Single-Board-Heater-System/C2/Using-SBHS-Virtual-Labs-on-Windows/English

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Title of script: Using SBHS virtual laboratory

Author: Rupak Rokade

Keywords: SBHS, Virtual labs, tutorial


Narration
Show Slide Welcome to the spoken tutorial on Using Single Board heater System Virtual labs on Windows OS
Show Slide In this spoken tutorial we will learn about:


  1. Software installations required on the remote user's computer
  2. Using SBHS website
  3. Performing a Step test experiment remotely
Show Slide

Pre-requisite

As a pre-requisite, watch the following tutorials

1. Introduction to SBHS and

2. Introduction to Xcos.


These are available on the spoken tutorial website.


I am recording this tutorial on a Windows-7 32-bit Operating System

Show Slide

Pre-requisite

Ensure that Scilab 5.3.3 is installed on your computer.


Scilab 5.3.3 can be downloaded from

sbhs.os-hardware.in/downloads


Please note that you will need internet connectivity to install Scilab.

Show slide Scilab 5.3.3 installation is mandatory because all SBHS experiment Scilab codes are written using Scilab 5.3.3


If you modify and save the codes in a higher version of scilab then these codes cannot be re-used in Scilab 5.3.3

This is because a software is always backward-compatible, never forward-compatible.

I have already installed Scilab 5.3.3.


Now the next step is to download the experiment Scilab code for experiments.

Demo as per narration Open a web browser.

In the address bar, type os-hardware.in

This is the website for open source hardware.

click on SBHS image Click on the project SBHS.
Click on Downloads On the left hand side, click on Downloads.
Demo as per narration Click on the download link for SBHS Scilab codes for windows

It will download the Scilab code.

Go to the Desktop and point to the file. Save it on the Desktop.


I have already saved this file.

Here it is.

Right-click on it >> show Extract here. The file downloaded will be in zip format.


Extract the content of this zip file on the Desktop.


To do so, right-click on it and choose Extract here.


The contents inside this folder, will be discussed at a later part of this tutorial.

<<PAUSE>>
Now let us see the SBHS Virtual labs website.
Switch to browser Switch to the web browser again.
Click on Virtual Labs On the left hand side, click on the link Virtual Labs.
This is the interface from where one can gain access to do remote experiments on SBHS.
Point to Login/Register A first time user needs to register once, by clicking on Login/Register option.
Show the registration form After this, a form has to be filled and submitted.


An activation link is mailed to the user after the form is submitted successfully.


The link received in the email, should be used to complete the registration process.


Note that the activation process may not be immediate. It may take a few minutes.

Enter username

Enter Password

I will now login with an already registered account.

I will enter my username and password.

Point to “Book Slot”, “View/Delete Slot” After a successful login, a user has access to Book Slot, View/Delete Slot etc.


A slot is the time duration in which you can perform an experiment.

In our case, a slot lasts for 55 minutes of every hour.

Click on Book Slot option After clicking on the Book Slot option, the client will have two choices.
Point to Current Slot and Future Slot One can either book Current Slot or a Future Slot
Point to Book Now and then to Book future slot Book Now option will appear only if the current slot is vacant.


While Book future slot option will always be available.

It will allow two non-consecutive slots to be booked, each day.

Click on Book Current Slot I will click on Book Now option.
You will receive an acknowledgement, with your booking details on the top side.


The slot booking part is over.


Let us now run a simple Step Test experiment, downloaded from the website.

Switch to the Desktop >> open the downloaded folder Open the folder you downloaded and saved on the Desktop.
Point to the folders: StepTest and common_files You can see that there is a StepTest folder and common_files folder.


Do not move any of the folders from their location.


If the directory structure is changed, the experiment will not execute.


If you want one experiment to be copied elsewhere, make sure you copy the common_files folder too.


However, make sure the common_files folder is always outside the experiment folder.


Open the common_files folder.


Open the file config.


This file is used to do the proxy settings.

Switch to Slides Do not change the contents of config file if
  • You are accesing from inside IIT Bombay
  • OR You are accesing from outside IIT Bombay and using an open network such as at home OR using a mobile internet


Change the contents of config file if you are-

  • accesing from outside IIT Bombay
  • and using a proxy network such as at an institute, office etc.
Switch to config file Put the value of use proxy as Yes with Y capital.


Change the other details as per the proxy network which you are on.


Save and close this file.

Open StepTest folder Open the StepTest folder.
Open run.vbs Locate and double-click on the file run.
Point to the various parameters It will open the python based SBHS client application.


Note that the first time execution of this file will take a minute to open the SBHS client.


It will show various parameters of the experiment like:

  • SBHS Connection,
  • Client Version,
  • User login
  • and Experiment status


Green dots mean that the SBHS client can connect to the server and the client version you are using is the latest.


User login and Experiment status is red because i have still not logged in and the experiment is not running.

Point to Login >>

type username

type password

click on login

It will also give you an option to login.


Type your username and password.

This username and password is the same that we used to book a slot.

Click on login.


Ensure that you login on the booked date and time, with correct login details.


Expect the message Ready to execute scilab code.

Switch to StepTest folder Switch to the StepTest folder which has the experiment files.
Double-click on “stepc.sce Double-click on the stepc file.


This should open Scilab automatically.

It should also open the file in Scilab editor.

Switch to Scilab console >> Type getd ../common_files Switch to the Scilab console.


Type the command getd space dot dot slash common files and press Enter key.

Switch to Scilab editor >> Click on Execute >> click on File with echo Switch to the scilab editor.


On the Menu bar, lick on Execute option and then click on File with echo .


If the network is working properly, it will open an Xcos diagram, else it will show error on the Scilab console.

step test Xocs diagram opens up >> Point to Heat and Fan Once the step test Xocs diagram opens up, we can set the experiment parameters such as Heat and Fan.
Demo I will set the heat to vary from 30% to 45% after 300 seconds.


I will put the initial value = 30, final value = 45 and step time = 300.


Similarly, I will set the fan to be constant at 50% which is the default value.

Save and execute Now let us save and execute the xcos diagram.

To execute, click on the start button on the menu bar.

If there is no error, it will open a plot window.
Point to the 3 graphs It will consist of three graphs, Heat, Fan and Temperature from top to bottom.
Switch to SBHS client Switch to the SBHS client.
Point as per narration You can see that it shows the values of current iteration, heat, fan, temperature and time left for experimentation.
Point to the log file name It shows the log file name it has created for this experiment.
Switch to the web browser

click on show video

Switch to the browser.

Click on show video.

It will give a live video feed of the SBHS you are currently accessing.

Pause the recording This is a real experiment and will take some time to complete.


I will pause this recording for some time and then resume again.

Resume the recording >> Point to the graph shown After sufficient time of experiment, the graph obtained is as shown.
Click on Stop button on xcos window I will stop the simulation by clicking on the stop button on Xcos window.
Close SBHS client Close the SBHS client window after the experiment is over.
switch to the experiment folder >> open logs folder >> point to your username folder Now, switch to the experiment folder and open the logs folder.


It will have a folder named after your username.

Open username folder >> locate log file


Open this folder and locate your log file.


Read the log file name as year month date hours minutes seconds dot txt


Use this log file for further analysis.

Show slide Let us summarise.

In this tutorial we learnt

  • What are the software installations required to do a remote experiment on SBHS
  • How to use the SBHS virtual labs website
  • How to use the python based SBHS client application
  • How to execute the scilab code of an experiment
Show slide Watch the video available at the following link.


It summarises the Spoken Tutorial project.


If you do not have good bandwidth, you can download and watch it

Show slide The Spoken Tutorial Project Team
  • Conducts workshops using spoken tutorials.
  • Gives certificates to those who pass an online test


For more details, please write to contact at spoken-tutorial.org

Show slide Spoken Tutorial Project is a part of the Talk to a Teacher project.


It is supported by the National Mission on Education through ICT, MHRD, Government of India


More information on this Mission is available at: http://spoken-tutorial.org/NMEICT-Intro

This is Rupak Rokade from IIT Bombay signing off.


Thank You

Contributors and Content Editors

Nancyvarkey, Rupakrokade