Multi-infrastructure modeling system

• US 7,657,406 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2006
• Issued: 02/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IntePoint LLC
• Original Assignee: IntePoint LLC
• Inventors: Tolone, William J., Chu, Bei-tseng
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAN, THAI Q
• Application Number:
  US11/423,359
• Publication Number:
  US 20070021955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 703/2, 703/22, 703/24, 709/22, 704/240, 707/104, 706/45, 706/52
• US Class Current: 703/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A system for simulating interdependencies between a plurality of infrastructure models includes a first infrastructure data model that models a first infrastructure, a second infrastructure data model that models a second infrastructure, a simulation engine including a society of software agents and adapted to automatically produce, in response to a first change in the infrastructure data model, a second change in the infrastructure data model, and a user interface permitting a user to interact with the simulation engine. The system is adapted to simulate interdependencies between different critical infrastructure models as well as interdependencies between an infrastructure of one infrastructure category and an infrastructure of a different infrastructure category. Infrastructure categories include behavioral infrastructures, relational infrastructures, and physical infrastructures.

Claims

1. A system for simulating interdependencies between a plurality of infrastructure models of different infrastructure categories, comprising:

a first infrastructure data model that models a first infrastructure, the first infrastructure being of a first infrastructure category that is selected from the group consisting of behavioral infrastructures, relational infrastructures, and physical infrastructures;

a second infrastructure data model that models a second infrastructure of a second infrastructure category, the second infrastructure being of a second infrastructure category that is also selected from the group consisting of behavioral infrastructures, relational infrastructures, and physical infrastructures, wherein the second infrastructure data model is from an infrastructure category that is different from the infrastructure category of the first infrastructure data model;

a simulation engine adapted to automatically produce a change in the second infrastructure data model in response to a change in the first infrastructure data model; and

a user interface permitting a user to interact with the simulation engine.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the change in the first infrastructure data model represents an event occurring in the first infrastructure, and wherein the change in the second infrastructure data model represents the simulated effect of the event in the first infrastructure on the second infrastructure.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a first application program interface enabling the simulation engine to interface with the first infrastructure data model; and

a second application program interface enabling the simulation engine to interface with the second infrastructure data model.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the simulation engine includes a visualization application.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein at least a portion of the data of the first infrastructure data model has a geospatial relationship and at least a portion of the data of the second infrastructure data model has a geospatial relationship.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the simulation engine incorporates the geospatial relationship of the data of the first infrastructure data model and the geospatial relationship of the data of the second infrastructure data model in producing the change in the second infrastructure data model.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the visualization application provides a visual representation connecting the geospatial relationship of the first infrastructure data model and the geospatial relationship of the data of the second infrastructure data model.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the simulation engine includes a society of software agents.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the simulation engine utilizes inter-infrastructure meta-knowledge contained in a database.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the user interface includes an editor for editing the inter-infrastructure meta-knowledge.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the user interface includes controls for causing the simulation engine to execute a pre-defined configuration.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the user interface further includes an editor for establishing the pre-defined configuration.

13. The system of claim 2, wherein the first infrastructure data model models a physical infrastructure that involves physical assets or systems, and wherein the second infrastructure data model models a behavioral infrastructure that involves the way people or groups of people behave in response to various stimuli.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the physical infrastructure is a critical physical infrastructure.

15. The system of claim 2, wherein the first infrastructure data model models a physical infrastructure that involves physical assets or systems, and wherein the second infrastructure data model models a relational infrastructure that involves human interactions in a social network that exists and connects a plurality of segments of a population.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the physical infrastructure is a critical physical infrastructure.

17. The system of claim 2, wherein the first infrastructure data model models a relational infrastructure that involves human interactions in a social network that exists and connects a plurality of segments of a population, and wherein the second infrastructure data model models a behavioral infrastructure that involves the way people or groups of people behave in response to various stimuli.

18. A system for simulating interdependencies between multiple critical physical infrastructure models, comprising:

a first infrastructure data model that models a first critical physical infrastructure;

a second infrastructure data model that models a second critical physical infrastructure, wherein the second critical physical infrastructure is a different critical physical infrastructure from the first critical physical infrastructure;

a simulation engine adapted to automatically produce a change in the second infrastructure data model in response to a change in the first infrastructure data model;

a user interface permitting a user to interact with the simulation engine; and

a third infrastructure data model that models a third critical physical infrastructure, wherein the third critical physical infrastructure is a different critical physical infrastructure from the first and second critical physical infrastructures;

wherein the change in the first infrastructure data model represents an event occurring in the first infrastructure, and wherein the change in the second infrastructure data model represents the simulated effect of the event in the first infrastructure on the second infrastructure.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

a first application program interface enabling the simulation engine to interface with the first infrastructure data model; and

a second application program interface enabling the simulation engine to interface with the second infrastructure data model.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the simulation engine includes a visualization application.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein at least a portion of the data of the first infrastructure data model has a geospatial relationship and at least a portion of the data of the second infrastructure data model has a geospatial relationship.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the simulation engine incorporates the geospatial relationship of the data of the first infrastructure data model and the geospatial relationship of the data of the second infrastructure data model in producing the change in the second infrastructure data model.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the visualization application provides a visual representation connecting the geospatial relationship of the first infrastructure data model and the geospatial relationship of the data of the second infrastructure data model.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the simulation engine includes a society of software agents.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the simulation engine utilizes inter- infrastructure meta-knowledge contained in a database.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the user interface includes an editor for editing the inter-infrastructure meta-knowledge.

27. The system of claim 18, wherein the user interface includes controls for causing the simulation engine to execute a pre-defined configuration.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the user interface farther includes an editor for establishing the pre-defined configuration.

29. The system of claim 18, wherein the simulation engine automatically farther produces a change in the third infrastructure data model in response to the change in the first infrastructure data model.

30. The system of claim 18, wherein the simulation engine automatically produces the change in the second infrastructure data model in response to the change in the first infrastructure data model and farther in response to a change in the third infrastructure data model.

31. A critical infrastructure modeling and simulation system comprising:

an infrastructure data model that models a critical physical infrastructure;

a simulation engine including a society of software agents and adapted to automatically produce, in response to a first change in the infrastructure data model, a second change in the infrastructure data model;

an application program interface enabling the simulation engine to interface with the infrastructure data model; and

a user interface permitting a user to interact with the simulation engine;

wherein the first change in the infrastructure data model represents an event occurring in one portion of the critical physical infrastructure, and wherein the second change in the infrastructure data model represents the simulated effect of the event on other portions of the critical physical infrastructure.

32. A critical infrastructure modeling and simulation system comprising:

an infrastructure data model that models a critical physical infrastructure;

a simulation engine including a society of software agents and a visualization application and adapted to automatically produce, in response to a first change in the infrastructure data model, a second change in the infrastructure data model; and

a user interface permitting a user to interact with the simulation engine;

wherein the first change in the infrastructure data model represents an event occurring in one portion of the critical physical infrastructure, and wherein the second change in the infrastructure data model represents the simulated effect of the event on other portions of the critical physical infrastructure.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein at least a portion of the data of the infrastructure data model has a geospatial relationship.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the simulation engine incorporates the geospatial relationship of the data of the infrastructure data model in producing the second change.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the visualization application provides a visual representation connecting the first and second changes to the geospatial relationship of the data of the infrastructure data model.

36. A critical infrastructure modeling and simulation system comprising:

an infrastructure data model that models a critical physical infrastructure;

a simulation engine including a society of software agents and adapted to automatically produce, in response to a first change in the infrastructure data model, a second change in the infrastructure data model; and

a user interface permitting a user to interact with the simulation engine;

wherein the first change in the infrastructure data model represents an event occurring in one portion of the critical physical infrastructure, and wherein the second change in the infrastructure data model represents the simulated effect of the event on other portions of the critical physical infrastructure; and

wherein the society of software agents utilizes inter-infrastructure meta-knowledge contained in a database.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the user interface includes an editor for editing the inter-infrastructure meta-knowledge.

38. A critical infrastructure modeling and simulation system comprising:

an infrastructure data model that models a critical physical infrastructure;

a simulation engine including a society of software agents and adapted to automatically produce, in response to a first change in the infrastructure data model, a second change in the infrastructure data model; and

a user interface permitting a user to interact with the simulation engine;

wherein the first change in the infrastructure data model represents an event occurring in one portion of the critical physical infrastructure, and wherein the second change in the infrastructure data model represents the simulated effect of the event on other portions of the critical physical infrastructure; and

wherein the user interface includes controls for causing the simulation engine to execute a pre-defined configuration.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the user interface farther includes an editor for establishing the pre-defined configuration.

40. A critical infrastructure modeling and simulation system comprising:

an infrastructure data model that models a critical physical infrastructure;

a simulation engine including a society of software agents and adapted to automatically produce, in response to a first change in the infrastructure data model, a second change in the infrastructure data model; and

a user interface permitting a user to interact with the simulation engine;

wherein the first change in the infrastructure data model represents an event occurring in one portion of the critical physical infrastructure, and wherein the second change in the infrastructure data model represents the simulated effect of the event on other portions of the critical physical infrastructure; and

wherein each software agent in the society of software agents is an autonomous software program or program component that is situated within, is aware of, and acts upon its environment in pursuit of its own objectives so as to affect its future environment.