{"title":"Rescue path planning for urban flood: A deep reinforcement learning-based approach.","authors":"Xiao-Yan Li, Xia Wang","doi":"10.1111/risa.17599","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Urban flooding is among the costliest natural disasters worldwide. Timely and effective rescue path planning is crucial for minimizing loss of life and property. However, current research on path planning often fails to adequately consider the need to assess area risk uncertainties and bypass complex obstacles in flood rescue scenarios, presenting significant challenges for developing optimal rescue paths. This study proposes a deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm incorporating four main mechanisms to address these issues. Dual-priority experience replays and backtrack punishment mechanisms enhance the precise estimation of area risks. Concurrently, random noisy networks and dynamic exploration techniques encourage the agent to explore unknown areas in the environment, thereby improving sampling and optimizing strategies for bypassing complex obstacles. The study constructed multiple grid simulation scenarios based on real-world rescue operations in major urban flood disasters. These scenarios included uncertain risk values for all passable areas and an increased presence of complex elements, such as narrow passages, C-shaped barriers, and jagged paths, significantly raising the challenge of path planning. The comparative analysis demonstrated that only the proposed algorithm could bypass all obstacles and plan the optimal rescue path across nine scenarios. This research advances the theoretical progress for urban flood rescue path planning by extending the scale of scenarios to unprecedented levels. It also develops RL mechanisms adaptable to various extremely complex obstacles in path planning. Additionally, it provides methodological insights into artificial intelligence to enhance real-world risk management.</p>","PeriodicalId":21472,"journal":{"name":"Risk Analysis","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Risk Analysis","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.17599","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MATHEMATICS, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Urban flooding is among the costliest natural disasters worldwide. Timely and effective rescue path planning is crucial for minimizing loss of life and property. However, current research on path planning often fails to adequately consider the need to assess area risk uncertainties and bypass complex obstacles in flood rescue scenarios, presenting significant challenges for developing optimal rescue paths. This study proposes a deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm incorporating four main mechanisms to address these issues. Dual-priority experience replays and backtrack punishment mechanisms enhance the precise estimation of area risks. Concurrently, random noisy networks and dynamic exploration techniques encourage the agent to explore unknown areas in the environment, thereby improving sampling and optimizing strategies for bypassing complex obstacles. The study constructed multiple grid simulation scenarios based on real-world rescue operations in major urban flood disasters. These scenarios included uncertain risk values for all passable areas and an increased presence of complex elements, such as narrow passages, C-shaped barriers, and jagged paths, significantly raising the challenge of path planning. The comparative analysis demonstrated that only the proposed algorithm could bypass all obstacles and plan the optimal rescue path across nine scenarios. This research advances the theoretical progress for urban flood rescue path planning by extending the scale of scenarios to unprecedented levels. It also develops RL mechanisms adaptable to various extremely complex obstacles in path planning. Additionally, it provides methodological insights into artificial intelligence to enhance real-world risk management.
期刊介绍:
Published on behalf of the Society for Risk Analysis, Risk Analysis is ranked among the top 10 journals in the ISI Journal Citation Reports under the social sciences, mathematical methods category, and provides a focal point for new developments in the field of risk analysis. This international peer-reviewed journal is committed to publishing critical empirical research and commentaries dealing with risk issues. The topics covered include:
• Human health and safety risks
• Microbial risks
• Engineering
• Mathematical modeling
• Risk characterization
• Risk communication
• Risk management and decision-making
• Risk perception, acceptability, and ethics
• Laws and regulatory policy
• Ecological risks.