Innovative Transport Design, Planning and Operational Simulation Software Packages

There are currently several computer-based software packages that can assist the planning, network design and operating performance of a various innovative transport technologies.. A brief description of each of them is given below. The first known PRT simulation model of this type was developed by the Aerospace Corporation in the 1970's but is no longer operational. It is described in a book entitled Fundamentals of Personal Rapid Transit by Jack Irving, et al.  Others have been developed by the Germans, Japanese, French, Americans and others during the past three decades.  For a review of these efforts, see the paper entitled "Some History of 32 PRT Simulation Programs", by J.E. Anderson.  The most recent work (2000-2008) has been done in the EU and the USA.  Hermes, RUF and iTS MAIT are the only software packages that are currently known to be freely available to the public.

Hermes PRT network simulator, by Chris Xithalis (Greece)

A program written in Java with a friendly GUI with which one can:


The web page also features:

Version 2.5 is now available at:  http://students.ceid.upatras.gr/~xithalis/simulation_en.html

New features:
-Improved empty vehicle management (now empty vehicles may move between stations, improves average waiting time)
-Improved response to emergency situations (= a malfunctioned vehicle that stops on the guideway) and more detailed graphs and reports regarding emergency
-Now one can make slots visible. This is very helpful in order to understand the synchronous clear path control employed by the Hermes simulator.

One can see the moving slots by viewing the simulator or the online demos like this one:  http://students.ceid.upatras.gr/~xithalis/online_demo/patras_online_demo.html (requires Java enabled browser)
You have to zoom in on a line,  select Line color->Toggle visible slots and press 's' to start simulation.

PRT International, LLC (USA)

This company has a PRT simulation software system that is ready for designing and analyzing potential applications. For some details as to it capabilities,, see the course syllabus prepared by Dr. J.E. Anderson. The program is complete in every detail needed to operate a real PRT system.

Logistic Centrum's PRTsim Software (Sweden)

It now has a graphic network editor. The network is edited by 
clicking nodes, links and stations on a map or aerial photo. 
Distances are taken from the map scale.

Run-time animations and post-simulation results are shown on the map/ photo.

Some of the unique features of PRTsim are:

Several strategies for ride-sharing

Random as well as scheduled arrivals

Platooning of empty vehicles

Trickle or platoon movements in stations

Parallel station tracks

Merge priorities

Dynamic routing

Efficient empty vehicle management with change of destination on 
the run

Optional synthetic demand matrices

PRTsim has been used in about about 6 applications in Sweden in 
the last couple of years.  PRTsim is available to others on the basis 
that Ingmar Andréasson is  involved in the work, at least initially.

Colin Buchanan Ltd have used PRTsim for their PRT studies in Daventry 
and Cambridge in the U.K.

This simulation model has been developed by Ingmar Andréasson of Logistic Centrum in Sweden. 
The model is briefly described in a paper by Dr. Andréasson published in a 1994 Transportation
Research Record, #1451, pp 95-99. The article is entitled "Vehicle Distribution in Large Personal
Rapid Transit Systems" and is available on-line. It deals extensively with the "empty vehicle management"
problem. Dr. Andréasson formerly directed a PRT research program at Chalmers University in
Gothenburg,Sweden..

For more details, contact Ingmar Andréasson at Logistik Centrum, in Sweden

RUF International (Denmark)

Simulation Programs (available to the public):

rufsim.exe (520 kB)
Simulation of controlled random flow through RUF junction (see: rufsim.doc below)

ruftrain.exe (450 kB)
Simulation showing the dynamics in train creation between RUF junctions in a network.

rufcph.exe (2.8 MB)
Interactive program for calculating travel time and energy consumption for a RUF commuter in Copenhagen

rufkbh.exe (2.8 MB Danish)
Interactive program for calculating travel time and energy consumption for a RUF commuter in Copenhagen

rufcom.exe (1.8 MB)
Interactive program for analyzing rush hour flow of commuters through a RUF network in Copenhagen

rufla.exe (1.8 MB)
Interactive program for calculating travel time and energy consumption for a RUF commuter in Los Angeles

 

The innovative Transportation Simulator, by MAIT international (Italy)
iTS MAIT
(http://www.trasporti.ing.unibo.it/personale/schweizer/mait/projects/index.html#its)


The iTS software is a free PRT microsimulator, mimicking velocity and
acceleration of individual vehicles as well as individual users with
different boarding behaviour. iTS allows the easy design of an arbitrary
complex PRT network, to apply an origin-to-destination demand matrix 
and to predict  performance and cost figures, see
(<http://www.trasporti.ing.unibo.it/personale/schweizer/mait/projects/sim/users_guide/users_guide.html>).


The software has been in professional use since more than 3 years. Among
others: to verify performance of various PRT scenarios at BAA London Heathrow
Airport and several other UK airports. It has also been used for a GRT study
at Vienna south station
(http://www.trasporti.ing.unibo.it/pubblicazioni/schweizer_apm07-web.pdf), a
large scale study at Bologna
(http://www.trasporti.ing.unibo.it/pubblicazioni/schweizer_aats05.pdf) and
various exhibition and property development sites in U.K and the U.S.

The software is free for non-profit use only. If you intend to use it for
profit, please contact joerg.schweizer@unibo.it.

ATTENTION: The iTS software is currently being rewritten at the transport
department of the University of Bologna, Italy
(http://www.trasporti.ing.unibo.it/) . Goals are to make the software more
flexible, feature-rich and easier to use. There is no official release
date, please do not even bother to ask before end of year 2007.

The software has been designed to obtain a holistic view of the simulated
transportation system. For this reason it covers a variety of system aspects
such as:

TrakEdit: PRT System Simulator from Taxi 2000 (aka Skyweb Express)  (USA)

No information is currently available about this software.

Raytheon's NETSIM Simulation Program (as of mid-1990s) (USA)

The Raytheon Company developed a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system called PRT 2000 that offered the potential of complementing existing city infrastructure, reducing congestion and air pollution while providing convenient origin-to-destination transportation. PRT 2000 was an automated transit system which uses a series of loops to achieve maximum ridership over a large area. To support the application of this new technology, Raytheon developed the Network Simulator (NETSIM) to simulate the performance of a PRT 2000 system in a particular environment and report its performance under varying passenger load scenarios. Since the PRT 2000 project has been terminated, it may (or may not) be available for lease. Considerable additional detail about this software is available.

Calver Marketing (U.K.)

This firm has been doing UK PRT / APM studies for nearly 4 years and specializes in the use of innovative simulation software from a
variety of European university sources. Some examples of deployment studies include Manchester Airport Group East Midlands Airport, NEC Exhibition Centre Birmingham and for almost 2 years now we are still actively working on BAA London Heathrow Airport future scenario PRT modelling - indeed we are appointed as BAA's independent PRT consultant. On the urban side we have undertaken studies via third parties for Swindon, Portsmouth, Daventry and Corby and been invited on several notable projects throughout Europe.

Affiliations: member of the Trade Partner International Export Club initiative, Advanced Transit Association; member of the Light Rail Transit
Association, Member Monorail Association, member Rapid Transit Forum.

Their main services comprise:

CALPLAN-NETSIM          Route Design and Simulation
Comprising network planning and optimum route design for Personal Rapid Transit, Group Rapid Transit and APM technologies based on real-time physical simulation tools.

CALPLAN-STATSIM         Station Planning and Simulation
Comprising Station & Berth capacity modelling, optimum berth configuration and throughput based on behavioural characteristics of the passengers.

CALPLAN-EcoSIM          Economic Modelling
Comprising the build up of Capital Costs, Operational Costs, Predicted revenue modelling, Life Cycle and Return on Investment assessment.

JKH Mobility Services' Simulation Program (USA)

This model is described in a paper that is included in the Proceedings from APM IV held in Las Colinas, Texas in 1993 (David Hathaway, Simulation Modelling of PRT Systems, pp 546-555). It was used first in the SeaTac PRT Study .

More details on its attributes are provided . Contacts are: Sam Lott, Executive Vice President, JKH Mobility Services, 12012 Wickchester Lane, STE 500, Houston, Texas 77079. Phone: (281-597-9300); e-mail: david.hathaway@kimley-horn.com  JHK Mobility Services is a division of Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.

Princeton's PRT Simulation Program (USA)

This model has been developed by Professor Alain Kornhauser and others in the Department of Civil Engineering at Princeton University. It is useful for designing a PRT network as well as simulating its operation. It produces real time visual displays of the components of the PRT network from any selected viewpoint. One can walk around the guideways and stations, fly above them and view the network and surrounding buildings or ride in a vehicle down the guideway. It represents a "virtual reality" concept and uses a powerful Silicon Graphics computing machine to produce its graphics displays. Several papers have been published that do provide summary descriptions of the model but citations are currently unavailable (as of August, 1996).

BASim (Australia)

This is a simulation program used by Austrans to assist their planning activities, developed
by CSIRO in 2002. Availability unknown.

Simulation and Analysis Tools for Urban Automated Rapid Transit Networks (S.A.T.U.R.N) (Canada)

Written by John Lees-Miller of Calgary, Canada. Details are provided at his website, first posted in May, 2003.

PRT Microsimulation (U.K.)

This is a link to an Abstract and Table of Contents of a PhD thesis by Markus T. Szillat, University of Bristol, U.K., 218 pp, 2000

PRT Consulting Inc’s PRT Simulation Software (USA)

PRT Consulting has developed simulation software capable of simulating a variety of PRT applications utilizing different types of PRT systems such as open-guideway and captive-bogey. The program is focused on determining the relationships between PRT characteristics (such as fleet size, station spacing and operating parameters such as headway and speed) and customer service parameters (such as walk, wait and travel times). It is intended for analytical use rather than visualization and is not available for public use.

 

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Last modified: March 12, 2008