title: VASA: Interactive Computational Steering of Large Asynchronous Simulation Pipelines for Societal Infrastructure.
abstract: We present VASA, a visual analytics platform consisting of a desktop application, a component model, and a suite of distributed simulation components for modeling the impact of societal threats such as weather, food contamination, and traffic on critical infrastructure such as supply chains, road networks, and power grids. Each component encapsulates a high-fidelity simulation model that together form an asynchronous simulation pipeline: a system of systems of individual simulations with a common data and parameter exchange format. At the heart of VASA is the Workbench, a visual analytics application providing three distinct features: (1) low-fidelity approximations of the distributed simulation components using local simulation proxies to enable analysts to interactively configure a simulation run; (2) computational steering mechanisms to manage the execution of individual simulation components; and (3) spatiotemporal and interactive methods to explore the combined results of a simulation run. We showcase the utility of the platform using examples involving supply chains during a hurricane as well as food contamination in a fast food restaurant chain.
authors.forename: Sungahn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Jieqiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Shehzad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Afzal
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Abram
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Elmqvist
authors.forename: Len
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kne
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Van Riper
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gaither
authors.forename: Shaun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tolone
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ribarsky
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ebert
mesh_terms: D003196:Computer Graphics; D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D004189:Disaster Planning; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D006801:Humans; D048088:Informatics / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011210:Power Plants; D012637:Security Measures; D012984:Software; D014186:Transportation; D014887:Weather