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ESD researchers address the challenge of improving
the effectiveness of national infrastructures, including those
providing electric power, transport, and communications. Over
the next 50 years, a billion more people worldwide will enter
the middle class, mainly in the cities of the developing world—creating
the need for the development of infrastructures to meet these
demands in sustainable ways. ESD research in the domain of critical
infrastructures include cross-domain views; comparative architecture
and the factors affecting them; new models that include both the
technical and social complexities; and new, large-scale simulation
techniques allowing the combination of quantitative and qualitative
data.
Congestion for the Configuration of Airport
Networks and Airline Networks
MIT Portugal researchers are working to utilize a new network
model of two regional airport systems—one E.U.-wide and
the other U.S.-wide— that combine mathematical optimization
with a stochastic and dynamic queuing theory approach. Using these
network models, this research project will explore impacts of
distribution of traffic among alternative types of airports and
the incidence of delays on airlines and on passengers. Read
more.
High-Speed Rail
Under the high-speed rail research, two inter-related MIT Portugal
projects focus on critical elements to the successful implementation
of high-speed rail in Portugal and elsewhere. One project aims
to develop new lifecycle costing models and infrastructure and
risk management programs to effectively derive design and maintenance
strategies for high-speed rail infrastructures and operations.
The second project aims to develop a generalized global risk assessment
for the HSR network, enabling the effective consideration of technical
and natural hazards risks in project assessment and management.
The objective is to create robust decision models for proactive
risk management. Read
more.
Change Propagation Analysis in Complex Technical
Systems
This research develops and applies change propagation analysis
methods and extended prior reasoning through examination of large
data sets from industry. One such data set at Raytheon Integrated
Defense Systems included 41,500 change requests, spanning eight
years during the design of a complex sensor system. The research
used graph theory to define how specific network relationships
of connected “parent,” “children,” and
“sibling” changes are resolved over time and mapped
to various subsystem areas. Read
more.
Real-Time Predictive Human Supervisory Control
Models of Team Collaboration
Research at the Humans and Automation Lab (HAL) focuses on the
multifaceted interactions of human and computer decision-making
in complex socio-technical systems, such a air traffic control,
disaster first response, and military command and control. Researchers
aim to build models of behaviors able not only to recognize the
current state of a team supervising automation in real time, but
also to predict future states of this team. Read
more. For more information about the variety of HAL research
projects regarding the interface of humans and technology, click
here.
New Approaches to Accident Modeling and
System Safety
ESD researchers are developing new, more powerful accident causality
models and risk management techniques that can handle the complexity
of today’s technical and social systems. Using systems and
control theory as the mathematical foundations and a causality
model (called STAMP) that expands traditional models, the researchers
are constructing computational models of the static (structural)
and dynamic aspects of complex, socio-technical systems to provide
information about potential risks. Read
more.
Real Options in System Design
This research focuses on the development of valuable flexibility
in designs. Conceptually and professionally, this work lies midway
between standard engineering (which does not consider design flexibility
in any detail) and financial real options analysis (which does
not look at design). ESD’s research team has developed a
“screening model” approach to the core problem of
identifying the system elements that should be flexible in order
to increase value. Read
more.
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Joseph Sussman quoted in article
about recent traffic jams in Boston (The Boston Globe - August
25, 2009)
John Hansman quoted in USA
Today article on air traffic delays (August 23, 2009)
Joseph
Sussman quoted in article about Chinese railroad industry
(BusinessWeek - June 17, 2009)
“Safety
Program Stalled at 3 Airlines” (The Washington Post
– December 31, 2008)
“MIT
researchers help improve wave power systems” (December
16, 2008)
“Fewer
delays expected for holiday travel” (USA Today –
November 26, 2008)
“Airline
passengers: Be sure to pack patience this summer” (USA
Today – May 13, 2008)
“Clogged
airports: A plan to cut N.Y.C. air traffic” (Christian
Science Monitor – October 23, 2007)
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“Reflections on the Big Dig”
Frederick P. Salvucci
Engineering Systems Symposium 2004
View on MIT World.
“Building Resilient Infrastructure
to Combat Terrorism: Lessons from September 11th”
The Technology and Policy Program Homeland Security Technology
and Policy Seminar
Rae Zimmerman, Professor of Planning and Public Administration
at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School
of Public Service; Director of the Institute for Civil Infrastructure
Systems (ICIS)
View
on MIT World.
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Moving
Millions: Transport Strategies for Sustainable Development in
Megacities
Fred Moavenzadeh, M.J. Markow
Perspectives
on Intelligent Transportation Systems
Joseph M. Sussman
Airport
Systems: Planning, Design, and Management
Richard de Neufville, Amedeo Odoni
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