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Transport and Mobility Laboratory: Research projects

TRANSP-OR

All topics

We identify new solutions to transportation problems, on the ground, in the air, or on the sea, transport of people or goods, whatever the mode. We focus on technical solutions, but also on their impact on the system as a whole. We are also interested in the interactions of the transportation systems with the land use, the economy, the environment, etc.

E-Bike City

This project has the following content: Transport policy is currently not finding a way out of its dilemma; the imminent need to decarbonize a sector fast which has barely moved in the recent past and the social requirement to maintain and increase accessibility across all modes, but not to encourage sprawl while still allowing further decreases in the generalised cost of travel by new technologies and business models. We propose to use a radical departure from previous proposed ideas to enable the policy and transport industry to begin thinking from a different starting point. The design idea is to reallocate 50% of the existing urban road space to e-bikes, bicycles, and other micromobility modes and to assess what this change could achieve in terms of accessibility, generalised costs of travel, changes in daily life and reductions in emissions and CO2. The project will integrate careful involvement of the various stakeholders from citizens, cities, firms to interest groups, but will also provide the materials needed to communicate the ideas and their equity impacts visually and verbally at the required levels of complexity.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Janody Pougala
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Office of Energy
Period: September 01, 2022-December 31, 2025
External collaboration: Prof. Axhausen (IVT - ETHZ); LaTeX description

Multi-objective disruption management for robust railway operations

In passenger railway services, a timetable defines the scheduled arrival and departure times of trains at designated stations. When a disruption occurs, the railway operator must establish a disposition timetable, a complex task due to the intricacies of rail operations and the interactions in the network. This research aims to develop a decision-support tool that optimizes disruption management using a multi-objective optimization approach. The tool will account for system constraints while minimizing passenger inconvenience, operational costs, and deviations from the original timetable. Designed with practitioners' needs in mind, it will be integrated into the industrial software Viriato, enabling the use of real production data for algorithm evaluation and refinement.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Lea Ricard
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
Period: April 01, 2024-October 31, 2025
External collaboration: SBB
External collaboration: SMA; LaTeX description

Migration and Discrete Choice Models (MIGDCM)

International migration is at the forefront of policy debates in most countries around the world. In industrialized nations, the proportion of foreigners in total population increased from 4.5 to 12 percent between 1960 and 2019, stirring up fears about economic costs for natives, loss of national identity, and integration issues. In poor countries, international migration raises concerns about the brain drain of highly-skilled workers, as college and university graduates have a much greater propensity to emigrate internationally than the less educated. Hence, the questions of how many people migrate (i.e., migration intensity}, which people migrate first or are more likely to migrate (i.e., migrants' selection), and where migrants choose to settle (i.e., migrants' sorting) have been analyzed from all possible angles in recent literature. Specifically, understanding how people revise their decisions about whether to emigrate, and where to, when facing changes in the global environment is of crucial importance for decision-makers.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Silvia Varotto, Evangelos Paschalidis
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: March 01, 2022-March 31, 2025
External collaboration: Prof. Michel Beine (University of Luxemburg); LaTeX description

The Elevator Dispatching Problem with Destination Control

The Elevator Dispatching Problem with Destination Control We propose developing a Branch-and-Price (BP) exact method that can provide optimal solutions to instances. The size of the instances that BP can solve has to be determined with computational experiments once the method is implemented and cannot be known beforehand. BP is known to provide good lower bounds that can also be used to evaluate heuristic solutions. The aim of this study is to provide optimal solutions to the deterministic-static EDPDC where we have perfect information and compare with Schindler’s heuristic solution.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Fabian Torres
Sponsor: Schindler
Period: September 22, 2022-April 01, 2023; LaTeX description

Intelligent digital twins for assessing and predicting bridge road traffic demands

Road bridges are a vital part of transportation networks, forming crucial links in natural bottleneck locations and enabling the continual flow of people and goods into, out of, and across cities. However, the analysis used for design and maintenance planning of this community-critical infrastructure is typically carried out using static models and assuming generalized traffic patterns. This analysis represents only peak loading scenarios and does not reflect the spatial and temporal variations in real-world traffic loads. The resulting uncertainty in load prediction can lead to in overengineering in bridge design as well as sub-optimal maintenance planning. Furthermore, as current analysis techniques model only maximal loads, they cannot be used to predict the maintenance condition of bridges due to fatigue from repeated loading and unloading of the bridge over time. This research aims to address these limitations by developing intelligent digital twins which can simulate the response of a bridge to realistic traffic loading scenarios. These digital twin models combine two primary elements: (i) a traffic simulation model which exploits detailed traffic count and weigh-in-motion data to generate time-dependent traffic loadings, and (ii) a detailed structural model which predicts the compliance and maintenance condition of a bridge for different maximal and cyclic loading patterns. The intelligent digital twin is intended to be generalizable to any bridge or network of bridges for which relevant data exists. This will enable these models to be used within an integrated approach to study infrastructure vulnerability and multi-hazard risk management.

Principal investigator: Tim Hillel
Project manager: Tim Hillel
Sponsor: School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
Period: October 01, 2020-April 01, 2022; LaTeX description

Optimization of individual mobility plans to simulate future travel in Switzerland

This project, joint with Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) will develop a new activity-based modelling approach based on optimization of individual daily mobility plans. This approach will be implemented within SBB's existing nationwide model for Switzerland for investment and service planning decisions for future transportation.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Tim Hillel
Sponsor: Innosuisse (Swiss Innovation Agency)
Period: September 01, 2020-March 01, 2022
Collaborators: Janody Pougala, Rico Krueger
External collaboration: Patrick Manser
External collaboration: Wolfgang Scherr; LaTeX description

Activity scheduling an rhythmic style: multi-day modeling of mobility habits

A growing body of research shows that the traditional approaches employed to plan and forecast travel behaviors are not equipped to deal with the heterogeneity of behaviors over time, space, and social spheres. Therefore, travel policies struggle to reconcile social inclusivity, sustainability and network efficiency. Two ENAC laboratories propose to join forces, in mathematical modeling and quantitative sociology, to develop a novel multi-day activity-scheduling framework to forecast travel demand. Integrating day-to-day correlations in travel behaviors will lead to a better understanding of the motives behind travel decisions, and will unveil more facets of individual decision making for better predictions of their daily mobility choices. This research uses the MOBIS dataset, a 8-week / 3700-respondent travel survey conducted in Switzerland in 2019. The forecasting model will be applied to the Swiss synthetic population and several scenarios will be considered.

Principal investigator: Janody Pougala
Project manager: Janody Pougala
Sponsor: School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
Period: October 01, 2020-October 01, 2021
Collaborator: Marija Kukic
External collaboration: Marc-Edouard Schultheiss; LaTeX description

OrgVisionPro: Automated organizational design and optimization

This project, joint with CLEAP S.A., is will develop advanced analytics algorithms to propose organization design (OD) scenarios based on the existing situation, constraints, and future needs of a business. These scenarios will support organizations in shaping their future by optimizing their structure and operating models.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Rico Krueger, Tim Hillel
Sponsor: Innosuisse (Swiss Innovation Agency)
Period: October 01, 2019-June 30, 2021
Collaborators: Melvin Wong, Nour Dougui
External collaboration: Laurent Jaquenoud; LaTeX description

Incorporating competitors' behavior in demand based optimization models

The starting point of this research project is the general framework developed in the SNF research project 200021_165636 entitled “Incorporating advanced behavioral models in mixed integer linear optimization”. The project aims at formulating explicitly the complex interaction between the supply and demand actors. We hypothesize that the decisions of supply actors (such as capacity, assortment, and price) are highly influenced by the decisions of other actors, through competition within the market. In this project, we will therefore explicitly consider multiple operators that compete for the same pool of customers. Each operator will take the supply-side decisions that optimize its performance function (e.g., maximization of revenue). Non-cooperative game theory is commonly used to model such oligopolistic competition. We plan to investigate how to integrate these games in the already developed framework. In this context, the objective will be to analyze the concept of equilibrium, that is, stationary states of the system where no actor has an incentive to change his/her decisions.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Virginie Lurkin
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: November 01, 2017-October 31, 2020
Collaborator: Stefano Bortolomiol; LaTeX description

Design of a car-free city center: a fringe parking system with accelerated moving walkways

This project is conducted on a fellowship "The EuroTech Postdoc Programme". A car-free city center is a valuable solution for decreasing traffic congestion and CO2 emissions, and improving active mobility and quality of life. To achieve these goals, one of the biggest challenges is the relocation of parking places scattered in the inner district, which cause cruising for available parking as well as car inflows. A possible solution is a “fringe parking” system, which groups parking into a limited number of spots on the border of the district. However, this may decrease the level of accessibility moving the parking away from the final destinations. The key idea of this research is to use “accelerated moving walkway” (AMW), a novel transport system, in combination with a fringe parking system to design a car-free city center with high accessibility. The goal of the research is to propose and identify the optimal configuration of a fringe parking system with AMWs, as a solution to city centers. The main methodologies are network design optimization and traffic assignment.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Yuki Oyama
Sponsor: European Commission
Period: October 01, 2018-September 30, 2020
External collaboration: Constantinos Antoniou (TUM); LaTeX description

Activity based travel demand forecasting

This research project aims to update and improve the microscopic activity-based demand model developed and maintained by SBB. Specifically the research intends to address the following questions: 1. Ownership of mobility instruments: Which metrics and specifications can be added to the current model, in order to improve its ability to forecast mid-and long-term ownership of mobility instruments? More specifically, how can the notion of accessibility be integrated to the current model to capture more complex mode interactions? 2. Mode choice model: Can a tour-based approach be used to model mode choice? In addition, how can the processes to estimate destination and mode choice (currently nested) be combined to generate results that are consistent with observed mobility behaviors at different time horizons (short, mid, and long-term)? 3. Tour and activity generation: How can the generation of tours and activity patterns be combined to allow modelling of joint decisions?

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Tim Hillel
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
Period: March 01, 2019-March 01, 2020
Collaborator: Janody Pougala; LaTeX description

Capacity building program in urban mobility and transportation

The purpose of this project is to develop graduate curriculum in urban mobility and transportation. The relevant courses of this curriculum will be available in MOOC format. This program is a collaborative project between Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Urban Transport Systems Laboratory (LUTS) and Transport and Mobility Laboratory (TRANSP-OR) at EPFL.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Yousef Maknoon, Riccardo Scarinci, Yuki Oyama
Sponsor: State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
Period: September 01, 2016-September 01, 2019
External collaboration: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
External collaboration: LUTS; LaTeX description

PAM Personal Autonomous Moving platforms

In this project, Schindler and TRANSP-OR imagine a revolution of urban mobility focused on pedestrians. The Personal Autonomous Moving (PAM) platforms are similar to hoverborads or segways, and move from a point A (origin) to a point B (destination) on their own and carry the user with minimum interaction. They are a “light” mode of transport that does not require large space or infrastructural investment for the installation. This innovative mode of transport is ideal for short distance trip in large pedestrian facilities such as university campuses, larger business districts and airports as well as city centers. A great advantage is the possibility to directly access elevators with PAM platforms. This could lead to a real three-dimensional mobility taking advantage of elevators already installed in buildings. A possible deployment of this system generates several scientific and technological challenges. TRANP-OR focuses on the research questions that are related to the algorithms and mathematical models used by decision support tools needed for the planning and operation of the system.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Yuki Oyama
Sponsor: Schindler
Period: November 15, 2018-May 14, 2019
External collaboration: Schindler; LaTeX description

Incorporating advanced behavioral models in mixed integer linear optimization

Discrete choice models are used for detailed representation of the "demand". However, their complexity makes mathematical formulations highly non convex in the explanatory variables. On the other hand, Mixed Integer Linear Programs (MILP) are optimization problems with discrete variables that are used in many applications to design and configure the "supply". In this project, we propose a new modeling framework that allows to include any random utility model in a mixed integer optimization formulation. The heterogeneity of demand is captured within the general choice model framework and the offers are tailored in a way that is beneficial for users as wells as providers. The main objective of the project is to obtain a framework that is both general, so that it can be applied in many applications, and operational, so that it can be used in practice.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Shadi Sharif Azadeh
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: April 01, 2016-March 31, 2019
Collaborator: Meritxell Pacheco; LaTeX description

TRANS-FORM: Smart transfers through unravelling urban form and travel flow dynamics

The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC)

TRANS-FORM, a cooperation between universities, industrial partners, public authorities and private operators, will develop, implement and test a data driven decision making tool that will support smart planning, and proactive and adaptive operations. The objective of the project is to better understand transferring dynamics in multi-modal public transport systems and develop insights, strategies and methods to support decision makers in transforming public transport usage to a seamless travel experience by using smart data. The tool will integrate new concepts and methods of behavioral modelling, passenger flow forecasting and network state predictions into real-time operations. TRANS-FORM is funded under the European Commission Horizon 2020 ERA-NET program.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Shadi Sharif Azadeh, Riccardo Scarinci, Yuki Oyama
Sponsor: The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC)
Period: March 03, 2016-March 03, 2019
Collaborators: Nicholas Molyneaux, Nikola Obrenovic; LaTeX description

Accessibility based optimization of educational infrastructure networks

The aim of this project is to propose a methodology to assess and optimize educational infrastructure networks based on accessibility. In 2014, the World Bank launched the Global Program for Safer Schools (GPSS) with a focus on integrating risk reduction considerations into education infrastructure policies and investments. The GPSS aims to boost and facilitate informed, large-scale investments for the safety and resilience of new and existing school infrastructure at risk from natural hazards, contributing to high-quality learning environments. Understanding accessibility of school infrastructure networks is an important element to optimize risk reduction interventions as well as to improve the quality and efficiency of the educational service. To support this goal, the Transportation and Mobility Laboratory proposes a methodology to assess and optimize educational infrastructure networks based on accessibility; and proposes solutions to improve the performance of educational infrastructure networks. In other words, researchers will evaluate the risks based on the school network, including parameters like transportation network, home location of the students, mobility patterns... They will then provide a methodology in order to help direct investments to reduce the risks in case of disaster.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Riccardo Scarinci
Sponsor: World Bank
Period: January 01, 2018-December 31, 2018
External collaboration: EPFL-TRACE; LaTeX description

Drive For You: a driving assistant tool to detecting pedestrians

This project aims to develop an onboard pedestrian tracking system to assist the driver detect them and, ultimately, to increase security. The project, with a duration of four years, will focus on pedestrians detection, tracking and trajectory prediction, and will be will be closely related to vehicle command strategies. The project is part of the automated driving research Chair "Drive for you" led by MINES ParisTech in partnership with French industrialists and three prestigious academic institutions the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL (Switzerland), the University of Shanghai Jiao Tong (China) and the University of Berkeley (USA). Supported by the Foundation MINES ParisTech, with Valeo industrial, PSA Peugeot Citroën and Safran contributing 3.7 million euros in funds, the Chair will work for five years on the subject of automated driving. The three main objectives are expand knowledge of self-driving vehicles, develop intelligent onboard systems, get self-driving vehicles on the road in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Riccardo Scarinci
Sponsor: MINES ParisTech
Period: December 01, 2014-November 30, 2018
External collaboration: Damien Matti (EPFL Signal Processing Laboratory 5 LTS5); LaTeX description

Leveraging Public and Open Data for Transportation Mode detection

Modern smartphones are more than just calling devices. They harbor a wealth of information that provides the transportation field with a new potential. In this project, researchers will create a transportation mode detection model based on telecommunication data from smartphone users combined with public transport-related data sources. The researchers are provided with anonymized telecommunication traces. As those data remain scarce, additional data will be identified from external sources including network infrastructure, route maps, time schedules in static or real-time form, microcensus, weather, etc. A probabilistic model will be developed to infer the transportation modes from those various data sources. The project lasts one year, and will be carried out by the Transport and Mobility Laboratory, directed by Prof. Michel Bierlaire. It is sponsored by Swisscom.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Marija Nikolic, Riccardo Scarinci
Sponsor: Swisscom
Period: September 04, 2017-September 04, 2018
External collaboration: Swisscom; LaTeX description

Network Design for SBB Cargo

This project aims at developing an algorithm for the overall design of SBB cargo’s network of bundling points. SBB Cargo operates a network of 2 marshaling yards, 65 shunting yards and about 350 of small bundling points. The operation as such is costly and the network might contain redundant bundling points. The overall interest of SBB Cargo is to minimize the operating cost of their network and to compare its performance to a better network, completely designed from scratch. The resulting framework is then planned to be used to improve the current network of SBB cargo and its future development. The main research challenge of this project is to incorporate the SBB Cargo needs into one model while taking into account the specifics of the railway network and its operation. The researchers from the Transport and Mobility Laboratory (TRANSP-OR) will develop a heuristic algorithm that gives as an output a complete network design based on the inputs (cargo demand, capacity, types and costs of different bundling points). The algorithm can be further adjusted by entering the already existing bundling points. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm will be tested thorough comparison with existing solutions. TRANSP-OR, led by prof. Michel Bierlaire, has a track record of successful projects of solving highly complex problems arising in industrial sector. This one-year project is sponsored by SBB-CFF-FFS.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Nikola Obrenovic, Virginie Lurkin
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
Period: September 01, 2017-August 31, 2018
External collaboration: SBB; LaTeX description

Cost reduction using passenger centric timetabling

To design their timetables, train-operating companies mostly focus on operational aspects and cost. In Switzerland, a paradigm of transportation planning is to create regular-interval timetables (a.k.a. cyclic timetables) which aim for maximal transfer connections, simplicity and hence user friendlyness. SBB uses travel simulation models to predict the impact of timetable changes on travel demand and revenue. Mathematical timetable optimization methods are not yet used by SBB. But a recent EPFL thesis (2016) shows that the timetable itself has a significant impact on the performance of the operator in terms of the number of transported passengers: a timetable design that considers the behavior of passengers leads to higher revenue(s), market share(s), higher value of passenger-km etc. In this project, the aim is to use the optimization methods developed by the TRANSP-OR Lab consisting in combining cyclic and non-cyclic timetables and apply it to the Swiss Federal Railways’ timetable design. The goal is to evaluate the performance of the current Swiss interval timetable and to compare it to the optimal one. Suitability of hybrid timetables for the Swiss railway network will be investigated. This one-year project is carried out by the Transport and Mobility Laboratory, led by prof. Michel Bierlaire. TRANSP-OR has vast competence in modeling, optimization and simulation of transportation systems. The project is sponsored by SBB CFF FFS.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Virginie Lurkin
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
Period: September 01, 2017-August 31, 2018
External collaboration: SBB; LaTeX description

myTOSA 2.0 - Enhanced simulation and optimization tool for cost-optimal deployment of TOSA electric buses

Commission pour la technologie et de l'innovation, Office Fédéral de la formation professionnelle et de la technologie.

The TOSA catenary-free electric bus system is the ABB response to the challenge of decreasing the environmental impact of public transportation. The project builds on the previous CTI project - myTOSA - and it aims to introduce new business analytics features and to improve the fidelity of the simulation and (robust) optimization modules used for a cost-optimal deployment of the TOSA charging infrastructure and component sizing.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Riccardo Scarinci, Virginie Lurkin
Sponsor: Commission pour la technologie et de l'innovation, Office Fédéral de la formation professionnelle et de la technologie.
Period: September 30, 2015-November 16, 2017
Collaborators: Shadi Sharif Azadeh, Yousef Maknoon
External collaboration: ABB, ABB Sécheron
External collaboration: HES-SO Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse occ.; LaTeX description

Electric vehicle adoption dynamics: exploring market potentials

This project proposes innovative methods to identify the determinants of acceptance of alternative vehicles and their impact on everyday mobility. The greatest challenge faced by the promoters of the transition towards this low carbon engine technology lies in understanding how consumers accept the financial and lifestyle investments associated with the leap from traditional to electric powertrains. This project proposes innovative methods to identify the determinants of acceptance of alternative vehicles and their impact on everyday mobility. A deeper understanding of adoption dynamics is critical to predict who will opt for EVs when and under which conditions. This project will focus on innovative data-collection and modelling methodologies to uncover the acceptance of EVs at different stages of market-penetration (considering inexperienced/experienced users, early pioneers/late-adopters). A thorough analysis of the consumer decision-making process will lead to uncovering the barriers and success factors related to EV uptake and to forecast buying and usage behaviours related to new vehicle classes.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Matthieu de Lapparent
Sponsor: Nissan
Period: April 01, 2014-March 31, 2017
Collaborator: Anna Fernandez Antolin
External collaboration: Dr. Amanda Stathopoulos, Northwestern University; LaTeX description

PostCarWorld: A Trans-Discplinary Multi-Dimensional Stimulation

The goal of this project is to explore the future of mobility through the role of the car. The main originality of this research is to raise the following problem: “What, if the world were a post-car world”. The basic idea is to define a hypothetical situation where the place of the car would have been dramatically reduced and to use qualitative and quantitative simulation methods to examine the consequences of this initial hypothesis. The research is based on the idea that by simulating the future through scenarios we can understand the present better. This project is fully interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary. It brings together social sciences, engineering sciences, urban planning and urban design in six different laboratories associated to three different universities. The role of TRANSP-OR in this project is to study and optimize an innovative transport system based on accelerated moving walkways (AMW). Differently from constant moving walkways, AMW can reach speeds up to 15km/h thanks to an acceleration section. The project aims to identify the optimal design of a network of AMW using optimization. A network of accelerated moving walkway in a car-free urban environment may present an innovative solution, and this project could delineate the system feasibility.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Riccardo Scarinci
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: December 01, 2013-November 30, 2016
More information:: http://postcarworld.epfl.ch/; LaTeX description

Revisiting the Route Choice Problem: A Multi-Level Modeling Framework for Route Choice Analysis Based On Latent Constructs

This project aims at developing behavioral models integrating the latent constructs that drive travel behavior. The objective of the project is to set the foundations of an innovative framework that facilitates the analysis and prediction of route choice behavior. Motivated by the complexity of the route choice models, we build on solid ground of the current state of the art and add on it by proposing a new approach that reduces model complexity and brings great flexibility to the analysis. The approach is inspired by the fact that people break down the complexity of the environment by forming representations of their surrounding space. Following this reasoning, we replace the conventional representation of routes which is based on paths, i.e. link-by-link sequences on the network model, with more aggregate elements that we denote as mental representation items. This key feature of the framework allows us to reduce the complexity of the model and at the same time is more behaviorally realistic.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Matthieu de Lapparent
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: October 01, 2013-September 30, 2016
Collaborator: Evanthia Kazagli
External collaboration: Dr. Amanda Stathopoulos, Northwestern University; LaTeX description

ACTUM

The ACTUM research collaboration project involves development of an activity-based modelling framework for Copenhagen that is aimed at handling the future requirements for transport policy evaluations in Denmark.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Matthieu de Lapparent
Sponsor: The Danish Council for Strategic Research
Period: March 01, 2011-March 01, 2016
More information:: http://www.dtu.dk/subsites/ACTUM/English.aspx; LaTeX description

Demand-based facility location problem

The project aims at integrating demand models in a state-of-the-art mathematical model for Location-Routing Problem (LRP) in the context of energy. We are investigating different assumptions about the representation of the demand in the context of facility location and routing problem.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Shadi Sharif Azadeh
Sponsor: EDF
Period: August 01, 2015-December 31, 2015
External collaboration: EDF; LaTeX description

Air navigation platform: flights planning by using real-time weather data

Flying safer, cheaper, faster are keywords of this new service. This project aims at integrating an automatic route planning system, tightly coupled with the real-time meteorological data, taking into account energy consumption of the mobile device hosting the application. The route will be computed in real time on mobile devices using the information of weather forecast and respecting to the constraints such as airspace/airport restriction and terrain avoidance, etc. The energy efficient implementation of the routing application is crucial, to provide routing information to the pilot during the entire trip. This becomes challenging, as automatic route planning often requires complex algorithms. In this project, we will target at a three-dimensional flight route-planning problem and design an efficient but robust algorithm to solve the problem. The project will last 18 months. It is conducted by TRANSP-OR in collaboration with the Xample Sàrl, ICARE Institut de recherche and Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale (HES-SO).

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Yousef Maknoon, Shadi Sharif Azadeh
Sponsor: Commission pour la technologie et de l'innovation, Office Fédéral de la formation professionnelle et de la technologie.
Period: March 02, 2014-September 02, 2015
External collaboration: Xample Sàrl
External collaboration: ICARE Institut de recherche
External collaboration: Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale; LaTeX description

Modular Logistics Units in Shared Co-modal Networks

The objective is to achieve the first genuine contribution to the development of intercontinental logistics at the European level, in close coordination with North America partners and the international Physical Internet Initiative. The goal of the project is to enable operations with developed iso-modular logistics units of size adequate for real modal and co-modal flows of fast-moving consumer goods, providing a basis for an interconnected logistics system for 2030.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Shadi Sharif Azadeh, Yousef Maknoon
Sponsor: European Commission
Period: July 01, 2012-June 30, 2015; LaTeX description

Pedestrian dynamics: flows and behavior

This project aims at developing mathematical models of pedestrian dynamics, both at aggregate and disaggregate levels. Integrated and holistic mathematical models will handle the complexity of this unique transport mode and help us to answer open research questions. in the future, such foundations will also allow to create the tools society needs to better understand pedestrian dynamics.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Bilal Farooq, Riccardo Scarinci
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: April 01, 2012-March 31, 2015
Collaborators: Antonin Danalet, Flurin Hänseler, Marija Nikolic; LaTeX description

Pedflux: Pedestrian flow modeling in train stations

The aim of this collaborative research project between the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS) and EPFL's transportation center is to analyze, model and optimize pedestrian flows in train stations. In recent years, the growing number of passengers has led to difficulties related to pedestrian flows in major train stations. Congestion of pedestrian walkways is increasingly becoming a problem during peak hours, but also due to clustering of people caused by major events or the beginning or end of holiday season. When capacity limits for pedestrian facilities are reached, normal operation of train schedules can be significantly impaired. Since train stations are important nodes within the multimodal public transportation system, it is of major importance that they are operated as efficiently as possible. In addition to the increase in passenger numbers, train stations have been undergoing a profound transformation from simple transit nodes towards versatile hubs that provide interface to short and long-distance train connections, to other modes including private transport by foot, bike and car, as well as to the city offering public space for shopping, eating and alike. This transformation leads to a further increase in pedestrian numbers and additionally introduces new behavior patterns. A sound understanding of pedestrian flows within a train station can help improve overall level of service, customer experience and safety. The main focus of this study lies on the development of a methodology allowing to estimate pedestrian origin-destination (OD) demand within a train station. Specifically, train time table, customer survey data and flow observations from an exhaustive camera system are used as sources of information in this process. Subsequently, the modeling frame work is applied to several case studies in Switzerland.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Michaël Thémans, Riccardo Scarinci
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
Period: April 01, 2012-March 31, 2015
Collaborator: Flurin Hänseler; LaTeX description

Large scale robust optimization of bulk port operations.

The primary objective of this research is to develop large scale robust optimization algorithms providing sustainable solutions for bulk port operations accounting for uncertainties and disruptions in operations. While significant contributions have been made for container terminals, relatively little attention has been directed to the use of operations research methods and techniques to optimize bulk port operations. In this research we aim to develop large scale mathematical models for bulk port operations, with emphasis on integrated planning; furthermore, we plan to include robustness to account for uncertainties in operations. A broader objective of our work is to study how the methodologies developed for bulk ports can be extended to multi-modal transport operations, including other domains such as container ports, airlines and railways, with a view to optimize the usage and operations of existing infrastructure to achieve sustainability in the mobility of goods and people. The devised models and algorithms will be tested and validated in a real-world context using as a case study, the SAQR port in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Nitish Umang, Ilaria Vacca
Sponsor: EPFL Middle East
Period: January 01, 2011-April 30, 2014
External collaboration: Saqr Port (Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE); LaTeX description

CLIP-AIR concept: Integrated schedule planning for a new generation of aircrafts

Sustainability has become a key topic in transportation in the last decades where the aim is to reduce the impact of transportation on the environment. One of the most important paths toward sustainability in this sector is to optimize transportation operations required in several dimensions to fulfill a given transport demand. To achieve this goal in the context of multimodal transport, there is a clear need for flexibility in capacity. This flexibility is adequately provided by a new concept developed at EPFL, named Clip-Air, for air transport. Clip-Air is a modular innovative aircraft with detachable load units which enable to adjust at best capacity according to demand. The decoupling of the load (capsules) and carrying units (wings) allows for simplified fleet management and maintenance operations for airlines and is expected to improve the ground operations for airports. Clip-Air also provides effective possibility of combining commercial freight and passengers on the same flight without any compromise in comfort. Besides, Clip-Air is designed to operate in a multi-modal context and is expected to improve the multi-modality concept by allowing a better integration between air transport and other transport modes. The objective of this research is to assess the actual impact of Clip-Air’s modularity on demand satisfaction, operational costs and environmental issues at the system level. The contributions will consist of models and algorithms designed to perform comparative analysis of operations of airlines and airports in various scenarios.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Bilge Atasoy, Matteo Salani
Sponsor: EPFL Middle East
Period: November 01, 2010-December 31, 2013
External collaboration: Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA, Lugano, Switzerland)); LaTeX description

myTOSA: catenary-free 100% electric urban public mass-transportation system

myTOSA is a simulation tool for the dimensioning, commercial promotion and case study set-up for ABB's revolutionary "catenary-free" 100% electric urban public mass-transportation system TOSA 2013. The objective of the project is to provide a simulation tool that will allow ABB to perform the proper dimensioning, promote the commercial idea and allow for specific study cases for the implementation of ABB's new public electric transportation concept, namely TOSA 2013.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jianghang Chen
Sponsor: Commission pour la technologie et de l'innovation, Office Fédéral de la formation professionnelle et de la technologie.
Period: March 01, 2012-September 30, 2013
Collaborators: Bilge Atasoy, Tomás Robenek
External collaboration: ABB Sécheron
External collaboration: HE - ARC; LaTeX description

Route choice models and smart phone data

Smart phones are able to collect a great wealth of information about the mobility patterns of individuals, including their itinerary. In addition to GPS tracks, smart phones contain several sensors and software revealing various aspects of the user's behavior (nearby Bluetooth devices, WiFi antenna, media players, etc.) Route choice models rely on the knowledge of the origin and the destination of the trip, and the transportation mode. They may also benefit from other contextual data, such as the trip purpose or the chain of subsequent activities. We plan to investigate how to infer this information from the smart phone data.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jingmin Chen
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: October 01, 2010-September 30, 2013
Collaborator: Jingmin Chen; LaTeX description

NRP 65: Sustainable Urban Patterns (SUPat)

This project aims at developing methodologies for the integration of qualitative an quantitative tools for land use planning and urban project-evaluation . The methodology will allow the interaction between urban design experts and land use modelers, developing techniques to use the description of urban projects and policies as inputs for land use models like UrbanSim and transport models like MATSim. The modeling effort output is used as input for the experts, generating an iterative feedback.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Bilal Farooq, Ricardo Hurtubia
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: October 01, 2010-September 30, 2013
Collaborator: Dimitrios Efthymiou; LaTeX description

Methods and tools for supporting the use, calibration and validation of traffic simulation models

The main objective of this Action is to develop, implement and promote methodologies and procedures to support the use of traffic simulations, especially on the topics of calibration and validation. To this aim, the sharing and exchanging of available traffic datasets will also be a key task of the Action.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Bilal Farooq
Sponsor: European Commission
Period: May 26, 2009-May 25, 2013
External collaboration: EPFL ENAC TOPO; LaTeX description

A DYNAMIC VEHICLE CHOICE FORECASTING FRAMEWORK

The aim of this research project is to develop a dynamic model framework to forecast car demand. The model-system jointly accounts for behavioural variables (e.g. household evolution, individual motivations), institutional factors (e.g. incentives and taxation) and market features (e.g. new fuel or vehicle technology launches) to forecast vehicle acquisition. The project benefits from a large-scale, longitudinal dataset on vehicle transactions from major European markets. Methodologically the framework consists of a system of aggregate, disaggregate and duration-based choice models, accounting for dynamic features of the decision at each stage. Importantly, the proposed dynamic framework enhances realism by representing the durability of possession, rapid changes in value across product and ownership cycles and uncertainty about future market developments and institutional factors. The proposed framework sheds light on the timing and type of vehicle ownership, illustrating the benefits of taking the first steps away from a static approach. The findings will aid the prediction of consumer behaviour in response to critical policy variables, such as incentives, alongside market dynamics, such as the appearance and diffusion of novel technologies. A deeper understanding of future vehicle choice behaviour is critical given sizable institutional and industrial investments to promote alternative vehicle technologies with a final aim to improve energy efficiency in the transportation sector. More information http://transport.epfl.ch/car-market-structure

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Amanda Stathopoulos
Sponsor: PSA Peugeot-Citroën
Period: April 01, 2012-April 30, 2013
Collaborator: Aurélie Glerum
More information:: http://transport.epfl.ch/car-market-structure; LaTeX description

SustainCity: Micro-simulation for the prospective of sustainable cities in Europe

The goal of this project is to address the modelling and computational issues of integrating modern mobility simulations with the latest micro-simulation land use models. The project intends to advance the state-of-the-art in the field of the micro-simulation of prospective integrated models of Land-Use and Transport (LUTI). On the modelling side, the main challenges are to integrate a demographic evolution module, to add an environmental module, to improve the overall consistency and, last but not least, to deal with the multi-scale aspects of the problem: several time horizons and spatial resolutions are involved.

Report(s):: Patterson, Z., and Bierlaire, M. Development of Prototype UrbanSim Models; Patterson, Z., and Hurtubia, R. A Prototype Integrated Transportation Land-use Model for the Lausanne Region
Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Ricardo Hurtubia, Bilal Farooq
Sponsor: European Commission
Period: January 01, 2010-December 31, 2012
Collaborator: Dimitrios Efthymiou
External collaboration: Prof. Axhausen, ETHZ
More information:: http://www.sustaincity.eu; LaTeX description

Models and methods for large scale optimization problems and applications in container terminals

We develop new strategies to tackle large scale problems and their optimization. We focus in particular applications arising in the optimization of container terminal operations.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Ilaria Vacca, Matteo Salani
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: December 01, 2009-November 30, 2012; LaTeX description

Léman 2030: Flux piétons Gare de Lausanne

In the framework of a 9-month collaboration with CFF, pedestrian flows in Lausanne train station are estimated and modeled. Specifically, an estimation methodology for pedestrian origin-destination demand is developed and applied to predict a demand scenario for 2030. By means of a pedestrian flow simulator, several infrastructure scenarios are quantitatively evaluated, the result of which helps CFF to design and dimension pedestrian underpasses of Gare de Lausanne for the future.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Michaël Thémans, Bilal Farooq
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
Period: October 01, 2011-July 15, 2012
Collaborators: Flurin Hänseler, Antonin Danalet, Sohrab Sahaleh; LaTeX description

A Solution Technique for the Locomotive Refueling Problem

This problem corresponds to refueling locomotives at different station yards during the course of its journey. Locomotive tanks have a fixed fuel capacity and prices of fuel vary across yards. In addition, there is a fixed cost for hiring a refueling truck at a yard and every refueling stop that the locomotive makes. Locomotives can power different train sets during a cyclical planning horizon running 14 days. The objective of this exercise is to minimize the total fuel costs – fixed and operational – for a given set of locomotives, trains and yards. In addition, there are numerous constraints relating to refueling, locomotive tank capacity, refueling truck capacity etc. This problem has similarity to the network flow problem. We formulate this problem as a Mixed Integer Program (MIP) and present our experience in this project.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Prem Kumar
Sponsor: Transport and Mobility Laboratory, EPFL
Period: July 15, 2010-July 15, 2012; LaTeX description

SIEU : Urban Energy Information System

The role of local authorities in reaching climate and energy goals is important. Consolidated data about energy at the local scale is necessary in order to fully measure the effects of policies and to adapt action-plans. The goal of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of a single platform with all the relevant energy data for a local authority, in particular statistics about mobility.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Antonin Danalet
Sponsor: The Ark Energy
Period: September 01, 2011-June 30, 2012
Collaborator: Antonin Danalet
External collaboration: Centre de Recherches Energétiques et Municipales (CREM, Martigny, Switzerland); LaTeX description

OPTIMA: Inferring transport mode preferences from attitudes

Swiss Post and PostBus have launched a research project to optimize mobility in cooperation with the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), represented by EPFL Transportation Center, under Professor Michel Bierlaire. This will show the market potential for combined mobility. Among other things it will look at the factors that influence travellers in their choice of transport. At a later stage, target group-specific new transport offerings and services will be developed and tested, which will have a lasting influence on this choice. The three years research project is conducted by Professors Vincent Kaufmann (LASUR) and Michel Bierlaire (TRANSP-OR).

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Anne Curchod
Sponsor: LaPoste
Period: February 01, 2009-June 30, 2012
Collaborators: Aurélie Glerum, Bilge Atasoy, Antonin Danalet
External collaboration: Vincent Kaufman (LASUR)
External collaboration: Prisca Faure (CEAT)
External collaboration: Martin Schuler (CEAT); LaTeX description

NEARCTIS

NEARCTIS (Network of Excellence: Advanced Road Cooperative Traffic management in the Information Society) is an academic network involving teams working on the field of traffic management and optimization, with a particular focus on cooperative systems. The main objective of the project is to constitute what could be considered as a virtual research institute.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Bilal Farooq
Sponsor: European Commission
Period: July 01, 2008-June 30, 2012
External collaboration: Edward Chung, Ashish Bhaskar, LAVOC, PY Gilliéron, TOPO
External collaboration: ERT, INRETS (F), DLR (D), TUC (GR), TU Delft (NL), Imperial College, UCL, Southampton (UK); LaTeX description

CATS City Alternative Transport System

The CATS project aims to develop a new urban transport service based on a new generation vehicle. Its major innovation is the utilisation of a single type of vehicle for two different usages: individual use or collective transport. This new transport service is aimed at filling the gap between public mass transport and private individual vehicles. It is based on two operating principles: the self service concept where small and clean urban vehicles are offered on a short term rental basis, and the flexible shuttle service where a variable length of vehicles convoy, driven by a professional driver, operates at fixed hours along a line on a permanent basis or on a case by case basis. Four Cristal vehicles and two stations will be made available by Lohr Industrie to the project for experiments. The CATS project will investigate through an in depth mobility needs analysis, on-site demonstration and showcases, the environmental impact and social acceptance of the introduction of such a new system in three different European cities (Strasbourg FR, Ploeisti, RO, Formello, IT). CATS will complement the design and manufacture of the Cristal vehicle via a detailed definition of its operating principles and by a design of its urban settings (stations, infrastructures,) in accordance with cities and citizens needs.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Sonia Lavadinho
Sponsor: European Commission
Period: March 01, 2009-February 29, 2012
External collaboration: LI - ERT - CUS - GEA - INRIA - Technion - CTL - PMP - AREMOL; LaTeX description

SURPRICE: Sustainable mobility through road user charging

Equity effects of congestion charges and intra-individual variation in preferences. A joint research initiative between: Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden (lead), The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland and Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Road Office
Period: July 05, 2010-October 03, 2011
Collaborator: Antonin Danalet
External collaboration: Axhausen Kay
External collaboration: Börjesson Maria
External collaboration: Cherchi Elisabetta
More information:: http://www.transport-era.net/action-groups/ent17-surprice.html; LaTeX description

Optimizing Staffing Plans at Airports

Minimizing operating costs for maintaining ground personnel at airports is a complex problem due to uneven flight activities, passenger service expectations and staffing inflexibilities due to shift durations. In this work, we would use the flight schedule and service criteria to develop a method to find optimal shift timings that considers non-productive time due to activity changeovers, the mix of full-time and part-time workers and passenger waiting time criteria.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Prem Kumar
Sponsor: Transport and Mobility Laboratory, EPFL
Period: October 01, 2010-October 01, 2011; LaTeX description

Robust Optimization of Railway Locomotive Assignment

Locomotive assignment at Railway companies is a complex problem that must optimally assign a set of locomotives to known, scheduled trains. Each train has a power and traction requirement and locomotives may be available in groups known as "consist". There is a cost involved in breaking or adding a locomotive to a consist. Determining an optimal locomotive assignment that would also be robust to handle delays, maintenance requirements and other unknown factors is a complex problem. We are inspired from the research in a similar, closely related subject in the airline industry and would explore the possibilities of extending the same to railways. This project would be a part of the larger concept of "Flexible Transportation Systems"

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Prem Kumar
Sponsor: Transport and Mobility Laboratory, EPFL
Period: October 01, 2010-September 30, 2011
Collaborator: Francesco Piu; LaTeX description

Demande de consommateurs pour des véhicules électriques

Evaluation de la demande des consommateurs pour des véhicules électriques en vue du lancement d'une telle gamme par Renault

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michaël Thémans
Sponsor: Renault Suisse SA
Period: August 01, 2010-April 30, 2011
Collaborator: Aurélie Glerum; LaTeX description

Behavioural modelling of human experts for scene analysis

Modelling the global appraisal process of experts in the context of scene analysis.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Javier Cruz, Thomas Robin
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: October 01, 2007-September 30, 2010; LaTeX description

Column generation methods for the recovery of disrupted airline schedules

Robust planning and recovery from disruptions for airlines operations

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Niklaus Eggenberg
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: October 01, 2007-August 31, 2010; LaTeX description

Projet d'agglomération Lausanne-Morges - AFTPU - Fourniture d'indicateurs pour alimenter l'analyse multicritère pour le choix de la variante de la desserte Nord

Des axes forts de transport public urbain sont à l'étude dans l'agglomération de Lausanne-Morges. Ce projet vise à fournir, à partir du logiciel Emme, des critères d'évaluation des diverses variantes de desserte de la partie nord de Lausanne

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jean-Pierre Leyvraz
Sponsor: Service des routes et de la mobilité de la Commune de Lausanne
Period: January 01, 2010-June 30, 2010
External collaboration: Eric Grasset, bureau CITEC
External collaboration: Christophe Jemelin, TL; LaTeX description

Disaggregate behavioral models exploiting data from Nokia devices

The projects aims at investigating how to perform an appropriate fusion of data from smartphones in order to predict the mobility behavior of a given individual.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jeffrey Newman
Sponsor: Nokia Research Center
Period: December 01, 2008-June 30, 2010
Collaborator: Jingmin Chen; LaTeX description

Dépouillement des enquêtes de mobilité aux Hautes Ecoles

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Examens des comportements de transport des usagers des Hautes Ecoles sur la base d'enqêtes de mobilité régulières.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Jean-Pierre Leyvraz, Sonia Lavadinho
Sponsor: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Period: June 24, 2009-June 01, 2010
External collaboration: Martin Schuler (CEAT)
External collaboration: Alain Jarne (CEAT); LaTeX description

SOPHOS: Simulation-based Optimization of the Performance in Hospital Operating suites

Design an optimization framework combining macroscopic and microscopic models, with applications in hospital management and urban road traffic.

Report(s):: Osorio, C., and Bierlaire, M. An analytic finite capacity queueing network model capturing blocking, congestion and spillbacks
Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Carolina Osorio Pizano
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: December 01, 2007-November 30, 2009; LaTeX description

Optimization of container terminal operations

Design and development of models and algorithms for the optimization of operations in seaport container terminals.

Report(s):: Vacca, I., Bierlaire, M., and Salani, M. Optimization at Container Terminals: Status, Trends and Perspectives (revised version); Giallombardo, G., Moccia, L., Salani, M., and Vacca, I. Modeling and Solving the Tactical Berth Allocation Problem
Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Ilaria Vacca, Matteo Salani
Sponsor: Transport and Mobility Laboratory, EPFL
Period: February 01, 2007-November 30, 2009; LaTeX description

Invariant features in omnidirectional images

Design of algorithms to extract invariant features from images captured by omnidirectional cameras.

Report(s):: Cruz, J., Bogdanova, I., Paquier, B., Bierlaire, M., and Thiran, J. Scale Invariant Feature Transform on the Sphere: Theory and Applications
Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Javier Cruz
Sponsor: Transport and Mobility Laboratory, EPFL
Period: May 20, 2008-May 01, 2009
External collaboration: Iva Bogdanova (ESL, EPFL)
External collaboration: Benoît Paquier (LTS5, EPFL)
External collaboration: Jean-Philippe Thiran (LTS5, EPFL); LaTeX description

A PrototypeTransportation Land-use Model for the Region of Lausanne, Switzerland

Institut du développement territorial (INTER), EPFL

Development of a prototype integrated transportation land-use model for the region of Lausanne.

Principal investigator: Zachary Patterson
Project managers: Zachary Patterson, Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Institut du développement territorial (INTER), EPFL
Period: January 07, 2008-March 01, 2009
Collaborator: Zachary Patterson; LaTeX description

Simulation-based optimization of a railroad yard

Simulation-based optimization of the operations of Vale's railroad yards.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project managers: Matteo Salani, Anne Curchod
Sponsor: Vale
Period: July 01, 2008-February 28, 2009; LaTeX description

Path to purchase

To understand consumer behavior in his or her path to purchase.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Kamran Houshang Pour
Sponsor: Nestlé
Period: July 01, 2006-June 30, 2008
Collaborators: Thomas Robin, Gianluca Antonini
External collaboration: Jean-Philippe Thiran, ITS, EPFL; LaTeX description

Schedule disruption recovery for airlines

Development of a software product dedicated to airlines and providing solutions to recover from schedule disruptions with minimum cost.

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Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Matteo Salani
Sponsor: Commission pour la technologie et de l'innovation, Office Fédéral de la formation professionnelle et de la technologie.
Period: June 01, 2006-May 31, 2008
Collaborator: Niklaus Eggenberg
External collaboration: APM Technologies SA; LaTeX description

Development of route choice models

Design new discrete choice models capturing route choice behavior

Report(s):: Bierlaire, M., and Frejinger, E. Route choice modeling with network-free data; Frejinger, E., and Bierlaire, M. Sampling of Alternatives for Route Choice Modeling; Frejinger, E., and Bierlaire, M. Capturing correlation in large-scale route choice models
Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Emma Frejinger
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: May 01, 2005-April 30, 2008; LaTeX description

Système d'informatique géographique pour l'observatoire de la mobilité

L’Observatoire de la Mobilité réalise régulièrement des enquêtes sur les déplacements des étudiants et collaborateurs en direction des Hautes Ecoles. Actuellement ces personnes entrent l’origine de leur déplacement en donnant le numéro postal, la localité et le cas échéant une indication supplémentaire (quartier). Ce projet a creusé la possibilité de donner l’origine en pointant sur une carte, compte tenu à la fois des aspects techniques et de facilité d’usage par les utilisateurs.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jean-Pierre Leyvraz
Sponsor: Institut du développement territorial (INTER), EPFL
Period: July 03, 2007-March 25, 2008
External collaboration: Panos Tzieropulos, LITEP
External collaboration: Jens Ingensand, LASIG; LaTeX description

Projet d'agglomération Lausanne-Morges - Axes forts de transports publics urbains - Mise au point des variantes, choix d'une variante préférentielle et d'un axe fort prioritaire.

Après avoir retenu certaines variantes d'axes forts de transport en commun dans l'agglomération Lausanne-Morges lors d'une étude précédente, il s'agissait de choisir une variante prérentielle et un axe fort prioritaire. L'étude a été menée en s'aidant du logiciel EMME.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jean-Pierre Leyvraz
Sponsor: Service de la mobilité du canton de Vaud
Period: October 01, 2007-January 10, 2008
External collaboration: Philippe Gentizon, bureau Ribi
External collaboration: Patrick Paulus, bureau RGR; LaTeX description

SOPHOS: Simulation-based Optimization of the Performance in Hospital Operating Suites

Design an optimization framework for the operation suites in hospitals, using simulation tools

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Carolina Osorio Pizano
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: December 01, 2005-November 30, 2007
External collaboration: HUG (Hôpital Universitaire Genève); LaTeX description

Travaux de modélisation Emme2 en liens avec projets : SDOL (image directrice), desserte Le Mont, augmentation de capacité m2

Etudes TL diverses : comparaison entre 2 variantes de futur réseau, tapis roulant Gare-Flon, prolongation de lignes vers le Mont-sur-Lausanne. en fournissant des indicateurs de qualité grâce à une modélisation Emme

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jean-Pierre Leyvraz
Sponsor: Transports publics lausannois
Period: August 01, 2007-September 30, 2007; LaTeX description

Projet d'agglomération Lausanne-Morges - Axes forts TC - Cadrage stratégique et définition d'un réseau d'axes forts (contrat FMa/2007/02)

A l'aide du programme Emme, tester l'opportunité d'implanter certains axes forts de transport en commun dans l'agglomération Lausanne-Morges

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jean-Pierre Leyvraz
Sponsor: Service de la mobilité du canton de Vaud
Period: June 01, 2007-July 31, 2007
External collaboration: Philippe Gentizon, bureau Ribi
External collaboration: Patrick Paulus, bureau RGR; LaTeX description

Projet d'agglomération Lausanne-Morges, évaluation du projet et de ses mesures selon les critères édictés par la Confédération, travaux de modélisation avec le modèle EMME2 (contrat CL/2007/02)

Evaluation à l'aide du logiciel Emme de divers projets d'action sur les transports à l'intérieur de l'agglomération Lausanne-Morges : nouvelles jonctions autoroutières, nouvelles routes d'évitement, restrictions de vitesse, nouvelles lignes de transport en commun, renforcement du réseau ferroviaire.

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jean-Pierre Leyvraz
Sponsor: Service de la mobilité du canton de Vaud
Period: June 01, 2007-July 31, 2007
External collaboration: Roman Frick, bureau INFRAS
External collaboration: Patrick Paulus, bureau RGR; LaTeX description

Modèle de planification des transports de la région lausannoise: Offre de construction de demandes 2020

Previsions of OD matrices and modal split for 2020 in the Lausanne region

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Jean-Pierre Leyvraz
Sponsor: Service de la mobilité du canton de Vaud
Period: August 01, 2006-April 01, 2007
Collaborator: Thomas Robin
External collaboration: Patrick Paulus, bureau RGR; LaTeX description

Optimization methods for advanced discrete choice models

Development of optimization algorithms designed for the maximum likelihood estimation of advanced discrete choice models where the objective function is singular, and non-trivial constraints are imposed on the parameters

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michaël Thémans
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: April 01, 2004-March 31, 2007; LaTeX description

Einbezug von Reisekosten bei der Modelliering des Mobilitätsverhalten

Development of route choice models from RP and SP data

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Emma Frejinger
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Road Office
Period: November 01, 2005-February 28, 2007
Collaborator: Jelena Stojanovic
External collaboration: Prof. K. W. Axhausen (IVT, ETHZ)
External collaboration: Prof. R. Maggi (Instituto Ricerche Economiche, Univesità della Svizzera Italiana); LaTeX description

Location of distribution centres

Optimization of the location of distribution centres for Postlogistics, Switzerland

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Carolina Osorio Pizano
Sponsor: Transport and Mobility Laboratory, EPFL
Period: March 15, 2006-August 21, 2006
Collaborator: Thomas Robin
External collaboration: Daniel Marbach, Postlogistics; LaTeX description

Enseignement orienté projet assisté par ordinateur

Fonds d'innovation de la formation de l'EPFL

Develop appropriate case studies for teaching optimization to mechanical engineers

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Emma Frejinger
Sponsor: Fonds d'innovation de la formation de l'EPFL
Period: April 01, 2004-March 31, 2006
External collaboration: LENI, EPFL; LaTeX description

Behavioral model-based scene analysis

NCCR Interactive Multimodal Information Management

Development of disaggregate behavior model for scene analysis in the context of video surveillance

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: NCCR Interactive Multimodal Information Management
Period: July 01, 2002-June 30, 2005
Collaborator: Gianluca Antonini
External collaboration: Jean-Philippe Thiran, LTS, EPFL; LaTeX description

Doped derivative-free algorithms for medical image registration

Design of a new class of derivative-free algorithms exploiting some derivative information, customized for the image registration problem

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Rodrigue Oeuvray
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: April 01, 2002-March 31, 2005
External collaboration: Philippe Thévenaz, Biomedical Image Group, EPFL
External collaboration: Jean-Philippe Thiran, Signal Processing Laboratory, EPFL; LaTeX description

Développement de modèles suisses de prédiction de la demande en transport pour des applications en temps réel (Development of Swiss models for transportation demand prediction in the context of traffic management systems)

VSS - Association of Swiss Road and Traffic Engineers

Development of operational disaggregate demand models for efficient dynamic traffic managment systems

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: VSS - Association of Swiss Road and Traffic Engineers
Period: January 01, 2003-December 31, 2004
Collaborator: Michaël Thémans
External collaboration: Prof. K. W. Axhausen, IVT, ETHZ
External collaboration: A. Robert-Grandpierre, bureau d'ingénieurs RGR-SA
External collaboration: P. Widmer, Büro Widmer, Frauenfeld; LaTeX description

Pedestrian simulation

We develop models of pedestrian movements based on discrete choice analysis.

Report(s):: Robin, T., Antonini, G., Bierlaire, M., and Cruz, J. Specification, estimation and validation of a pedestrian walking behavior model; Antonini, G., and Bierlaire, M. Capturing interactions in pedestrian walking behavior in a discrete choice framework
Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Transport and Mobility Laboratory, EPFL
Period: October 01, 2002-October 01, 2004
Collaborators: Gianluca Antonini, Thomas Robin, Javier Cruz; LaTeX description

SIMBAD: Simulation-Based Automatic Detection

Develop a model-based detection system where the scene analysis is supported by a crowd simulator

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Mats Weber
Sponsor: Commission pour la technologie et de l'innovation, Office Fédéral de la formation professionnelle et de la technologie.
Period: October 01, 2002-September 30, 2004
Collaborator: Gianluca Antonini
External collaboration: Mats Weber, ROSO, EPFL
External collaboration: Visiowavw S.A
External collaboration: Jean-Philippe Thiran, LTS, EPFL; LaTeX description

Modèles de prévision de ventes (Sales forecasting models)

Develop forecasting models for sales of various products, such as printers

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: infoSource S.A.
Period: April 01, 2004-May 31, 2004
External collaboration: Sébastien Naizot, ROSO, EPFL; LaTeX description

Structure and use of human activity spaces

Use of GPS-based data to address three fundamental behavioural questions: (i) size, structure and orientation of the individual activity spaces, (ii) frequency and amplitude of the rythms of visits to different locations, including their competition and (iii) form of the rules of route choice behaviour

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Period: June 01, 2003-May 31, 2004
External collaboration: Sébastien Naizot, ROSO, EPFL
External collaboration: Prof. K. W. Axhausen, IVT, ETHZ; LaTeX description

Organisation des tournées de bus (Planning of school bus pick-up services)

Develop a prototype of a decision-aiding system for the bus scheduling problem

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande
Period: February 01, 2004-March 31, 2004
Collaborator: Michela Thiémard
External collaboration: Michel Tsukahara, ROSO, EPFL; LaTeX description

Simulation du bloc opératoire et de la salle de réveil (Simulation of the surgery block)

Design and implement a model to simulate the operations of the surgery block in the Geneva Hospital

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève
Period: April 01, 2002-March 31, 2004
External collaboration: Christophe Weibel, ROSO, EPFL
External collaboration: Dr. Garnerin, HUG; LaTeX description

New algorithms for the route guidance generation problem

Development of new algorithms to solve the route guidance generation problem, based on several formulations of the problem, combining a fixed-point approach with an optimization approach

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Frank Crittin
Sponsor: Swiss National Science Foundation
Period: April 01, 2001-March 31, 2004
External collaboration: Prof. M. Ben-Akiva, MIT; LaTeX description

Large-scale discrete choice models

We investigate methodological developments designed to handle discrete choice models with a large number of alternatives

Report(s):: Bierlaire, M., Bolduc, D., and McFadden, D. The estimation of Generalized Extreme Value models from choice-based samples; Bierlaire, M., and Lucadamo, A. Sampling of alternatives using multidimensional analysis
Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Transport and Mobility Laboratory, EPFL
Period: March 25, 2003-March 25, 2004; LaTeX description

TIMS: Tourism Instant Marketing and Shopping

Develop a simulation tool to assess dynamic pricing and yield management strategies in ski resorts

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Commission pour la technologie et de l'innovation, Office Fédéral de la formation professionnelle et de la technologie.
Period: October 01, 2003-December 31, 2003
External collaboration: Sébastien Naizot, ROSO, EPFL
External collaboration: Groupe de compétence économie et tourisme, HEVs Sierre; LaTeX description

Plan de gestion du trafic: Etude pilote pour la Suisse Occidentale (traffic management plan: pilot survey in Western Switzerland)

Implementation and evaluation of a real-time traffic prediciton model for the Western Switzerland highway network

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Swiss Federal Road Office
Period: March 01, 2001-May 31, 2002
External collaboration: Constantinos Antoniou, ROSO, EPFL
External collaboration: A. Robert-Grandpierre, bureau d'ingénieurs RGR-SA; LaTeX description

Algorithmes d'optimisation performants pour le recalage rigide d'images en radiochirurgie et en radiothérapie stéréotaxique fractionnée assistées par ordinateur

$Algorithmes d'optimisation performants pour le recalage rigide d'images en radiochirurgie et en radiothérapie stéréotaxique fractionnée assistées par ordinateur$

Development and adaptations of efficient optimisation algorithms dedicated to brain images registration

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Fonds UNIL-EPFL
Period: March 01, 2001-March 31, 2002
Collaborator: Rodrigue Oeuvray
External collaboration: Dr. Pica, chef de clinique, Service de Radio-Oncologie, CHUV; LaTeX description

Development and Evaluation of DynaMIT, a real-time Dynamic Traffic Assignment system for traffic prediction and guidance generation

Intelligent Transportation Systems Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Collaborate with MIT for the development and evaluation of DynaMIT, a Dynamic Traffic Assignment System (DTA) that supports real-time applications such as synamic route guidance and adaptative traffic control

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Intelligent Transportation Systems Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Period: October 01, 1998-October 31, 2001
Collaborator: Frank Crittin
External collaboration: Prof. M. Ben-Akiva, MIT; LaTeX description

PAPABILES

Evaluation of a traffic control system in Lausanne, using MITSIM laboratory, a state-of-the-art simulation tool developed by the Intelligent Transportation Systems Program, MIT

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Etat de Vaud
Period: March 01, 2000-August 31, 2001
External collaboration: A. Torday, Dept of Civil Engineering, EPFL
External collaboration: Prof. Dumont, Dept of Civil Engineering, EPFL
External collaboration: Dr. Mattenberger, Dept of Civil Engineering, EPFL; LaTeX description

Optimisation de grande taille sans dérivés (Large-scale derivate-free optimization)

Develop a new research track in large-scale derivative-free optimization

Principal investigator: Michel Bierlaire
Project manager: Michel Bierlaire
Sponsor: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Period: January 01, 2000-January 01, 2001
Collaborator: Frank Crittin; LaTeX description

Transport and Mobility Laboratory: Research projects

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