implement or model-driven information systems at norfolk southern clark cheng operations research...

Implement OR Model-Driven Information Systems at Norfolk Southern

Clark ChengOperations ResearchNorfolk Southern RailwayAtlanta, Georgia

INFORMS 2012 Annual MeetingPhoenix, Arizona

Agenda

• Overview of OR Decision Support Systems at NS• Success Factors• General Technology Footprint• Examples of Technologies :

– Real-time System - SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)• Locomotive Assignment and Routing System

– Decision Support System – Client Server Architecture• Hump Yard Simulation Model and 3-D Animation

– BI/Analytics – GIS and Mobile Technology• GIS Map Dashboard on iPAD

• Q&A

What Do the Users Want?

They need an operable “car”, not just an fancy “engine”

Success Factors

• Open Minded in Adopting New Technology– SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)– Cloud Computing– Grid Computing– RIA (Rich Internet Application)– Big Data (Data growth by 20 times by 2020)

• Consistent Delivery Method– Minimize footprint of technologies– Better user experience (UX)– Browser based user interfaces (UI)– Client Server Architecture and Distributed System– Deployed on NS production servers with 24x7 support

• Rapid Turnaround– Close relationship with business users– Serve the business needs

• Senior Management Support– OR’s creativity and capabilities

General Technology Footprint

• Browser-based Applications– High availability and automatic updates

• RIA User Interfaces– (Java applet), GWT, Flex, Ajax

• Back End– Java EJB, Hibernate, Apache Axis 2– DB2, Teradata, MongoDB

• Middle Tier– WebLogic, Apache, Tomcat

• Special Purpose Software– Discrete event simulation framework– Business rule management system (BRMS)

Software Reliability and Quality Control

•Source Code Version Control•Merant PVCS

•Release Management and Incident Tracking•HP Quality Center

•Automated Testing•HP Load Runner

Locomotive Assignment & Routing System (LARS)

• Road Fleet Size Model– Determine the number of locomotives needed in the road

fleet for current operations and forecasted traffic demand

• Short-Term Locomotive Surplus/Deficit Forecast– Forecast locomotive surplus/deficit in 24 – 48 hours and

improve the productivity of locomotives

• Shop Routing and Real-time Assignments– Model generates recommendations of optimal

assignments of locomotives to outbound trains– Consider locomotive operations at a more detailed level

than any human could possibly do

Software components and Environment:• Production, Quality Control, Development and Disaster Recovery deployment environment

Materialized viewsStored proceduresTriggersIndex PartitionsTable Partitions

IBM DB2 EETeradataJ

DBC

RPC

RHEL Linux GridLoad balancedCPLEX SolverTomcat serverSOAP Web service

VMware ESXPrivate Cloud

AuthenticationAuthorizationSAML/SSOUser RolesUser Groups

Application SecurityS

OAP

GIS applicationReal time messagingOperations dataField informationMaintenance data

Interface Enterprise AppsR

EST

Services Layer

Thin Clients

Traffic Manager

Apache Webserver

WebLogic Server

Locomotive Assignment and Routing System (LARS)

Software Components and Environment:• Production, Quality Control, Development and

Disaster Recovery environments

• Browser based RIA desktop and mobile client created using GWT, Flex, Ajax



IBM DB2 EETeradataJ

DBC

RPC





OAP



EST

Services Layer

Thin Clients

Traffic Manager

Apache Webserver

WebLogic Server

• Application delivery controlled and local traffic managed by F5 BigIP LTM (Local Traffic Manager)






IBM DB2 EETeradataJ

DBC

RPC





OAP



EST

Services Layer

Thin Clients

Traffic Manager

Apache Webserver

WebLogic Server

• Clustered Apache web servers with WebLogic proxy maintains round robin affinity sessions






IBM DB2 EETeradataJ

DBC

RPC





OAP



EST

Services Layer

Thin Clients

Traffic Manager

Apache Webserver

WebLogic Server

• Clustered WebLogic Application server on UltraSPARC T2




• Consumes enterprise security Authentication service to manage user access• Consumes enterprise Role based Authorization service to manage permissions


IBM DB2 EETeradataJ

DBC

RPC





OAP



EST

Services Layer

Application Service Layer (SOA):

• Consumes enterprise security Authentication service to manage user access

• Consumes enterprise Role-based Authorization (RBA) service to manage permissions




IBM DB2 EETeradataJ

DBC

RPC





OAP



EST

Services Layer

• Optimization models deployed on private cloud of 8 Linux servers provides a grid of computational resources

• Provides and consumes services to start and control CPLEX grid servers





IBM DB2 EETeradataJ

DBC

RPC





OAP



EST

Services Layer

• DB2 Enterprise Edition serves as transactional database and NCR Teradata as data warehouse





IBM DB2 EETeradataJ

DBC

RPC





OAP

GIS applicationRealtime messagingOperations dataField informationMaintenance data


EST

Services Layer

• Provides locomotive location service to GIS system

• Consumes locomotive pre-assignments decisions from Field Operations

• Consumes real-time events reported by trains passing scanners and GPS beacon from locomotives



Hump Yard Simulation (YardSIM)

• Analyze yard capacity and evaluate the impact of changes in traffic pattern, infrastructure, resource, and operating policy.

• A Decision Support System:– Web Interfaces– Discrete-event Simulator– 3-D Animation– Yard Layout Editor– Process Modeler and Rule Engine, and – What-if Scenario Management

Yard Simulation Architecture

Scenario & Report

Manager

Database

TrainsTrains ConsistTrip PlanYard LayoutScenario ConfigurationYard Operating RulesReportsStatistics

Simulator&

Optimizer

UI (Browser)

Application Database

3D Animator & Live Statistics

View 1

3D Animator & Live Statistics

View n

Dispatcher & Client Manager

Simulator&

Optimizer

Built on the Discrete Event Framework

3D Animation using the JAVA 3D APIs.

BRMS used for Rules, Workflow and Event Processing.

Client-Server model with multiple clients connecting to the server in parallel

Yard Simulation with 3D Animation

Yard Simulation Multiple View Windows

Class Tracks

Pullback TracksYard Top View

Receiving Tracks

Operations Research GIS Dashboard

• Objective– Monitor real-time train status– Track locomotives and equipment

• Features:– Interactive GIS maps – Accessible through web browser– Train status summary– Train route display– Locomotive location and status– Locomotives due for maintenance– Equipment location and status

External Data Sources Client

MQ Series

MQ Series Locomotives

(LARS)

Tonnage Rating (Web Service)

Trains & Schedule(OPD)

Car Distribution(CDM)

History(Teradata)

Geo-Location

Data Visualization

BING Maps(Base Layer)

NS BP Layers(Stations & Scanners)

NS Core Layers(Rail Infrastructure)

- Flare- Symbol- Chart- Star Burst- Route

Renderers

ESRI Flex API

Mapping Services

Proxy and Application Layer

DNS – IP Clustered App and Web Servers

App Server Weblogic 10G3

Web Server IPlanet

App ServerWeblogic 10G3

Web ServerIPlanet

AJAX Request

Response (XML)

GIS Server

ArcGIS 10.3 Server

REST

Operations Research GIS Map Dashboard Architecture

Questions?

implement or model-driven information systems at norfolk southern clark cheng operations research...

Documents

ajax slide

arizona slide

locomotive operations

software reliability

ipad qa slide

fancy engine slide

ns production servers

distributed system