Presentation from Julien Harou of UCL covering his work on Hydroplatform, an open source platform for resource network models.

1. Managing Resource Networks
with a Generic Open-source
Software Platform
Julien Harou
University College London
UCL Bridging the Gaps Conference
16 February 2011

2. Collaborators
BTG funding
Lazaros Papageorgiou, Andy Chow, Mark Barrett,
Eric Fraga
UCL Research Challenge funding
Muki Haklay, Eric Fraga, Sarah Bell, Michael
Batty, Tim Swanson
HydroPlatform Design team (alphabetical order)
Kristiana Hansen, Josue Medellin, Didrik Pinte,
Manuel Pulido-Velazquez, Arnaud Reynaux, David
Rheinheimer, David Rosenberg, Amaury Tilmant

3. Outline
• Sustainability and resource systems
• Systems modeling software
• HydroPlatform
• Example applications
• Project organisation
• Conclusions
3

4. Sustainable City …
Sustainable Resource Network
Water resources, energy, food, transport, trade,
logistics, social networks, …
4

5. Systems modeling in the 21st Century
• Large problems
• Multidisciplinary
• Many spatial and temporal scales
• Computationally complex
• Simulation, optimization, and mixed
• Data intensive
• Require sophisticated user interfaces
5

6. Traditional stand-alone software / DSS
Interface Database
Examples
HEC products
Model(s) DHI products
Riverware
WEAP
etc.
6

7. Model Platform
Manages &
displays model
Interface Database inputs & outputs
Export/import
Open-source, functions or add-ins
freeware, or
proprietary
models
Model Model Model Model
A B C D
7

8. HydroPlatform
an example platform for network models
• Free, open source (GPL license & Python)
• GIS interface (Thubian) Database
• Customize node and link objects
• Several plug-ins Inter- Data
face base
Phase B: Phase A:
Import & display enter,
model results manage, &
(next step) export data
(completed)
• International effort
Model
8

9. The old way…
[Jacobs et al. 1995] 9

10. … in HydroPlatform
Yuba
Bear
American
10

11. Define required data for each network
object
11

12. Example Applications
1. London water supply and Thames water
resource system
2. Water Supply Capacity Expansion and Trade
in England
3. Zambezi Basin Hydropower
Traffic Optimsation
Network Analysis
12

13. English water management context
• Water supply & waste water utilities privatised
since 1989
• Companies must submit environmental and
financial water plan to regulators (EA, Ofwat)
every 5 years
• Companies have incentive to invest in capital
schemes (i.e. prefer a desalination plant to
sharing supplies with neighbor)
13

14. London and Thames water resource system
14

15. London and Thames water resource system
IRAS-2010 model uses a weekly
Goal: time-step over 85-year time horizon
- Predict London water with a runtime of 1 sec
supply system
performance under
climate change
- Robust, meets
environmental targets
15

16. Gauged flow at Teddington
IRAS-2010 and AQUATOR show same flows and
follow trend for gauged flow
16

17. Capacity Expansion and Water Trading
Schematic
Goal:
- Identify minimum cost
portfolio of supply and
transfer options to meet
future demand
- Uses ‘Economics of
Balancing Supply &
Demand’ framework
17

18. Annual rainfall Water companies

19. Zambezi Basin Hydropower dam operation
Goal:
Find allocation policies
that maximize agricultural,
hydropower and
ecological benefits
19

20. Linear-Quadratic traffic signal control
Goal:
Model optimises real-time
control of traffic light
duration
20

21. Linear-Quadratic traffic signal control
• Input
– Traffic inflow 120
– Nominal ‘fixed’ timing LQ feedback control
plans 100 Fixed time control
– Traffic light cycle
Total Number of queued vehicles
time, green durations 80
– Max storage and flow
of each link 60
• Output 40
– Queue lengths
20
– Optimal ‘dynamic’
timing plans
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Cycle

22. Finding community structures in complex
networks using mixed integer optimisation
Goal:
reveal the relationships
between individual
objects and their
groupings in networks
Community of 62
bottlenose dolphins
living in Doubtful
Sound, New Zealand
Each node represents a
dolphin and the links in
the network are
identified based on the
significantly frequent
communications among
them. 22

23. Project organization
• www.hydroplatform.org
• Wiki, code, and bug reports
• Pre-release available
• Future app store
open-source,
proprietary,
freeware models
23

24. Conclusions
• Model platform = user interface + data manager
• Helps focus on model development rather than
software
• Efficient, flexible, scalable, open-source platform
• Goal: catalyze model innovation and use
• Coming soon: ‘App store’ for HydroPlatform add-
ins
• Applications: general simulation, capacity
expansion optimisation, water trading, traffic
control, network analysis, etc.
24