RESCUE PROJECT: Transportation Testbed Ronald T. Eguchi ImageCat, Inc. 400 Oceangate, Suite 1050 Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 628-1675 rte@imagecatinc.com Charles K. Huyck ImageCat, Inc. 400 Oceangate, Suite 1050 Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 628-1675 ckh@imagecatinc.com Howard Chung ImageCat, Inc. 400 Oceangate, Suite 1050 Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 628-1675 hc@imagecatinc.com ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to describe the objectives and scope of the Transportation Testbed. Currently, the RESCUE Project employs three testbeds to test and evaluate Information Technology (IT) solutions for more effective crisis response. These testbeds are CAMAS (Citizen Awareness System for Crisis Mitigation), GLQ (Gas Lamp Quarter), and the Transportation Testbed. The goal of the Transportation Testbed is to provide a platform for testing and evaluating information technology and social science research with the context of regional crisis response. Ultimately, the Transportation Testbed will allow researchers to evaluate the system performance benefits of their research, and/or to determine the performance objectives (or criteria) for their research in order to achieve the targeted set of benefits. General Terms Algorithms, Management, Measurement, Documentation, Performance, Design, Economics, Reliability, Experimentation, Security, Human Factors, Standardization, Verification. Keywords Transportation networks, testbed, information technology solutions, crisis response. 1. INTRODUCTION To provide a platform for testing and evaluating the efficacy of information technology and social science research within the context of regional crisis response, the RESCUE project is utilizing a multi-dimensional testbed that simulates the performance of large transportation networks during catastrophic events. The reasons for selecting transportation networks are three-fold: 1) transportation networks are geographically very large, and therefore, are susceptible to a broad range of hazards or events, 2) because they are interconnected systems, effective performance is often based on the proper performance of its components, i.e., a damaged component such as a bridge can disrupt the entire system, and 3) information technology can play a key role in improving the performance of transportation networks during disasters by identifying problem areas and implementing more efficient solutions to overcome these problems. In setting up this testbed, certain criteria were established to ensure that it could effectively be used as a platform for testing and evaluating the value of information technologies. These criteria included: 1. The testbed must allow a real-world evaluation of the efficacy of information technologies for crisis response, 2. The testbed should include two major components: an information technology and social science (IT-SS) component, and a simulation component, 3. The testbed must be easily accessible to all users, i.e., an internet-based platform, 4. The testbed must be set up to allow users to define the scope of their test or evaluation, and 5. The testbed must provide quantitative results or feedback quickly. The two components defined in (2) have specific objectives. The purpose of the IT-SS component is to develop methodologies and solutions that allow for more rapid evaluation of damage or impacts in large disasters, for better communication and dissemination of data and information between critical response organizations and the public, and for better decision-making capabilities. An important overall goal of these technologies is to mitigate the potential for secondary impacts or events, i.e., cascading failures or incidents. The purpose of the simulation component is to serve as a surrogate for real-world conditions in a disaster. This component must be able to simulate results with and without the use of improved information technologies in order to quantify their value. Information technology and social science research being performed in the RESCUE project includes:  Dynamic data collection  Rendering multimodal data  Reliable knowledge from unreliable informants  Event extraction from multimodal data streams  Adaptive filtering of event streams  Damage and impact assessment  Optimizing organizational structure in dynamic and evolving virtual organizations (DEVO)  Open distributed computing support for DEVOs  Trust management in DEVOs  Structured approach to disseminating information  Emergent social behavior within the context of a disaster  System for customized information delivery