Knowledge-based virtual outdoor weather event simulator using unity 3D

Abstract

During the past two decades, 3D simulation models have gained importance in the development of software solutions that aim to mimic real-world events and phenomena with increasing levels of accuracy and detail. In this context, knowledge representation and processing have recently shown a significant contribution to the simulation modeling domain, where knowledge graphs have been used in different fields to build knowledge representations for multiple purposes. In this paper, we introduce VOWES, a Virtual Outdoor Weather Event Simulator to replicate and measure outdoor weather events in vivid 3D visualizations. We design and implement an integrated knowledge graph (KG) representation for VOWES, by creating two constituent KGs: (i) Weather KG describing weather data and events, and (ii) Simulator KG describing 3D simulation components and properties, and connecting them with the (iii) Semantic Sensor Network (SSN) KG to form an integrated structure serving as the knowledge backbone of the VOWES simulation environment. We make use of the Unity 3D engine to build and design the simulator environment and its virtual sensors, and integrate the Mapbox SDK and the WeatherStack API for realistic real-world weather mapping. We have conducted qualitative evaluations involving 13 expert and 30 non-expert testers, to assess the quality of VOWES’ KGs and its simulation environment. Results show that more than 80% of the testers gave a combined quality score ≥ 3 out of 4 on most evaluation criteria. We have also conducted performance evaluations to test VOWES loading, execution, and data search time, among other features. Results show that most operations require almost instantaneous or linear time, where search, refresh, and export operations share almost identical performance levels, with execution time increasing by approximately 179 μs for every added game object. This highlights the simulation tool’s time performance in running large simulation projects, and its ability to simulate complex weather environments with large numbers of sensors and weather phenomena.