A new algorithm for controlling building evacuation by feedback on hazard level and crowd distribution

This paper proposes an integrated macroscopic approach for controlling crowd evacuation from buildings. An efficient planning is always based on the knowledge of all variables characterizing the hazard and people motion, as described by the dynamic severity matrix. The possibility to use a feedback from the real scenario would be of enormous utility for the evacuation strategy, but still associated with a high computational load, as stated in the literature. This paper introduces a new algorithm, which uses online the entire severity matrix. A feedback from the system is also provided to simultaneously achieve a number of objectives, which are usually treated separately: to evacuate the maximum number of people and to do it in the shortest time by online updating the more suitable escape routes. To this aim, a route will be more or less suitable based on the crowd and the hazard levels. Simulation performed on randomly generated data showed the effectiveness of the new proposed approach.