As a means to solve a number of functional tasks of automation of housing systems, a special problem-oriented programming language based on functional block diagrams (FDB) is proposed. The proposed language will improve the quality of the system by o ering: -Reduction of entry threshold; -Limiting user capabilities to increase security (protection against incompetence), providing an interface for working with the system, and not an API for programming the system; - Simpli cation of the perception of logic due to the simple logic of the low level of abstraction and the number of operations "if-> then"; - Extending the boundaries of functionality due to the exibility of adding algorithms.
The main functions of such systems are: monitoring obsolete power substations, controlling outdoor lighting, collecting data on the consumption of various energy carriers. The beginning of work - 2003. The work was carried out by LMT LLC with the active participation of ITMO employees. At the moment, systems for housing and communal services are complex scalable cyber-physical systems that allow solving problems both in large cities and in small cottage villages.
From our experience, the following were revealed: { Management systems for housing and communal services are complex cyberphysical systems that require highly quali ed personnel during deployment and operation; { AOLCS (Automated Outdoor Lighting Control System) "Luch" deployed in about 30 cities of Russia and only two of them found such specialists.
{ System con guration (setting up controllers, setting up server components); { Application programming; { Low level of training of local specialists.
A big problem is functional illiteracy [
What are the speci cs of housing and communal services: { There are no people with the necessary set of competencies (in fact, the competencies of a system administrator, an entry-level programmer, and a competent PC user are su cient) { There is no way to independently obtain the necessary knowledge; { No higher education; { Functional illiteracy is common; { There is no desire to gain new knowledge (especially for local specialists aged); { The local administration is very far from the problems of using automation systems.
Housing and communal services di ers from such industries as the oil industry, nance, industry and retail in small nancing.Regional small cities are experiencing a constant out ow of specialists to large nancial and industrial centers. The local education system is limping. So it is necessary to abandon the classical approaches to con guration and applied, user programming of automation systems in favor of systems with the most simple, intelligent controls that do not require the attention of specialists.
The aim of this work is to solve the problem of introducing computer
technology into housing and communal services by using a tool - a language that
allows you to hide the high complexity of the system from the user by providing
an abstract interface.
At present, there are a large number of such visual programming languages
that are designed to solve various problems:
{ The Sequential Function Chart (SFC) is a graphical language for
programming industrial logic controllers PLC and structuring programs;
{ FBD is the language of Functional block diagrams like LD language of VP
(visual programming), where each block represents a mathematical
operation;
{ And other languages that solve a variety of problems, from languages for
teaching children programming [
A number of articles describe the way of thinking that people use at the initial stages of their development. This way of thinking is conditioned re ex thinking, that is, to solve the problem, a person uses ready-made templates that are described by a simple formula: \if something else", going beyond such simple recipes-algorithms, as a rule, drives a person into a dead end, absence the nished template and the need for enumeration makes it di cult or impossible to solve the problem. In order to solve problems using people with this way of thinking described above, it is necessary to exclude all complex constructions that do not t into the behavior predictable for humans.
The language should be described by simple verbal constructions and should be accessible for explanation in terms of frequently encountered things, such as a water supply system or a motorway. Also, the language should not contain abstract objects and mechanisms that are di cult to understand that go beyond the everyday life of an ordinary person (for example: cycles, inheritance, processes, queues, interrupts, and so on).
There are examples of similar tools that are used to solve the problems
of managing and controlling home automation systems: IFTTT (If This Then
That), Blynk and the like. When developing such a system or programming
language, it is worth remembering such an important problem as user errors that
arise during the compilation of algorithms and system programming [
The proposed language is a set of square-functional blocks representing any
action and having the following parameters: two inputs, one of which is inverse,
two outputs and some applied parameters. As a computation model for
implementing such a programming language, a process network computation model is
proposed [
SGL Key Ideas: { The SGL language is based on the discrete event model; { The operators of the language are logical elements, and the connections between the elements are the faces of square elements; { SGL does not have Turing completeness, that is, it is impossible to implement any computable function on it. Feedback for the implementation of automata cannot be done.
{ Readability (ease of reading and understanding programs) and simplicity (language consists of several types of constructions) come rst; { Lack of cycles; { Reliability; { Low cost.
The programming process consists in connecting the squares with each other, when the faces of the squares are in contact - two processes are connected, the output of one process is combined through queues (blocking queues, if there is no data, the process is blocked until the data appears) with the input of the other. SGL language constructs are function blocks. The function block is presented as a square with two inputs and two outputs.
Function Block Composition: { Inputs (DIN, AIN, MODBUS cell, MQTT topic, etc.); { Outputs (DOUT, AOUT, MODBUS cell, MQTT topic, etc.); { Elementary logical elements (AND, NOT, OR-NOT, etc.); { Filters (averager, median lter, level limiter, etc.); { Complex functional blocks (annual schedule, control algorithm, etc.);
As shown in the gure 2, X1, X2 - inputs, Y1, Y2 outputs Inputs X1 and X2 can have di erent meanings, for example, X1 - input for receiving data, X2 settings.
Each unit is responsible for a speci c process, for example, determining the user's location using geolocation or receiving data from a temperature sensor installed on the object. The list of such blocks includes: geolocation, temperature sensor, switch, triggers, inputs and outputs, message / noti cation generator, timers, counters, etc. The list of tasks that can be solved is mainly limited by the user's imagination, and the extension of this language by Adding a speci c function block is not a high cost task.
And also it is very important to notice that the most popular electronic device available to the widest segments of the population is an Android smartphone.It is logical to assume that the IDE for programming and tuning systems should also be placed in a familiar environment for the user.
An example of solving one of the problems of automation of a housing and communal services object can be heating the room before the arrival of the system user directly to the object. Such a problem is solved within the framework of the developed language by connecting three blocks. The coordinate determination unit (or constant geolocation speci ed in the unit settings) and the temperature sensor transmit data to the thermostat inputs, as shown in Figure 2, which in turn transmits signals to the relay control unit at the output.
Implementation of local automation tools (if it is not an oil rig or a large plant) requires a su ciently large investment related to the need for eld technicians to travel expenses for business trips, maintenance, adjustment and maintenance, as well as separation from the work process. There are two possible solutions to this problem. Further training of eld sta is one of such solutions that is not always e ective and often costly. And the second option is to lower the threshold of entry and risk management, described above at the stage of development of these systems.
In conclusion on the ndings: { Outside of successful industries, it is very di cult to build a competent IT infrastructure for servicing modern systems; { The programming tools used in conventional process control projects are too complex for existing sta ; { To automate such an area as housing and communal services, it is necessary to create as simple as possible, and preferably even completely automatic cyberphysical systems; { SGL language allows you to reduce the entry threshold for creating simple con guration systems; it is well accepted by service personnel accustomed to working with electric networks;
The visual programming language proposed as part of the development of cyberphysical systems serving the housing and communal services allows expanding the system's functionality through user programs, simplifying user interaction with a complex engineering system and lowering the entry threshold for the system.