Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
5.6 Creating an AR animation trace file from a DES model
The Activity Cycle Diagram (ACD) of a simple earthmoving operation in STRO-
BOSCOPE format is shown in Figure 5.5. STROBOSCOPE (Martinez, (1996) is a
programmable and extensible simulation system designed for modeling complex
construction operations in detail and for the development of special purpose
simulation tools (Kamat and Martinez, 2001). The operation shown in Figure 5.5
consists of a simple load-haul-dump-return cycle within which different resources
are either used (i.e. loader and hauler) or transferred (i.e. soil). Since the focus of
this chapter is to describe the process of visualizing modeled operations in AR and
not the process of modeling earthmoving operations, issues such as volume of the
work, productivity, and necessary equipment and steps to perform the operation
itself have been excluded from the discussion.
As noted earlier, an animation trace file is required to create augmented
animations of simulated operations in ARVISCOPE. This file can be created either
manually (for short animations) or automatically during a simulation run. Manual
generation of an animation trace file is typically not practical except in the case of
simple demonstrative examples of short animated duration. Automatic generation
of a trace file is recommended more, since it requires less time and produces more
accurate results. Automatic generation of an ARVISCOPE animation trace file
requires instrumentation of a simulation model (i.e. including additional code and
statements in a simulation model).
For example, Figure 5.6 shows how two new lines are created inside the
ARVISCOPE animation trace file of the simple earthmoving operation (Figure 5.5)
as a result of a statement added to the STROBOSCOPE model of the same
operation. These two lines will be written to the trace file numerous times with
different arguments (e.g. time tag, duration, object name, route name) depending
on the specific instance of the activity taking place. The completed trace file will
Figure 5.5 ACD for an earthmoving operation in STROBOSCOPE
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