A fast flow control algorithm for real-time emergency evacuation in large indoor areas

Abstract

Evacuation in an emergency is always an important issue for shopping malls, subway stations and other populous indoor places. The purpose of evacuation is to evacuate people from the danger zone through exits within the shortest possible time. To help evacuation missions to be carried out efficiently and effectively by rescuers, a fast evacuation approach is needed. The proposed fast flow control algorithm in this paper calculates evacuation paths in accordance with the floor plan (which contains detailed locations and dimensions of corridors and exit doors) and the total number of evacuees. The calculation is based on minimum overall evacuation time and an optimal number of evacuees assigned to each evacuation path. An example is presented at the end of the paper to illustrate real-time implementation of the proposed fast flow control algorithm. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.