Designing a Multi-Agent Occupant Simulation System to Support Facility Planning and Analysis for COVID-19

A review of facilities management interventions to mitigate respiratory infections in existing buildings

“…Several studies demonstrated that BIM and IoT-based applications could be adopted to visualise space occupancy, so the FM team can track space occupancy in real-time to ensure compliance with social distancing standards [ 127 ] and gain insights from sensor data for infection control [ 153 ]. Moreover, Fazio et al developed an internal navigation system based on BIM that assists users in navigating smart buildings by tracking their location over time and recommending the most efficient route to their destination [ 154 ].…”

“…Many studies in this review demonstrated that intelligent sensors, cameras, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies could be integrated with building management systems (BMI) to facilitate infection control activities, such as occupant movement tracking [ 154 ], occupant counting, social distance and face masking monitoring, and the detection of feverish occupants [ 132 ]. Moreover, multiple articles have demonstrated how BIM and IoT-based apps could be used to visualise space occupancy [ 153 ], enabling occupants to reserve seats and control office facilities remotely [ 155 ] and facilitate social distancing [ 133 ].…”

Generative design for COVID-19 and future pathogens using stochastic multi-agent simulation

“…We used multi-agent simulation as the basis to trigger different behaviours within a given building model based on each agent’s role, schedule, and health condition (susceptible or infected). We build upon OccSim, an occupancy simulation engine ( Lee, Lee, Mogk, Goldstein, Bibliowicz, Brudy et al, 2021 ), by providing additional details and technical rationale based on the COVID-19 literature.…”

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Fig. 3 The multi-agent-based virus transmission simulation model architecture ( Lee et al, 2021 ). A schedule manager triggered both planned and unplanned activities for agents in the building.

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“…Recent studies have highlighted the importance of appropriately accounting for finer spatial and temporal details involved in virus transmission, as well as relevant occupant behaviours ( Gerami Seresht, 2022 , Salmenjoki et al, 2021 ). Still, to the best of our knowledge, existing studies that have included detailed space layouts have only compared and contrasted a small number of distinct space designs ( Lee et al, 2021 , Martinez et al, 2022 , Salmenjoki et al, 2021 ). Additional exploration is required to determine whether it is possible to leverage simulation to find an optimal architectural layout, among many options, that would minimize occupant exposure to pathogens in the early stages of design.…”