Beaglebone Black Fail
I first started working with a Beaglebone Black. I was able to write a simple python program to turn LEDs on an off at random times. However, that program only worked once. After the first time, I could not get it to work. Not sure what went wrong. I may have fried the BBB somehow. It still boots, I can connect to it. I can execute BoneScript code. I just can't get any python code to work.
At some point, (may have been before I tried the python code but also certainly after) I tried to upgrade the OS on the BBB to the latest version of Debian dates 2015-03-01. I followed the same instructions from the last time I did this. I did not get any errors creating the SD card. When I bootup the BBB in install mode, the lights start flashing. All three LEDs are supposed to light solid when the install is done. However, this never happens. I've tried several times with no success.
Raspberry Pi and Basic Simulation Definition
So, I moved on to the Raspberry Pi. I wrote a program to randomly turn LEDs on an off. If I ever actually get to use this on my test system, rather then turning on the LEDs, the Pi will send an electrical signal to an interface unit. There will be a signal to say that the fill process is complete, one to say a cycle is complete, and one to indicate that the last piece produced was scrap.
Classes
A part of functionfunctionfunctionthe process, I learned how to use a Class to store data. I wish I would have learned about this earlier. I love using arrays in other languages. There is nothing really like an array in Python. However, a class is even better than an array. I made a class that represents a molding machine with sub-classes for the sensors on the machine. If I want to access the cycle time for the machine, I simply access the data at IMM10.Cycle.AvgTime. Very cool!
Down Event Probability Using a Poisson Distribution
The machine class has a function that will calculate the probability that a machine will go down during a given cycle. It uses the poisson distribution function to determine this. Just input the average number of cycles per month and the average number of down events that machine per month. The poisson distribution function uses these numbers to determine the probability. Excellent!
General Python Program Functionality
Multiple machines can be defined with different fill rates, cycle times, scrap probabilities, and down probabilities. The program continuously simulates cycles for each machine. It will send a signal when the fill part ends, then another signal when the complete cycle ends. Next, it decides if the machine functionfunctionproduced scrap during that cycle. If so, it sends that signal. Finally, it determines if the machine when down at the end of the cycle. If so, it sets a timer and waits for the down event to end before resetting the fill and cycle timers.
Determining Times Randomly Using a Normal Distribution and scipy
The time for the fill and cycle are randomly determined based on the average times for that machine. The probability calculation is not a simply random number generator. It gets a random time that is within one standard deviation of the average, assuming that the probability has a normal distribution. This is better than a purely random number between the minimum and maximum range. The probability could be outside of that range but should be normally close to the average. In a future release, I'd like to add in some kind of randomality to generate outliers.
In order to generate this kind of random number, I had to install a Python library called scipy (www.scipy.org). That library has a function called "percent point function" that will compute the inverse of the cumulative distribution function of a standard normal distribution.
I'm not exactly how the function works, but if I send it a random number between 0 and 1, and tell it to use a mean of 40 and 3 standard deviations, its sends back numbers that appear to be distributed around 40.
Here is one helpful link that explains more about using scipy in this way:
scipy can be installed on the Raspberry Pi simply by typing
sudo apt-get install python-scipy
Future Enhancements
For now, when a machine goes down, the duration of the down event is a purely random number between 5 seconds and 4 hours. In reality, most down time events last less than five minutes, but some can last for days or weeks. I'd like to have a formula that will mostly pick down event durations that are short but could pick longer ones. I can't figure that out just yet.
Another future enhancement would be read in machine and sensor definitions from a text file or some other source. It would be cool if the source data could be managed with a web page. Then, I could control the parameters of the device remotely.
Also, the Raspberry Pi outputs about 3 volts. If I need to generate more volts or a higher current, I might have to make a circuit board with transistors.
This brings us up to date. I'll add more about generating random downtime durations later.
