Bushfire BLOCKS: A Modular Agent-Based Simulation

Bushfire BLOCKS is a modular, distributed, agent-basedsimulation for exploring and informing bushfire responsestrategies. Separate independent modules capture the firespread, evacuation of traffic and human behaviour such asthe decision whether to remain at property. These moduleshave been developed largely independently, using paradigmsand data models appropriate to their individual purpose. Modules are integrated into a single global simulationvia central services for managing time advancement andaccess to shared variables. Execution is distributed, withmodules running on different machines, whilst a custominterface enables viewing and control from one screen. Theunderlying architecture of this system facilitates extensionof individual modules and addition of new modules, withlimited alteration to other modules.

Authors

• David Scerri
• Sarah Hickmott
• Fabio Zambetta
• Ferdinand Gouw
• Isaac Yehuda
• Lin Padgham RMIT University; Patrick Lambrix

Keywords

• Agent-based simulation
• modular architecture
• distributed simulation
• bushfire response