of the paper
605
IoT-based real
time intelligent
routing
To continue reading
Request your trial