Automation systems debugging

I saw some engineers sketch the logic of the automation system first on a scrap of paper in the form of a block diagram, and then immediately on the production facility. With all the consequences of this adventure! Sometimes such development cycles occur: the designer somehow described a very simplified logic, which the programmer somehow understood and somehow embodied in the code. The system then works "somehow" too!

Such a "risk" in the hope of saving time and resources leads to the reverse consequences. Moreover, it is very difficult to take into account all possible regimes with such a "field" check.

Software simulation (the so-called simulation computer model) allows you to perform any checks, modify all functions, eliminate bugs and errors, and optimize the characteristics of the system being designed.

This video is just a training project prepared by me for the students of the Odessa National Maritime University to enable them to clearly see how their initial ideas about the "correctness" of the automatic system logic (that they embodied in block diagrams on paper) differ from real ones requirements. This system simulates the work of the packet forming machine, which stacks cargo units on the pallet in layers. The components of the system are belt conveyors, devices for turning and pushing of cargo, cargo lift platform and optical sensors.

This model is made in the Anylogic environment, which allows the development of computer models without special programming knowledge (then I was far from programming).

This approach allows you to work out and debug the logic even before installing the production facility structures, sometimes even to rework and optimize the characteristics of the elements and their interactions, and pass on the exact dependencies to the programmer in the form that is as close as possible to his understanding.

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