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Sequence Block ​

Date: 2022/05/27

Context ​

The automation replacements decision discussed the implementation of a new block for setting and waiting for setpoint values. This document describes the design and implementation of this block.

Use case ​

A common control scenario is to set a desired setting, and then wait until a condition is met. This behavior may be chained.

Existing blocks either only offer singular conditional actions (Logic Actuator), or are completely predetermined (Setpoint Profile).

The desired behavior is completely dependent on existing blocks, can function autonomously, and has a high cost of failure. In combination, this means that the most appropriate solution is to implement it by creating a new block type on the controller: the Sequence block.

Architecture ​

The desired behavior can be expressed as a sequential set of independent instructions.
Any given instruction either:

  • sets a block setting on a given block.
  • waits for a condition to be true.

The majority of instructions requires one or more arguments. Typically this consists of the target block ID, and the desired value.

Instructions are always executed serially in order of definition. More complication functionality can be achieved by having the Sequence block trigger Setpoint Profile blocks or other Sequence blocks. This allows for rudimentary branching behavior.

Both settings and conditions are too diverse to be captured by generic "set" and "wait" instructions, so specific instructions per block type (or interface) and field are required.

Instructions ​

  • RESTART: reset activeInstruction to 0.
  • ENABLE: enable target block.
  • DISABLE: disable target block.
  • WAIT_DURATION: wait until given duration has elapsed since the instruction was first called.
  • WAIT_UNTIL: wait until current time in UTC is later than given value.
  • WAIT_TEMP_BETWEEN: wait until target Temperature Sensor block value is between an upper and lower bound.
  • WAIT_TEMP_NOT_BETWEEN: wait until target Temperature Sensor block value is outside an upper and lower bound.
  • WAIT_TEMP_UNEXPECTED: wait until target Temperature Sensor block value is outside an upper and lower bound, or the sensor can not be read.
  • WAIT_TEMP_ABOVE: wait until target Temperature Sensor block value is above a given value.
  • WAIT_TEMP_BELOW: wait until target Temperature Sensor block value is below a given value.
  • SET_SETPOINT: set the desired setting for target Setpoint block.
  • WAIT_SETPOINT: wait until desired setting was reached for target Setpoint block.
  • SET_DIGITAL: set the desired state for target Digital Actuator or Motor Valve block.
  • WAIT_DIGITAL: wait until achieved state matches desired state for target Digital Actuator or Motor Valve block.
  • SET_PWM: set the desired setting for target PWM block.
  • START_PROFILE: set start time of target Setpoint Profile block to now.
  • WAIT_PROFILE: wait until the last point in target Setpoint Profile block is reached.
  • START_SEQUENCE: reset target Sequence block to its first instruction.
  • WAIT_SEQUENCE: wait until target Sequence block has completed its last instruction.

Arguments ​

  • RESTART
    • (None)
  • ENABLE
    • target (supportsEnabledInterface block ID)
  • DISABLE
    • target (supportsEnabledInterface block ID)
  • WAIT_DURATION
    • duration (Duration)
  • WAIT_UNTIL
    • time (Seconds since 1970-1-1)
  • WAIT_TEMP_BETWEEN
    • target (TempSensorInterface block)
    • lower (Temp)
    • upper (Temp)
  • WAIT_TEMP_NOT_BETWEEN
    • target (TempSensorInterface block)
    • lower (Temp)
    • upper (Temp)
  • WAIT_TEMP_UNEXPECTED
    • target (TempSensorInterface block)
    • lower (Temp)
    • upper (Temp)
  • WAIT_TEMP_ABOVE
    • target (TempSensorInterface block)
    • value (Temp)
  • WAIT_TEMP_BELOW
    • target (TempSensorInterface block)
    • value (Temp)
  • SET_SETPOINT
    • target (Setpoint block ID)
    • setting (Temp)
  • WAIT_SETPOINT
    • target (Setpoint block ID)
    • precision (Delta Temp)
  • SET_DIGITAL
    • target (ActuatorDigitalInterface block ID)
    • setting (Digital State)
  • WAIT_DIGITAL
    • target (ActuatorDigitalInterface block ID)
  • SET_PWM
    • target (ActuatorPwm block ID)
    • setting (number 0-100)
  • START_PROFILE
    • target (SetpointProfile block ID)
  • WAIT_PROFILE
    • target (SetpointProfile block ID)
  • START_SEQUENCE
    • target (Sequence block ID)
  • WAIT_SEQUENCE
    • target (Sequence block ID)

Status ​

Instructions can modify the Sequence block's status when called. If an error status is set, the active instruction will be re-evaluated until the error is cleared - either automatically, or by a configuration change.

  • DISABLED: the block is globally disabled.
  • PAUSED: the block is disabled during execution. disabledDuration will accumulate.
  • NEXT: the last called instruction completed normally.
  • WAIT: the active instruction determined that the required condition was not met.
  • END: all instructions were completed normally.
  • RESTART: the last called instruction was a RESTART instruction.
  • ERROR: the active instruction could not be executed. The error field will be non-default.

Error status values are:

  • NONE: no error.
  • INVALID_ARGUMENT: one or more of the arguments for the active instruction is invalid.
  • INVALID_TARGET: the block targeted by the active instruction does not exist, or is of an incompatible type.
  • INACTIVE_TARGET: the block targeted by the active instruction is invalid (disconnected from hardware) or inactive (driven by a disabled block).
  • DISABLED_TARGET: the active instruction is awaiting a status change on a disabled block.
  • SYSTEM_TIME_NOT_AVAILABLE: controller system time is not yet set.

State ​

Writable persistent settings are:

  • instructions: Instruction[]
  • enabled: boolean
  • overrideState: boolean

State settings are normally read-only, unless overrideState is set. In that case, they are treated as writable:

  • activeInstruction: number
  • activeInstructionStartedAt: number
  • disabledAt: number
  • disabledDuration: number

Read-only volatile settings are:

  • status: SequenceStatus
  • error: SequenceError

Unlike most other blocks, the Sequence block cannot completely derive its current setting from user-defined configuration.
To correctly resume after a controller reboot, it must keep track of its current instruction (activeInstruction), and the time at which the current instruction was started (activeInstructionStartedAt).

These settings are automatically persisted to EEPROM whenever a new instruction is called. To avoid race conditions, activeInstruction, and activeInstructionStartedAt are not normally writable. To explicitly reset or restart a Sequence, the overrideState flag must be included.

To avoid WAIT_DURATION instructions including time spent disabled, the disabledAt and disabledDuration fields are present.
If the Sequence block is disabled during execution, disabledAt is set to the current system time. When the block is re-enabled, disabledDuration is increased with systemTime - disabledAt. disabledDuration is always reset to 0 when the next instruction starts, or the active instruction is reset.

Limitations ​

Features ​

Sequence block instructions are mutually independent. This precludes the implementation of a jump (required for functions, and conditional statements), and the use of variables in arguments.

This is intentional. There is a wide gulf between trivial implementations (such as the proposed Sequencer), and full-fledged programming languages. In this gulf, any features added to the trivial implementation only provide marginal value until all other features required for a programming language are implemented as well.

There is added value in implementing a scripting language interpreter in firmware, but this is best served by implementing a pre-existing solution such as Lua, micro-Python, or AWK, and not by creating a new home-made DSL.

System time ​

The WAIT_DURATION, and WAIT_UNTIL instructions in the Sequence block track time elapsed, as measured in seconds since UTC.
The activeInstructionStartedAt is expressed in seconds since UTC. If this value is not known because system time was not yet set, the Sequence block cannot function.

The system time is fetched from an NTP server if a network connection is available, and always set by the Spark service upon connection. With this in mind, the risk of malfunction is acceptable.

Syntax ​

In the JSON block representation, instructions can be elegantly expressed using a list of strings. This improves manual editability if so required.

The syntax is {INSTRUCTION} {ARGS...}, with one instruction per line. Arguments use a comma-separated key=value syntax, and are never optional. The order of arguments is free.

The arguments are separated from the instruction with at least one space. If there are no arguments, this space can be omitted. Any number of spaces can be inserted next to the comma , and = separator characters.

Both instructions in the below example are equally valid

txt
INSTRUCTION key1=value,key2=value
INSTRUCTION      key1   =  value  ,   key2   = value

Quantities are automatically identified, and converted where required. The output from the Spark service always returns quantities with the user-preferred units.
Abbreviated temperature units are used: C or F for absolute values, and dC or dF for relative values.

Time duration values (such as found in WAIT_DURATION) can be expressed either in integer seconds, or as duration string (eg. 1d6h10m5s).

If any argument is a string that contains trailing or leading spaces, it must be quoted using single quotes. For all other arguments, quotes are allowed but optional.

Example instructions:

txt
SET_SETPOINT target=BK Setpoint, setting=65C
ENABLE target='BK Setpoint'
WAIT_SETPOINT target='BK Setpoint', precision=1dC
START_PROFILE target='BK Profile '
ENABLE target='BK Profile'
WAIT_PROFILE target='BK Profile '

Example JSON block (writable settings only):

json
{
  "id": "BK Sequence",
  "serviceId": "spark-one",
  "type": "Sequence",
  "data": {
    "enabled": true,
    "instructions": [
      "SET_SETPOINT target=BK Setpoint, setting=65C",
      "ENABLE target='BK Setpoint'",
      "WAIT_SETPOINT target='BK Setpoint', precision=1dC",
      "START_PROFILE target='BK Profile '",
      "ENABLE target='BK Profile'",
      "WAIT_PROFILE target='BK Profile '",
    ]
  }
}

Further work ​

During implementation, more use cases were identified as being valuable follow-up features:

  • An externally-driven temperature sensor.
  • An externally-driven raw sensor (unitless value).
  • A START_ALARM instruction.
  • A WAIT_INPUT instruction, coupled with GPIO input pins.
  • Cron-style interval wait commands (once every day/hour/minute).
  • A protobuf field notation for abs time fields, so they can be automatically converted between ISO-8601 syntax and seconds since epoch.