Hermes: An Evacuation Assistant for Large

Arenas

Stefan Holl, Andreas Schadschneider, and Armin Seyfried

Abstract As part of the German Government’s high-tech strategy, the Federal

Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has launched a programme on
“Research for Civil Security”. The field of “Protecting and Saving Human Life”
in this programme includes funding for the Hermes Project. The project with a three
year duration was completed in December 2011. The aim of the collaborative project
was to improve safety for people in large multifunctional buildings and also at big
events by exploring the effectiveness of an evacuation assistant. In this project, we
realized a real-time simulation for the reliable prediction of evacuation process.

Keywords Hermes • Pedestrian dynamics • Evacuation assistant • Automated

person counting • Real-time simulation • Communication module

1 Introduction

The trend towards large multifunctional buildings as well as the dimensions of

public events makes new demands on the quality of security concepts. In case
of emergency, all the attendees must be able to evacuate the danger area rapidly.
Although this is generally ensured by the application of building regulations, it can
result in a dangerous crush and long queues in case of overcrowding or if some of
the emergency exits are blocked. In recent years we have seen an increasing number

S. Holl () • A. Seyfried

Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich 52425, Germany
e-mail: st.holl@fz-juelich.de; a.seyfried@fz-juelich.de
A. Schadschneider
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Universität zu Köln, Köln 50937, Germany
e-mail: as@thp.uni-koeln.de

U. Weidmann et al. (eds.), Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics 2012, 345

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02447-9__28,
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
346 S. Holl et al.

of crowd disasters with many injured persons, e. g. Love Parade 2010 in Duisburg
(Germany).
In order to prevent such critical situations optimal crowd management needs
accurate and up-to-date information about the current state in the arena. In the three-
year research project Hermes – funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education
and Research (BMBF) – we have developed an evacuation assistant. In the project
a total of 13 partners have worked together. In addition to the research institutions
and business enterprises the end users (police, fire fighters and security guards) were
involved in the exploration of the evacuation assistant:
1. Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
2. University of Wuppertal
3. University of Bonn
4. Cologne University
5. Imtech Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG
6. Multifunktionsarena Immobiliengesellschaft mbH & Co. KG (ESPRIT Arena)
7. PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG
8. TraffGO HT GmbH
9. Vitracom AG
10. Düsseldorf Fire Brigade
11. Düsseldorf Police Headquarters
12. North Rhine-Westphalia State Office for Central Police Services
13. Special Security Service SSSD GmbH
The aim of the assistant was to incorporate the current state of the building, but
also the number and distribution of persons present in the simulation. So for the first
time it became possible to obtain real-time simulation results based on the actual
risk situation.
The ESPRIT Arena in Düsseldorf (Germany) provided a venue for implementing
the evacuation assistant. The example of this multifunctional area with a capacity
of more than 60,000 spectators showed how crowds of people at big events can
be guided so that optimal use can be made of the emergency exits. The aim of
the Hermes Project is to produce a real-time simulation for a reliable forecast of
the evacuation behavior. The task forces will receive important information, but the
decision on the optimal strategy will be taken in each case by the forces themselves.

2 Functions of the Evacuation Assistant

The project Hermes consists of several components:

– Safety and security management system
– Video-based person counting
– Real-time simulation core
– Communication module
Hermes: An Evacuation Assistant for Large Arenas 347

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of

the evacuation assistant

The safety and security management system provides information about the
condition of the building. So we know if escape routes are smoky or whether parts
of the building were closed e. g. because of a bomb threat. The video-based person
counting provides reliable data on the number of people who are currently in the
parts of the building. Data privacy is taken very seriously here: we do not store
video images, but only the count data will be passed. Based on these data, the system
operator can now define a scenario that will be calculated from the simulation tools.

3 Modeling and Validation

In our project Hermes, three different models are combined to obtain reliable
predictions from the simulations and achieve an optimal performance. One approach
relies on a macroscopic model allowing a routing recommendation [1]. Additionally
we use two microscopic models (floor field cellular automaton model [2] and the
generalized centrifugal force model [3]) which provide rather detailed predictions
about the development of an evacuation. To increase the reliability of the forecast
large-scale experiments have been performed in the laboratory and the arena itself.
These data are complemented by field studies.
The position vs. time curves (trajectories) of each individual was recorded in
these experiments with stereo cameras (Fig. 1). With the method developed at
the Research Center Juelich [4, 5], it was possible to analyze these trajectories
automatically and to use for calibration and validation of simulation models (Fig. 2).
348 S. Holl et al.

Fig. 2 Laboratory experiments, extraction of the trajectories, calibration of simulation models

Fig. 3 Graphical interface of the communication module (Source: PTV AG)

4 Visualization of Results

Essential for the practicality of the evacuation assistant is the treatment of the
resulting data. The front end of the system is therefore a communication module.
The type of visualization has been jointly developed and tested with the end users
(Fig. 3). With a traffic light system (red, yellow, green) it can be determined on a first
glance whether the allowable number of occupants is exceeded in some areas of the
building. Based on the micro-simulation it is shown, where critical traffic jams will
arise during the next 15 min. Due to these results the responsible team leaders have
the opportunity to deploy their employees so that pedestrian traffic can be directed
optimally.
In 2011, the evacuation assistant was successfully tested during several concerts
and football games.
Hermes: An Evacuation Assistant for Large Arenas 349

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