Virtualizing Emilia Romagna Air Quality
On behalf of LEPIDA and in collaboration with the Emilia-Romagna Region and ARPAE, TerrAria has developed an innovative system called POC VERA (Virtualizing Emilia Romagna Air Quality), a Proof of Concept for how the Digital Twin model of the Region will be implemented. The project is based on the integration of environmental data, traffic models, and advanced Machine Learning (ML) technologies with the goal of supporting regional urban policies to improve air quality.
The tool allows for assessing the impact of regional policies on traffic and mobility in relation to air quality in the Emilia-Romagna region. Targeted at regional governance and sector experts, the tool enables the creation of customized scenarios using three main modes:
- Modification of traffic data on the regional road network, with the possibility to directly intervene on vehicle flows to simulate traffic variations;
- Definition of municipal policies, allowing the evaluation of policies for reducing or modifying the vehicle fleet in one or more municipalities;
- Simulation of emission reductions to estimate the effects of a decrease in traffic-related emissions at the municipal or inter-municipal level.
The generated scenarios provide detailed results on emissions and atmospheric pollutant concentrations, both in absolute and relative terms. Variables considered include, for example, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5.
Emission calculations are based on the INEMAR methodology (considering both linear and diffuse emissions, categorized into hot, cold, evaporative, and wear-related emissions), while concentration calculations use a model trained with Machine Learning techniques (Convolutional Neural Network).
THE ROLE OF TERRARIA
TerrAria was responsible for developing both the model for estimating pollutant emissions based on the Emilia-Romagna Region’s traffic model and the model for estimating pollutants at the regional scale. Finally, TerrAria developed the graphical interface of the POC.
