Examples - general

All examples fly the TU Delft V3 kite, using V3Kite.jl as the plant. This page explains how to install and start them, and describes the scripts that choose the settings of a run and the helper files the runs share. The runs themselves are on the pages Examples - figure-of-eight and Examples - reel-out, the identification of the plant and the validation of its linear model on Examples - identification.

For easy use of the examples and scripts it is suggested to install the package using git:

git clone https://github.com/OpenSourceAWE/SimpleKiteControllers.jl
cd SimpleKiteControllers.jl/bin
./install
./create_sys_image
cd ..
./bin/run_julia

The step create_sys_image is not strictly needed and takes 15-60 min. Skip it if you are short of time.

Optionally you can also install the flight path optimizer with the command:

./bin/install_awetrim

and start it in the background:

./bin/run_server start     # stop, restart, status and log are the other subcommands

start returns once the server answers, and it survives the terminal it was started from. Without a subcommand ./bin/run_server runs it in the foreground in a second terminal window, as before.

Then, from a Julia REPL in this repository:

menu()

This function will show the following menu:

Choose example to run or `q` to quit: 
 > select_turbulence.jl         - choose the turbulence level init() applies (default or 0.0…1.0)
   select_windspeed.jl          - choose the wind speed init() applies (default or a specific m/s)
   select_project.jl            - choose which system project (150m/200m/300m) to fly
   select_sim_time.jl           - choose the simulation time (default or a specific value)
   select_plots.jl              - choose figures: pattern/3d path(+webgl)/time series/power/aero
   plot_scenario.jl             - replot an archived run from output/scenarios/<site>/
   move_scenario.jl             - move the last reel-out run into output/scenarios/<site>/vNN
   copy_scenario.jl             - same, but keeps vNN_2/vNN_3/... instead of overwriting
   build_all_scenarios.jl       - re-fly and replace every scenario of both sites (30 min!)
   simple_opt_reelout.jl        - reel out along an externally optimized path (minutes!)
   simple_reelout_plots.jl      - plot the last logged reel-out run
   stability_opt_reelout.jl     - disk margins of the reel-out course loop over tether length
   stability_global.jl          - worst reel-out disk margin of every archived scenario (minutes!)
   simple_fig8.jl               - fly the figure-of-eight pattern (minutes!)
   simple_fig8_live.jl          - the same run, shown live in the 3D viewer (minutes!)
   simple_fig8_plots.jl         - plot the last logged run of active project
   stability_fig8.jl            - disk margins of the course-control loop (fig8 project)
   simple_opt_fig8.jl           - fly an externally optimized path at constant length (minutes!)
   simple_reelout.jl            - fly the pattern, then reel out to reelout_l_max (minutes!)
   simple_reelout_play.jl       - replay the last logged reel-out run in the 3D viewer
   simple_auto_parking.jl       - fly heading-stabilized parking of the V3 kite
   simple_auto_parking_plots.jl - plot the last logged parking run
   optimize_path.jl             - Julia client for the AWETrim reelout flight-path optimizer
   export_v3_segments.jl        - write the V3 segment table to output/v3_segments.csv
   create_overview.jl           - write scenario overview.md across wind speeds
   create_plots.jl              - batch-generate plots for notebooks/images/<site>
   publish.jl                   - export and push the results notebook
   plot_powercurve.jl           - plot mean reel-out power vs wind speed across archived scenarios
   quit

The menu shows twelve entries at a time and scrolls; the five select_* entries change the simulation settings, which are persisted to data/gui.yaml and read fresh by every run rather than cached in a REPL global.

Settings of a run

Each of the five select_* scripts defines a function of the same name, such as select_project(), which can be called again once the script has been included. The choices are written to data/gui.yaml, which every run reads fresh.

`select_project.jl`

Chooses which system project the examples fly and writes the choice to data/gui.yaml.

To fly a figure of eight at a fixed tether length, select one of the three projects

system_fig8_150m.yaml
system_fig8_200m.yaml
system_fig8_300m.yaml

To produce power by reeling out, select one of the projects

system_reelout_cabauw.yaml: onshore, with a strong wind shear
system_reelout_maasvlakte.yaml: nearshore, with little wind shear

The reel-out scripts read the selection through selected_reelout_project, which ignores a figure-of-eight project and flies system_reelout_maasvlakte.yaml instead.

`select_sim_time.jl`

Chooses how long a run lasts: the project's own sim_time, or a value in seconds entered at the prompt.

`select_windspeed.jl`

Chooses the mean wind speed init applies: the project's own v_wind, or a value in m/s at the project's reference height. A wind speed without a cached turbulent wind field makes the next run generate one, which takes a while and about 1.2 GB of disk.

`select_turbulence.jl`

Chooses the turbulence level: the use_turbulence of the project's settings, or a value between 0.0 (no turbulence) and 1.0 (the Cabauw reference level).

`select_plots.jl`

A checkbox menu that chooses which figures the plot scripts draw: the pattern, the time series, the aerodynamics, and, for the reel-out runs only, the 3D path (GLMakie or WGLMakie) and the power of the winch.

Tools

`create_sys_image.jl`

Builds a PackageCompiler system image with MakieControlPlots and most of V3Kite's dependencies, which cuts the time to load the packages before every session. This is what bin/create_sys_image runs; it takes 15 – 60 minutes and is optional.

`export_v3_segments.jl`

Writes the segment table of v3_segments.jl to output/v3_segments.csv. It builds the structure from V3Kite's geometry file without building the model, so it runs in about a second.

Shared helper files

These files are not run on their own; the examples on the other pages include them.

Defines menu(), the interactive menu shown above. The chosen script is included, so it runs exactly as it would by hand.

`menu2.jl`

Defines menu2(), the menu for the model identification: the project selection, build_turn_rate_table.jl, plot_c1_c2.jl, the other identification scripts and stability_opt_reelout.jl, see Examples - identification.

`identification_utils.jl`

Rewrites single values of a YAML file, and the comment above them, without losing the other comments, and flies a run and identifies the kite's response time on its log; used by the identification scripts that write course_loop_model.yaml.

`model_setup.jl`

The model side of the runs, which the package cannot hold because it does not depend on V3Kite: init_model initializes the V3 model at the project's wind and tether length and settles it, holding the tether length during the warm-up.

`winch_adapter.jl`

The glue between the plant and the winch controller: it reads the plant's scalars off the V3 model and hands them to the scalar-only functions of WinchControllers.jl, which turn a length or force set point into the winch torque step! takes.

`v3_segments.jl`

The segment topology of the V3 kite: which two points each segment connects, and whether it is a tether, wing or bridle segment. It is shared by export_v3_segments.jl and the 3D viewer of simple_fig8_live.jl, so the exported table and the drawn one cannot disagree.