IoT Performance for Maritime Passenger Evacuation

TL;DR

This paper investigates how IoT and ICT system delays affect maritime passenger evacuation efficiency, emphasizing the need for robust, fast systems to improve safety during emergencies.

Contribution

It introduces a deadline-aware adaptive navigation strategy (ANT) and evaluates its impact through simulations on a real cruise ship configuration.

Findings

Delays in IoT/ICT systems can significantly impair evacuation times.

Robust, fast IoT/ICT systems are crucial for effective maritime evacuations.

The ANT strategy improves evacuation efficiency under certain conditions.

Abstract

The safe and swift evacuation of passengers from Maritime Vessels, requires an effective Internet of Things(IoT) as well as an information and communication technology(ICT) infrastructure. However, during emergencies, delays in IoT and ICT systems that guide evacuees, can impair the evacuation process. This paper presents explores the impact of the key IoT and ICT elements. The methodology builds upon the deadline-aware adaptive navigation strategy (ANT), which offers the path segment that minimizes the evacuation time for each evacuee at each decision instant. The simulations on a real cruise ship configuration, show that delays in the delivery of correct instructions to evacuees can significantly hinder the effectiveness of the evacuation. Our findings stress the need to design robust and computationally fast IoT and ICT systems to support the evacuation of passengers in ships, and underscores the key role played by the IoT in the success of passenger evacuation and safety.