Barnim: Develop Applications

The Barnim: Develop Applications tutorial extends the preceding tutorial and focuses on the implementation of applications used in the Barnim scenario. In this section, the actual source code used to create the applications is explained, giving a first impression on the API of the Eclipse MOSAIC Application simulator.

As mentioned in Barnim: Simulation Basics, the Barnim tutorial is structured in four applications.

1. WeatherServer - Broadcasts information about bad road conditions via cellular communication.
2. WeatherWarningApp - Detects bad road conditions, broadcasts information via ad-hoc communication, circumnavigates areas with bad road conditions.
3. WeatherWarningAppCell- Uses cellular communication and receives messages from WeatherServer. Circumnavigates areas with bad road conditions.
4. SlowDownApp - Models driver behavior by slowing the vehicle down as soon as it enters an affected road segment.

General application structure

Applications can be mapped to various simulation entities, such as vehicles, servers, or traffic lights. The most basic structure for an application mapped onto a vehicle looks like the following:

public class ExampleApp extends AbstractApplication<VehicleOperatingSystem> implements VehicleApplication {   
    
    @Override    
    public void onStartup() {    
    } 
    
    @Override    
    public void onVehicleUpdated(VehicleData previousVehicleData, VehicleData updatedVehicleData) {  
    } 
    
    @Override    
    public void processEvent(Event event){     
    }    
    
    @Override    
    public void onShutdown() { 
    }   
}  

onVehicleUpdated needs to be defined and overwritten in order to successfully implement the interface VehicleApplication. processEvent handles all events that get called to the application specific event manager, like this:

getOperatingSystem().getEventManager().addEvent(new Event(getOperatingSystem().getSimulationTime(), this));  

Some examples of events are shown below, but a more detailed description can be found in the documentation.

WeatherServer Application

The WeatherServer is a simulation unit without geographical location which has knowledge about the hazardous area and it is responsible to transmit DEN-Messages periodically to vehicles equipped with WeatherWarningAppCell-application via cellular communication. Firstly, the hazardous area (Road-ID and GeoPoint coordinates), the type of the warning (Sensor type), message interval and the resulted speed will be defined to be used later:

private final static long INTERVAL = 2 * TIME.SECOND;

private final static GeoPoint HAZARD_LOCATION = GeoPoint.latlon(52.633047, 13.565314);

private final static String HAZARD_ROAD = "-3366_2026362940_1313885502";

private final static SensorType SENSOR_TYPE = SensorType.Ice;

private final static float SPEED = 25 / 3.6f;

During the initialization procedure of communicating applications, the communication module (CellModule) needs to be activated. This is achieved in the onStartup()-method. The following code snipped shows the activating the CellModule as communication mode:

public void onStartup() {
	getLog().infoSimTime(this, "Initialize WeatherServer application");
	getOperatingSystem().getCellModule().enable();
    getLog().infoSimTime(this, "Setup weather server {} at time {}", getOs().getId(), getOs().getSimulationTime());
	getLog().infoSimTime(this, "Activated Cell Module");
	sample();
}

A DENM will be transmitted in 2s intervals (as configured above) to the vehicles equipped with cellular communication within reach as an event;

private void sample() {
	final Denm denm = constructDenm();

	getOperatingSystem().getCellModule().sendV2xMessage(denm);

    getLog().infoSimTime(this, "Sent DENM");

    getOperatingSystem().getEventManager().addEvent(new Event(getOperatingSystem().getSimulationTime() + INTERVAL, this));
}

The Event created in this method is passed with a this argument, which represents an EventProcessor that gets notified as soon as the proposed event time is reached. As this class implements the EventProcessor interface, the method processEvent() will be called by the application simulator once the simulation time is reached:

@Override
public void processEvent(Event event) throws Exception {
    sample();
}

Finally, in the method contructDenm, the necessary data will be added to a message container DenmContent and we create a circular area for the rerouting (3000 m) of the DEN-Message as Broadcast. All vehicles within this area which have the cellular module activated, will receive this message.

private Denm constructDenm() {
	final GeoCircle geoCircle = new GeoCircle(HAZARD_LOCATION, 3000.0D);
	final MessageRouting routing = getOperatingSystem().getCellModule().createMessageRouting().geoBroadCast(geoCircle);

	final int strength = getOperatingSystem().getStateOfEnvironmentSensor(SENSOR_TYPE);

	return new Denm(routing,
			new DenmContent(
					getOperatingSystem().getSimulationTime(),
					null,
					HAZARD_ROAD,
					SENSOR_TYPE,
					strength,
					SPEED,
					0.0f,
					HAZARD_LOCATION,
					null,
					null
			)
	);
}

WeatherWarningApp

The WeatherWarningApp application illustrates the vehicles and their behaviour in particular with regard to the detecting hazardous area, the receiving and sending messages. We will also cover how alternative routes will be calculated and how vehicles change their route in order to circumnavigate the affected road area.

The simulating vehicles can be operated as Cellular or Ad-hoc equipped. Accordingly, the kind of used communication network will be activated in the onStartup() method as following:

public void onStartup() {
	getLog().infoSimTime(this, "Initialize application");
	if (useCellNetwork()) {
		getOperatingSystem().getCellModule().enable();
		getLog().infoSimTime(this, "Activated Cell Module");
	} else {
		getOperatingSystem().getAdHocModule().enable(new AdHocModuleConfiguration()
			.addRadio()
				.channel(AdHocChannel.CCH)
				.power(50)
				.create());
		getLog().infoSimTime(this, "Activated AdHoc Module");
	}

    getOperatingSystem().requestVehicleParametersUpdate()
            .changeColor(Color.RED)
            .apply();
}

In case the sensor detects an environmental hazard the vehicle sends out a DEN-message to warn other vehicles. In the reactOnEnvironmentData() method, the sending is handled with regard to used communication network. If WeatherWarningAppCell is mapped, cellular communication is used, in case of WeatherWarningApp ITS-G5 communication is used as described in the Tiergarten: Communication Tutorial.

private void reactOnEnvironmentData(SensorType type, int strength) {

    GeoPoint vehiclePosition = getOperatingSystem().getPosition();

    String roadId = getOperatingSystem().getVehicleInfo().getRoadPosition().getConnection().getId();

    // reach all vehicles in a 3000m radius
    GeoCircle dest = new GeoCircle(vehiclePosition, 3000);

    MessageRouting mr;
    if (useCellNetwork()) {
        mr = getOperatingSystem().getCellModule().createMessageRouting().geoBroadCast(dest);
    } else {
        mr = getOperatingSystem().getAdHocModule().createMessageRouting().geoBroadCast(dest);
    }

    Denm denm = new Denm(mr, new DENMContent(
        getOperatingSystem().getSimulationTime(), vehiclePosition, roadId, type, strength, SPEED, 0.0f, vehiclePosition, null, null)
    );

    if (useCellNetwork()) {
        getOperatingSystem().getCellModule().sendV2XMessage(denm);
    } else {
        getOperatingSystem().getAdHocModule().sendV2XMessage(denm);
    }
}

Next, we look at the receiving side of the DENM here. Since the message is a simple V2X message it is received through the receiveV2xMessage()-method which is part of the application interface. Analogous to a normal message, here we check with instanceof, if it is of a type that we are interested in, in this case Denm. In that very case, we perform a potential route change if not already done.

public void receiveV2xMessage(ReceivedV2xMessage receivedV2xMessage) {
    final V2xMessage msg = receivedV2xMessage.getMessage();
    if (!(msg instanceof Denm)) {
        return;
    }

    final Denm denm = (Denm)msg;
    if (routeChanged) {
        getLog().infoSimTime(this, "Route already changed");
    } else {
        reactUponDENMessageChangeRoute(denm);
    }
}

In order to calculate alternative routes to the destination and to change the actual route to the next best route, the method circumnavigateAffectedRoad() is implemented. The affected road segment is identified by the road id parameter. The route calculation needs to be parametrized in a way, that it avoids this road segment to include in the calculation. This is achieved by using the specific cost function ReRouteSpecificConnectionsCostFunction and passing it to the RoutingParameters object.

private void circumnavigateAffectedRoad(DENM denm, final String affectedRoadId) {

    ReRouteSpecificConnectionsCostFunction myCostFunction = new ReRouteSpecificConnectionsCostFunction();
    myCostFunction.setConnectionSpeedMS(affectedRoadId, denm.getCausedSpeed());

    INavigationModule navigationModule = getOperatingSystem().getNavigationModule();

    RoutingParameters routingParameters = new RoutingParameters().costFunction(myCostFunction);

    RoutingResponse response = navigationModule.calculateRoutes(new RoutingPosition(navigationModule.getTargetPosition()), routingParameters);

    CandidateRoute newRoute = response.getBestRoute();
    if (newRoute != null) {
        getLog().infoSimTime(this, "Sending Change Route Command at position: {}", denm.getSenderPosition());
        navigationModule.switchRoute(newRoute);
    }
}

WeatherWarningAppCell

The only difference of the WeatherWarningAppCell to detailed described WeatherWarningApp is that the WeatherWarningAppCell-application enabled the use of the cellular network.

SlowDownApp

The SlowDownApp induces a speed reduction as soon as the on-board sensors detect hazardous conditions. To detect the change in the on-board sensors, the state of the sensors have to be queried whenever the vehicle has moved. This is achieved by implementing the onVehicleUpdated() method which is called whenever the traffic simulator executed one simulation step.

In this specific implementation, the speed of the vehicle is reduced to 25 km/h within the entire hazardous area. After leaving the hazardous area, the vehicles returns to their original speed again:

public void onVehicleUpdated(VehicleData previousVehicleData, VehicleData updatedVehicleData) {
    
    SensorType[] types = SensorType.values();
    int strength = 0;

    for (SensorType currentType : types) {
        strength = getOs().getStateOfEnvironmentSensor(currentType);

        if (strength > 0) {
            break;
        }
    }

    if (strength > 0 && !hazardousArea) {
        getOs().changeSpeedWithInterval(SPEED, 5000);
        hazardousArea = true;
    }

    if (strength == 0 && hazardousArea) {
        getOs().resetSpeed();
        hazardousArea = false;
    }
}