Programming Engine/Generator Control Systems by Demonstration

Some of the most ubiquitous mechanical systems in industry are emergency power generators (EPG), installedin situations where maintaining an electricity supply is critical, and consisting of an engine that drives agenerator. An EPG must start when a loss of mains power is detected, provide electrical power while mainspower is unavailable, and shut down once mains power is restored. During power generation, the performanceof the system must be monitored to ensure that stable output voltage is provided, and that the engine runswithin its operating limits. An important component of an EPG is, therefore, a controller that operates byreading inputs from hardware sensors (e.g. engine temperature), and providing outputs to hardware actuators(e.g. throttle settings). Hence we can consider an EPG to be an autonomous robot that performs a task,unsupervised, in a simple but not precisely predictable environment, by means of control software thatimplements a finite-state transducer producing strings of actuator values in response to input strings of sensorvalues.Control software is usually implemented using low-level programming tools. Dynagen Technologies Inc.uses state diagrams for modelling and C for implementation. Dynagen controllers offer some customisability inthat on-site engineers can make minor changes to control patterns implemented in the controller, while endusers can modify some parameters to fine-tune the system without altering its overall behaviour patterns. Anygreater degree of customisation requires programming that can be done only by Dynagen developers.In this project in collaboration with Dynagen, we will investigate the feasibility of applying visualprogramming-by-demonstration to EPG controller programming, with a view to producing tools that willenable distributors and end users to perform some of the controller customisations that at present can be doneonly by Dynagen developers.