OTC newsletter.

              Oklahoma Transportation Center
Summer 2011
Freight Logistics
2 | Economic Enhancement through Infrastruscture Stewardship
Oklahoma Transportation Center
2601 Liberty Parkway, Suite 110
Midwest City, Oklahoma 73110
Phone: (405) 732-6580
Website: www.oktc.org
Tony Dark, Executive Director
Email: tony.dark@okstate.edu
Michelle McFarland, Assistant Director
Email: michelle.mcfarland@okstate.edu
Arnulf Hagen, Technical Director
Email: aphagen@ou.edu
Alan Tree, Principal Investigator
Email: tree@okstate.edu
The Oklahoma Transportation Center (OkTC) is a National University Transportation Center (UTC) sponsored by the United States Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative
Technology Administration (RITA).
Cover: Photo taken from Bricktown looking west on Interstate 40 as a semi-truck travels east passing through downtown Oklahoma City.
Photo taken by Karen Kelly.Summer 2011 Newsletter | 3
Table of Contents
Letter from the Executive Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
OkTC Mission & Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Trevor Grout, OkTC Student of the Year
OkTC Research & Technology Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . .6-14
From Local to Global: Freight Transportation and Logistic
Research and Education in Oklahoma
Scenario Optimization Approach for Designing a
Switchgrass Supply Chain
A Video Based Commercial Vehicle Route Tracking System
OkTC Education & Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15-19
TAP-YTL
A Transportation Experience in Germany - May 22-30, 2011
Freight Logistics and Network Models: You mean it’s not a puzzle?!
Graduate Student Recruiting into Critical Transportation Infrastructure
Areas of Interest
OkTC Industry Advisory Board Member|Profile
During an active 40-year career, Hawks has worked in corporate, military and educational transportation/logistics. In 2000, he retired from Kerr-McGee
Corporation and established Hawks Logistics, Inc. to do various aspects of supply chain consulting. His thorough knowledge of hazardous materials
requirements and safety has made him
an invaluable asset.
Internationally, he has consulted and taught at Sinopec, China’s largest oil company and spoken at several seminars exploring good transportation and
logistics practices both in China and the U.S.
Hawks has taught classes in transporta­tion,
logistics, and supply chain manage­ment
for The University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University’s OKC
Campus, and in the California college system. He has also taught intermodal transportation, dangerous goods and security classes at the U.S. Merchant
Marine Academy’s Global Maritime Training School.
A graduate of The University of Okla-homa and the Florida Institute of Technology, Hawks is a Certified Profes­sional
Logistician and Board member of the American Society of Transportation and Logistics (AST&L), and is actively involved in several organizations.
Hawks Logistics, Inc.
1120 Bankside Circle
Edmond, OK 73012
Phone: 405-340-3395
shawks@hawkslogistics.com
Steve Hawks, President
Hawks Logistics, Inc.OkTC | Letter from the Director
4 | Economic Enhancement through Infrastruscture Stewardship
Tony Dark
OkTC Mission
The Oklahoma Transportation
Center marshals the talents and
resources of Oklahoma State
University, The University of
Oklahoma and Langston
University - as well as Oklahoma-based private industry, governments and transportation professionals to provide world-class solutions to
challenges in building, designing
and maintaining transportation
systems.
OkTC Theme
Economic Enhancement through Infrastructure Stewardship
The economic vitality of this nation is directly linked to our surface transportation system. The interstate highway system stimulated our economy by effectively linking this nation and creating timely accessibility never before experienced. The next 50 years will be full of challenges, opportunities and economic growth, but we must keep pace with the increasing demands for capacity, safety and productivity.
The OkTC is positioned to be instrumental in the development of key transportation corridors facilitating national economic expansion. Technical and physical limitations to the existing
system are obstacles to increased productivity, safety and
security which must be addressed to realize the full potential
of economic opportunities for our state and nation.
The Oklahoma Transportation Center is systematically
addressing these issues using the collaborative efforts of
Oklahoma State University, The University of Oklahoma and Langston University in conjunction with transportation profes­sionals
in government and industry. The OkTC is marshaling the best talent available, examining and advancing innovative solutions to these problems of structural limitations, inadequate capacity, security and safety.
Welcome to the OkTC’s summer newsletter addressing the importance of transportation infrastructure support. Our University Transportation Center
projects have led to a state-of-the-art decision support system to facilitate critical
decisions related to transportation infrastructure planning in the public sector and
supply chain system planning in the private sector. Our researchers look at method-
ology and math models to assist in supply chain system planning; our team engages high school students along with the classroom teacher in this exciting area. While we have seen technicians alongside highway traffic, counter in-hand building data sets, our OkTC group is using their video-based system which not only counts but recognizes commercial vehicles to more accurately populate a database enhancing the outcomes of needed research in this area.
I hope you enjoy our latest edition and look forward to hearing of any collaborations that might come to mind as you peruse our accomplishments in this specific field.Summer 2011 Newsletter | 5
OkTC SOY|Profile
Trevor Grout
Graduate Student at the University of Oklahoma
Selection criteria for the award include:
- US Citizen or permanent resident enrolled for at
least two semesters at a UTC member university
- A grade point average of B or better in at least 12
hours of graduate course work at time of selection
and a graduate GPA of at least 3.25
- Accomplishments in three areas: Technical Merit and Research, Academic Perfor­mance
and Professionalism
and Leadership
To learn more, visit
http://utc.dot.gov/
Profile - OkTC Student of the Year
Trevor Grout, engineering graduate student at the University of Oklahoma’s
Atmospheric Radar Research Center, was presented with the Oklahoma
Transportation Center’s student of the year award at the 14th annual Council
of University Transportation Centers’ award banquet, held Jan. 2011 in
Washington, D.C.
Grout was recognized nationally for outstanding achievement in and contribu­tion
to transportation research and education. Since July 2009, Grout has been working with collaborators on a project titled “Proactive Approach to
Transportation Resource Allocation under Severe Weather Emergencies.” The goal of the project is to develop tools that aid managers in making resource allocation and deployment decisions to mitigate the effects of severe winter weather.
“Trevor is a unique fit for this project as it necessitates the need for a multi-
disciplinary approach from both a meteorological and engineering perspective,”
said Yang Hong, associate professor in OU’s School of Civil Engineering and
Environmental Sciences. “Trevor’s background with a bachelor’s degree in
meteorology, and working towards completion of his master of science in civil
engineering, undoubtedly gives him a great advantage. This award truly testifies the interdisciplinary weather enterprise at OU.”
Pictured (L-R): Musharraf Zaman, OU College of Engineering associate dean of research and graduate programs; Jewellyn Grout, spouse; Trevor Grout, OU engineering student; Michelle McFarland, Oklahoma Transportation Center assistant director; and Tony Dark, OkTC executive director.OkTC Research & Technology Transfer
6 | Economic Enhancement through Infrastruscture Stewardship
Guoqiang Shen
P. Simin Pulat
Manjunath Kamath
Ricki Ingalls
From Local to Global: Freight Transportation and Logistic Research and Education in Oklahoma
Guoqiang Shen, Ph.D. P. Simin Pulat, Ph.D.Regional and City Planning, College of Architecture School of Industrial Engineering
The University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma
Gizem Aydin, Ph.D. Candidate Carol Wang, Ph.D. Candidate
School of Industrial Engineering School of Industrial Engineering
The University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma
Manjunath Kamath, Ph.D. Ricki Ingalls, Ph.D.
School of Industrial Engineering & School of Industrial Engineering &
Management, Oklahoma State University Management, Oklahoma State University
Sandeep Srivathsan, Ph.D. Candidate
School of Industrial Engineering &
Management, Oklahoma State University
Introduction: The novel freight movement model, sponsored by the Oklahoma
Transportation Center (OkTC), was developed by a collaborative effort involving the
University of Oklahoma (OU) and Oklahoma State University (OSU) researchers. Thus far the project has provided important insights to long-range transportation plans for the local government and provided business decisions to the freight transportation and logistics
industry. Scholarly
contributions to the freight research community was also an outcome of this model. The freight model and its many applications have been adopted into existing transportation and logistics courses. A freight transportation and logistics certificate program, largely based on this research, is also being proposed by OU and OSU.
Problem: Freight transportation, vital to a nation’s social life, economic development and political stability requires a good understanding of freight movement in the past, present and accurate projections into the future. Accurate outcomes from this knowledge are necessary for better freight transportation plans, policies and decisions. The multi-year freight research by OU and OSU through the OkTC is centered on the development of an innovative freight movement model. This model, which is generic enough to process freight flows at any spatial scale, ranges from ports to traffic analysis zones (TAZ) and metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) to counties, states, countries and regions across the globe. The OkTC freight model is also designed to estimate multi-modal, multi-commodity and multi-timeframe freight flows optimally assigned to transportation networks. Moreover, the model is expected to handle freight economic impact studies under various social, economic, and physical scenarios.
Summer 2011 Newsletter | 7
OkTC Research & Technology Transfer
Solution: The main research objective is to develop a novel and versatile model to best estimate aggregated freight flows, including in flows, out flows, within flows and through flows by commodity and by mode for a geographical unit (i.e., port, city, MSA, county, state, country, region and world) on real transportation networks. The secondary research objective is to study the freight movement dynamics and impacts under different scenarios (i.e., by accidents such as a bridge collapse; by natural hazards such as a hurricane and earthquake and by economic development such as a business expansion or infrastructure investment like a new inter-modal facility).
The scope of the project ranges from local freight:, such as the freight movement study for the Tulsa Transportation Management area that covers five counties, to national freight, such as the freight flows for the entire U.S., to global freight, such as the freight imports and exports between the U.S. to all other countries in the world. From the freight movement perspective, the research project considers three types of freight movement. The first is domestic freight among U.S. origins and destinations; the second is all imported freight from foreign countries and their ports to ports in the U.S., then to their final U.S. destinations; the third is all exported freight from origins in the U.S. to ports in the U.S., then to all foreign countries and their ports. All freight flows can be aggregated total flow or commodity specific by mode and time (i.e., year or month).
Tasks performed include an extensive freight literature review, database mining and integration, model formulation, testing and numerical analysis, and report writing. A prototype decision support software with freight learning,
education, visualization and scenario modules has also been developed. Numerous oral presentations and poster
presentations were also made at various national and international transportation and logistics conferences.
Research findings are interesting and numerous. First, the model can
generate freight flow estimates for any link, sub-network and mode for total or specific commodities. The estimates are reasonably accurate as validated. This finding makes the model and its results useful for freight transporta­tion
plans and policies at any spatial administrative level. Second, the freight flows considering network capacity expose freight transportation bottle­necks,
hence providing a strong reference for freight-based infrastructure planning and decision-making. Third is the results generated from the
scenario analysis, highlighting the spatial dynamics of freight movement. In particular, the increase or decrease of freight production or attraction, the addition or removal of a sub-set of network nodes or links and the
expansion or contraction of network capacity all affect freight movement. This affect is realized locally as well as regionally and globally, hence
indicating a need for a spatially or multi-jurisdictionally coordinated effort
in freight transportation planning and policy.
3D Freight Visualization: US Total
Commodity Imports from the World, 2002 OkTC Research & Technology Transfer
8 | Economic Enhancement through Infrastruscture Stewardship
Continued: Freight Transportation and Logistic Research and Education
Application: Freight Flow Move­ment
Study for Tulsa TMA Long-Range Transportation Plan 2030
Invited by the Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG), a voluntary association of local and tribal governments in the Tulsa
metropolitan area in northeast
Oklahoma that provides planning and coordination services to
local and regional challenges in land use, transportation, community and economic development, etc., the research team conducted a year-long study of multi-modal freight move­ment
to provide freight flow
information to the Long-Range
Transportation Plan 2030 for the Tulsa Transportation Management Area (TMA). INCOG serves Creek, Osage, Rogers, Tulsa and Wagoner counties, more than 50 cities and towns located in those counties, and the Muscogee (Creek) and Osage Nations.
The Tulsa freight study utilized the state and regional models developed in the first two phases of the Oklahoma Freight Movement Model (FMM), sponsored by the OkTC University Transportation Center, with Tulsa area inputs such as population, employment, national commodity flow surveys (CFS) and local transportation networks. The study
provided reasonably good freight flow estimates for 2020, 2025, and 2030 on highways, railways, waterways and at the Port of Catoosa. The freight flow estimates for highways were validated with traffic surveys at selected highway network points. The study provided valuable suggestions to the Tulsa TMA for the planning of highways, railways, waterways and the Port of Catoosa to handle freight flows, particularly at the most congested network segments.
Containerized Freight Flow Movement and Port Security
The same model was refined and applied to the interdisciplinary project on global containerized freight movement and port security. In this application, the project took account of more than 4,000 major foreign ports that had import and export freight with major U.S. ports and were assigned to ocean routes. These import and export freight flows were then assigned to U.S. multi-modal networks to their U.S. origins and destinations.
The Oklahoma freight movement project served not only as the seed grant that successfully led to the INCOG
sponsored Tulsa freight movement study, but it also helped bring in the Containerized Freight Movement project at OU. The Port Security project, a 4-year, and over $10 million project, was carried out by a multidisciplinary team with more than 20 OU faculty members and 3 industrial partners. The sub-team on freight movement had two faculty members and several Masters/Ph.D students from OU.
US Total Exports and US Domestic Freight Among Ports and 114 MSAs, 2002Summer 2011 Newsletter | 9
This project dealt with three types of containerized freight: the first is the total flow from all other foreign ocean ports to U.S. ports (imports); the second is the total flow from all U.S. ports to all foreign ocean ports (exports); and the third is the total flow within the U.S. territory. The port-to-port freight imports and exports by years over the 10 years from 1997-2007 were quantified, assigned to an ocean network and visualized in Google Earth in 3D.
Benefits: The benefits from this research are many. First, various government transportation planning agencies, ranging from city, county, state, regional and national can fully utilize this model or its results on freight movement together with passenger flows for policy decisions. Second, freight and logistics
companies can use the model and results for shipping and implementation of business decisions. Third, the model, with its versatility in handling various levels of detail, flexibility in processing various modes and the capability to support decision making, can be used by other research and educational institutions. Finally, the model can be integrated with other models, such as those in energy study, economic impact and environmental assessment to provide wider policy and decision support.
OkTC Research & Technology Transfer
Total Estimated Highway Truck Flows for Tulsa TMA at the TAZ Level, Year 2030
National and Regional Awards
Won by Graduate Associates
on Freight Projects
Justin LeBeau, won the 2006 Best Student Paper contest for the National Geographic Information System-
Transportation Conference in Colum­bus,
Ohio. Paper Title: A Critical Review and Integration of GIS-Based Spatial Databases for Multi-Commodity and Multi-Mode Freight Movement Model­ing
and Security Analysis in USA”.
Charu Ojha, won the 2007 Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter Advancing Women in Transportation Scholarship from the Women’s Transportation Seminar. Ojha, a City and Regional Planning student from the University of Oklahoma, worked as a graduate assistant on the freight flow movement projects for two years.
Carol Wang, a Ph.D. candidate in Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, has been working on freight movement projects for the past four years. She has one journal paper accepted by the International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics and has presented in many freight confer­ences.
She also won numerous awards, including 2007 Cleo Cross Scholarship, 2007 Ronnie Irani International Student Leadership Scholarship, 2007 Norman Lion Club International Student of October and 2008 Director’s Gradu­ate
Academic Scholarship, all from the University of Oklahoma.
Aydin Gizem, is a Ph.D. candidate in Industrial Engineering at the Univer­sity
of Oklahoma, working on freight projects for the past three years. She has presented in numerous freight transpor­tation
conferences, including the 2010 Transportation Research Board annual meeting. She was awarded the 2010-11 and 2011-12 SEED scholarship and was selected to participate in the Trans-Atlantic Program: Young Technology Leaders, organized by the German-American Chamber of Commerce.
OkTC Research & Technology Transfer
10 | Economic Enhancement through Infrastruscture Stewardship
Scenario Optimization Approach for Designing a
Switchgrass Supply Chain
Bhavna Sharma Ricki Ingalls, Ph.D.Graduate Research Assistant School of Industrial Engineering & Management
Dept. of Biosystems & Agricultural Oklahoma State University
Engineering, Oklahoma State University
Carol Jones, Ph.D. Manjunath Kamath, Ph.D.
Dept. of Biosystems & Agricultural School of Industrial Engineering & Management
Engineering, Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University
Introduction: The supply chain of biomass consists of several distinct operations categorized as production processes (harvesting, baling and pre-processing) and logistical processes (storage, transportation and transshipment) as illustrated in Figure 1. The present study involves the development of a scenario optimization model for a biomass supply chain with an objective of minimizing supply chain cost subject to local and regional conditions. A case study based on the Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas (ABBK) at Hugoton, Kansas (see Figure 2) has been developed.
Problem: One of the major issues preventing the commercialization of lignocellulosic
biorefineries is the lack of infrastructure required for on-time, cost-effective and continuous delivery of large volumes of dense biomass to the biorefinery. It is estimated that biomass
supply accounts for 20-35% of the ethanol production cost and 90% of the biomass supply cost associated with the logistics process (Eksioglu et al., 2009). Weather uncertainty is also one of the major factors affecting the constant supply of biomass to the biorefinery. The cost to collect switchgrass is influenced by the time of harvesting - before or after frost. The operation of ABBK biorefinery will increase the traffic congestion with
approximately 200 trucks moving per day to meet the daily demand. Therefore, it is important to design and develop a biomass supply chain, which can manage and coordinate all processes resulting in a continuous, reliable and cost effective system that benefits both the farmer and the biorefinery.
Solution: Scenario optimization technique is a natural, convenient way to deal with uncertain­ties.
A deterministic model with different weather scenarios that take into consideration before and after frost harvesting has been developed. The biorefinery can use different lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks such as wood, agricultural residues and herbaceous crops for ethanol
production. Different biomass feedstocks have different physical characteristics; harvesting, handling and storage techniques; and different costs associated with each operation.
Considering a specific biomass feedstock will not only limit the number of assumptions but also provide realistic estimates on cost. The present study takes into consideration different harvest, collection and storage options for lignocellulosic biomass feedstock - switchgrass. Switchgrass is a bioenergy crop that can be harvested for eight months from July to February
Bhavna Sharma
Ricki Ingalls
Manjunath Kamath
Carol JonesSummer 2011 Newsletter | 11
OkTC Research & Technology Transfer
of the following year. Thus switchgrass can satisfy the yearly demand of a biorefinery with some storage. This model is being tested for ABBK, located at Hugoton, Kansas. In the future, the biorefinery intends to run at 100% switchgrass. The scenario optimization model developed minimizes costs subject to local and regional conditions. The model has seven biomass supply counties and four inventory sites. Switchgrass supply counties considered in the model are adjacent counties within a 50-mile radius as shown in Figure 3. The constraints in the model are land,
biomass availability, capacity of harvesting and transportation units, balance constraint at the biorefinery, biomass
supply counties and biorefinery capacity constraints, etc. as illustrated in Figure 4. This model has the ability to
investigate strategic design decisions (availability of switchgrass in a region, switchgrass source area serving
particular inventory site, etc.) as well as tactical and operational management decisions for the biorefinery (switch­grass
collected in a time period, biomass transported between the sites in a time period and switchgrass stored at an inventory site and at a biorefinery site in a time period). The Freight Movement Model developed by members of the Oklahoma State University and The University of Oklahoma collaborative research team provides congested travel time on the highway links, which is an input to the supply chain model.
Figure 1: Biomass supply chain: production and logistical processes.
Figure 2: Biorefinery site: Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas (ABBK),
at Hugoton, Kansas. The buffer area will be used for biomass storage. OkTC Research & Technology Transfer
12 | Economic Enhancement through Infrastruscture Stewardship
Continued: Scenario Optimization Approach for Designing a Switchgrass Supply Chain
Application: This model is being tested for ABBK, at Hugoton,
Kansas. The model will provide a better understanding of the real world situation and can be applied to other biorefinery and lignocellulosic
biomass types with modification to local and regional constraints.
Benefits: The scenario optimization approach allows us to solve supply chain design problem under probabilistic conditions such as weather. The model assists in deciding which assets must be purchased and deployed to cope with a highly seasonal production situation. The model also takes into account congested travel time on links, which will provide better estimate of the transportation cost.
References: Eksioglu, S. D., A. Acharya, L. E. Leightley and S. Arora, 2009. Analyzing the design and management of biomass-to-biorefinery supply chain.Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 57, No. 4, pp. 1342-1352.
Figure 3: Switchgrass supply counties in the state of Kansas: Stevens, Morton, Grant, Seward, Haskell and Stanton; in the state of Oklahoma: Texas.
Figure 4: Schematic showing scenario optimization model system structure and inputs.Summer 2011 Newsletter | 13
OkTC Research & Technology Transfer
A Video Based Commercial Vehicle Route Tracking System
Samuel Cheng, Ph.D. Pramode Verma, Ph.D.Telecommunications, Electrical & Telecommunications, Electrical &
Computer Engineering Computer Engineering
The University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma
James Sluss, Ph.D. Robert Huck, Ph.D.Telecommunications, Electrical & Telecommunications, Electrical &
Computer Engineering Computer Engineering
The University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma
Anjan Ghosh, Ph.D. Telecommunications, Electrical &
Computer Engineering
The University of Oklahoma
Introduction: This project evaluates the usage of video cameras to capture critical infor- mation about commercial vehicles as they enter the state and store this information for track­ing
purposes. As these vehicles continue on their route, additional cameras capture images that can be used for route tracking.
Problem: States conduct traffic monitoring for many reasons, including highway planning and design, and motor vehicle enforcement. Traffic monitoring can be classified into two different types: flow monitoring and route tracking. Flow monitoring will observe the amount traffic flow across an interested check point, whereas route tracking will identify the route of an inter­ested
vehicle. Unlike flow monitoring, route tracking generally needs to know the identity of the observed vehicle and is generally more difficult. This route tracking capability will provide valuable information for freight logistics analysis, forecast modeling and future transportation infrastructure planning.
Solution: Propose a video based vehicle identification system to track commercial vehicles and their routes through the state. The main contributions and accomplishments of the proposed method include:
1) Develop and build a prototype system using video cameras to capture the critical information of commercial vehicles for the purpose of vehicle tracking when they enter the state and use additional video cameras to track the routes. Using these data, it is possible to record commercial vehicle routes and vehicle counts for state highways.
2) Treat the problem of vehicle identification from different video sources as signal reconstruc­tion
out of multiple linear regression models and use rising theories from an emerging signal processing area --- compressive sensing to solve this problem. By employing a Bayesian formal­ism
to compute the minimization of the sparse weights, the proposed framework provides new ways to deal with three crucial issues in vehicle identification: feature extraction, online vehicle identification dataset building, and robustness to occlusion and misalignment.
Robert Huck
Samuel Cheng
Pramode Verma
James Sluss
Anjan Ghosh14 | Economic Enhancement through Infrastruscture Stewardship
OkTC Research & Technology Transfer
For feature extraction, the simple down-sampled features are used, which offer good identification performance as long as the features space is sparse enough. The theory also provides a validation scheme to decide if an incoming vehicle has already been included in the data set. Moreover, by taking advantage of down-sample based features, one can easily intro­duce
features of newly entering vehicles into the identification data set without using any training algorithm. Finally, Bayesian formalism provides a measure of confidence of each sparse weight.
3) Conduct extensive experiments on different types of vehicles on the interstate highways to verify the efficiency and accuracy of our proposed system. The results show that the proposed framework can not only handle the route tracking of commercial vehicles, but also works well on all kind of vehicles. 4) Other sensing techniques, such as Bluetooth® and automatic license plate recognition, have also been studied. Some preliminary tests have been made to estimate the possible performance increase analytically if such modules are available. Moreover, a detailed literature study has been employed to investigate the current ALPR technology.
5) The active server model is proposed. The appropriate software model has been configured, if the current module is to be incorporated into an existing software framework (for example, the state traffic tracking system) in the future.
Application: The system has been tested on I-44 in Tulsa, Oklahoma with four-lanes and two-directions of traffic. During a one hour time slot, there were a total of 3,568 vehicles passing by the detectors and 698 Bluetooth®
records were captured. It was concluded that the overall identification accuracy of the proposed system is about 77%. Compared to other video based methods, the proposed algorithm shows superior accuracy for the tested high traffic load. The result has been recently submitted to IEEE Transaction on Intelligence Transportation. The paper is
conditionally accepted (subject to minor revision).
The developed technology continues in the prototype stage of development. The final system will provide an inexpensive way to estimate traffic flow and provide route tracking information. In particular, incorporating with other prior statistics, it is possible to further increase the accuracy of the tracking information and thus provide a reliable resource for future planning.
Benefits: Interstate commercial vehicle traffic is a major
factor in the life of any road surface. The ability to track these vehicles and their routes through the state can provide
valuable information for planning activities. The proposed method uses video cameras to capture critical information about commercial vehicles when they enter the state and store this information for later retrieval to provide tracking
functions. By using this data, reports and highway utilization maps could be generated showing commercial vehicle routes and vehicle counts for state highways. Compared to other
vehicle sensing technologies such as magnetometers and inductive loops, the proposed video based system is non-
intrusive and easy to install, thereby resulting in significant costs saving.
Figure 1: Included are an automatic Bluetooth® reader (ABR) and an automatic license plate reader (ALPR) as optional components. The module or CBL (Camera, Bluetooth®) and ALPR.
A screenshot of the prototype system in action. Summer 2011 Newsletter | 15
TAP-YTL
A Transportation Experience in Germany - May 22-30, 2011
S. Gizem Aydin, Ph.D. candidate in the
School of Industrial Engineering, The University of Oklahoma
Aydin on a tour of the Leipzig airport.
S
. Gizem Aydin was one of 12 individuals selected to participate in the Translatlantic Program-Young Technology Leaders. Aydin’s strong back­ground
in transportation, specifically freight transport and her basic
knowledge of the German language, made her a good candidate for the
program.
The group was comprised of both students and supply chain professionals, all of them sharing an interest in transportation. They enjoyed discussing
differences and similarities in transportation systems in the United States
and Germany.
The delegation started in Frankfurt, traveled to Hamburg, Berlin, Duisburg, Leipzig and Karlsruhe, visiting state-of-the-practice transportation/logistics facilities along the way. They met with universities and state agencies.
The group visited the Bundesnetzagentur, the German regulatory
agency for utilities, telecommunications and transportation. Staff members of the Bundesnetzagentur fielded many questions from the group ranging from policy and regulations to how they respond to various freight and
passenger transportation challenges.
As an industrial engineer, Aydin looks forward to contributing to the
transportation arena, helping to improve and streamline processes so both people and freight can flow more efficiently.
OkTC Education & Outreach
PROGRAM
TAP-YTL 2011 Logistics
and Transportation
The Transatlantic Program-Young Technology Leaders is organized by the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest (GAC­CoM)
with the financial support of
the German Federal Ministry of
Economics and Technology (BMWi).
Twelve individuals were selected to
participate in an intensive eight-day
delegation trip to Germany. The
program included the following
modules and visits to cutting-edge logistics and transportation hotspots:
- Frankfurt Airport: intermodal hub
models, sustainable airport expansion
and freight and logistics centers
- Hamburg: diverse port operations
- Berlin: passenger rail transport and
logistics concepts
- Innovative supply chain solutions and
state-of-the art, multipurpose logistics
facilities
- Transportation politics and policies
- Exclusive access to top industry
experts and operation sites
TAP-YTL encourages colleges and
universities whose students are selected to participate in the program to
offer course credits for the intensive eight-day program. There are between 30-35 hours of German language
exposure and learning within the assigned field, which can include Logistics & Transportation, Sustain­able
Architecture and Urban Planning, and Water Management are provided throughout the trip. This is a special­ized
professional development
program that will enhance the
participant’s knowledge about the field of focus while also promoting the participant’s understanding of German culture.
To learn more, visit
http://www.transatlantic
program.org/16 | Economic Enhancement through Infrastruscture Stewardship
OkTC Education & Outreach
Freight Logistics and Network Models: You mean it’s not a puzzle?!
Manjunath Kamath, Ph.D.
School of Industrial Engineering & Management
Oklahoma State University
Baski Balasundaram, Ph.D.
School of Industrial Engineering & Management
Oklahoma State University
Mark Thomas
Math Teacher, Stillwater High School
Stillwater, Oklahoma
T o students in Mark Thomas’ math classes at the Stillwater High School, it’s like solving a puzzle, as they work on large laminated sheets of paper trying to find a way to push the maximum amount of stuff from one point in the network to another. Mark Thomas, 2011 Stillwater Teacher of the Year, has developed an innovative and engaging approach to introduce mathematical models and algorithms for finding shortest paths, maximum flow, etc., in networks to students in his math classes.
Through short, active-learning modules that emphasize hands-on experience and team activities, Mark Thomas has developed an innovative approach to introduce Operations Research and
Industrial Engineering concepts without any disruption to regular classroom activities. It all
started in 2008 with a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) supplemental grant from the National Science Foundation to the Center for Excellence in Logistics and Distribution (CELDi).
Dr. Manjunath Kamath and Dr. Baski
Balasundaram from the School of Industrial Engineering and
Management at Oklahoma State University are actively engaged with both CELDi and the OkTC. They received an NSF RET supplemental grant that enabled Mark Thomas to participate in an ongoing CELDi project on freight modeling funded by ODOT and the OkTC. His exposure included large-scale data analysis and statistical models of freight generation. Mark Thomas has been closely guided by Dr. Balasundaram as they continue to work to determine topics typical to Industrial Engineering and
Transportation Science that might be introduced to high school students. With network models and algorithms, they have been able to find something that students can easily see and understand and see as a competition as well.
Figure 1. Students solving smaller size network problems on laminated letter-size sheets. The sheets are reusable, and the students can erase and redraw portions of the network during their trial-and-error attempts to solve the given problem, or when using standard algorithms. Photographs by
Mark Thomas.
Manjunath Kamath
Baski Balasundaram
Mark ThomasSummer 2011 Newsletter | 17
OkTC Education & Outreach
Since many schools focus on state-mandated tests, it is difficult to encourage educators to introduce extra material into their classes. Many teachers would be unwilling to devote a couple of weeks to study a unit on network theory since the topic is not a part of their state objectives. With this in mind, the topics have been specifically developed to take only ten to twenty minutes of class-time. Teachers might choose to utilize extra time that might otherwise get wasted after students finish a test early or use the rest of the period that was interrupted by an assembly. The topics are sequential, but are not required to be completed on consecutive days. If a few days have gone by between modules, students can readily recall what had been discussed and progress through the next module.
The modules are written in a language that is easily
understood by secondary students and includes
teacher guides that allow the teacher to quickly
formalize their own understanding of the network topics before explaining the activities to the students. Problems are given as a classroom challenge to see who can find the shortest path or determine why a student’s answer is the optimal answer. Many network topics are included in the development of learning modules: Hamiltonian and Eulerian paths, minimal spanning trees, shortest paths, maximum flows, max flow/min cut duality etc. Students while initially solving these problems by trial-and-error are then motivated to learn formal algorithms for solving such problems that are
subsequently introduced. Students also take great interest in trying to find a better solution than their classmates which leads to a discussion on finding an optimal solution. These modules implemented in Mark Thomas’ Algebra 2 classes have met with great enthusiasm from the students.
A website has been developed that disseminates these lessons as part of a teacher kit that also includes notes
developed by Mark Thomas to help other teachers in peer institutions learn this material and implement the
activities in their classrooms. Mark Thomas’ efforts have helped promote the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education, in particular Industrial Engineering and Transportation Science among his high school students. The RET effort has been continuously funded by National Science Foundation since 2008 and was recently recognized with a CELDi success award. Mark Thomas was named a 2010 Oklahoma Outstanding Teacher in Mathematics at the High School Level by the Oklahoma/Arkansas section of the Mathematical
Association of America. He is one of six teachers chosen in Oklahoma and Arkansas for outstanding contributions to mathematics education.
Figure 2. Students wrestling with larger-than-toy-problem-size networks on large laminated sheets. Such exercises
help students recognize the need for rigorous mathematical
analysis and algorithm development. The fact that trans-portation networks, social networks, the internet, and other real-life networks are massive further motivates this need. 18 | Economic Enhancement through Infrastruscture Stewardship
OkTC Education & Outreach
Graduate Student Recruiting into Critical Transportation Infrastructure Areas of Interest
Amy Cerato, Ph.D.
School of Civil Engineering & Environmental Science
The University of Oklahoma
Abstract: The University of Oklahoma (OU)
College of Engineering (CoE) seeks to recruit and retain highly qualified and diverse graduate students to pursue degrees in transportation related engineering fields. OU is poised to educate the next generation of transportation engineers to fill both Oklahoma’s and the United State’s critical need for qualified engineers to help our aging infrastructure. The graduate students recruited to these programs will become Oklahoma Transportation Center Fellows, gaining significant experience in transportation research and industry.
Motivation: The renaissance of our infrastructure is threatened by the fact that in the next four to seven years, almost half of all civil engineers in the U.S. will be eligible to retire (ASCE 2005). This problem is
worsened by fewer students enrolling in civil
engineering programs nationally, in favor of degrees in business and management (White 1990). In response to this shortage of a technical workforce, we must encourge young students to consider careers in civil
engineering.
Recruiting highly qualified diverse graduate students each year over three years, to pursue transportation research, will foster technological competitiveness in the future transportation workforce and set a standard for continued diverse student recruitment. Complex transportation issues will demand that increased education in a variety of disciplines.
Acknowledgements: The researchers gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Oklahoma Transportation Center, the RITA University Transportation Center program and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
2010 OkTC FellowsSummer 2011 Newsletter | 19
OkTC Education & Outreach
Parnaz Boodagh expects to complete her Master of Science degree from the OU School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science July 2011. She intends to pursue her doctorate degree this fall at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research focus has included the ef­fects
of curing time on resilient modulus of chemically stabilized soils. Soil samples were
collected from five sites in Oklahoma. MR tests were conducted on class C fly ash (CFA) and lime stabilized soil samples with different curing times. Currently, Boodagh’s research focuses on bridge related issues including bridge approach slab settlement.
Karim Saadeddine is a Master of Science candidate in the OU School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science (CEES). His research focus is on the influence of additive content on resilient modulus of chemically stabilized soils. This research is conducted to study the
effect of soil stabilization additive on the Resilient Modulus (MR) of subgrade soil after a 14 day curing. MR of stabilized soil is not well documented and interest in determining the strength and stiffness properties motivated this study. Soils were collected at three different sites in Oklahoma. Results will be used to develop an empirical model to predict MR of the stabilized soils based on stress states and soil physical properties.
Botao Lin is a Doctoral candidate at the OU School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science. His research explores expansive soils and the large amounts of heaving and shrinking caused due to seasonal moisture changes. These movements lead to cracking and buckling of the infrastructure built on expansive soils and result in billions of dollars of damage
annually. The goal of Lin’s research is to advance the understanding of and prediction
methods for macroscopic unsaturated expansive soil behavior through microscopic funda-mental soil surface phenomena.
Zac Thompson graduated with a Master of Science degree from the OU School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science in May 2011. He is employed by Terracon in Tulsa. While a student, his research focused on stress-strain behavior of unimproved and improved soft clays. Weak soils such as soft clays and liquefiable sands are often prominent in seismic prone regions. Pile foundations are regularly used to support engineering structures in these areas. Because of these weak soils, current design practice calls for an increased size and number of piles. A more innovative solution to this problem may be to improve the weak soil surrounding the piles. Cement Deep Soil Mixing is a ground improvement technique used to improve the lateral loading behavior of piles surrounded by weak soil.
Wassim Tabet graduated with a Master of Science degree from the OU School of Civil
Engineering and Environmental Science in May 2011. He begins pursuit of his doctorate this fall at OU. While a student, his research focused on the influence of clod size on the shearing behavior of compacted soil. The purpose of this research was to study the influence of clod size and initial moisture content (which affects the moisture condition of clods) on the
shearing behavior of a lean clay. It is common practice to use laboratory tests to compute soil parameters and predict the behavior of compacted soils of constructed facilities (e.g.,
compacted fills or embankments). However, laboratory tests may not properly model the actual behavior of soil compacted under field conditions and it can be challenging for geotechnical engineers to extrapolate soil properties measured at the laboratory scale to the field scale. The Oklahoma Transportation Center
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