Traffic Monitor: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 02:44, 6 March 2023

Traffic Monitor

Logistics

The Traffic Monitor is built on the conveyor belt to monitor the real-time cargo flow rate at the corresponding location. Conditions can be set to trigger an alarm.

Durability		100 hp
Work Consumption		36.0 kW
Idle Consumption		9000 W
Made In		Assembler
Hand-make		Replicator
Grid Size		1×1
Stack Size		100

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2 s

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Summary

The Traffic Monitor is a building placed directly on a conveyor belt that monitors the flow of items through it. It has pass and fail conditions that can be set to trigger an alarm when the conditions are not met, alerting the player.

Production Chain

Recipe	Building	Replicator?	Technology
1 2 s 3 2 1 2		✔

Mechanics

The color on top of the Traffic Monitor will change color depending on the monitor's state: green for Pass, red for Fail, and light gray for Waiting. The flow rate is displayed on a 7-segment display on the side of the Traffic Monitor.

Monitor Settings

Each Traffic Monitor has several settings that ultimately determine when the cargo passing through will pass or fail:

Cycle - The period of time over which the rolling average of the flow rate is calculated, and over which the Traffic Monitor checks the "pass cargo" and "no cargo" conditions. This can be set as low as 1.00 seconds and as high as 60.00 seconds in increments of 0.25 seconds, with 6.00 seconds as the default.

Target flow - The desired flow rate for the items through the Traffic Monitor, measured in items per minute. This can be set to anywhere from 0 to 7200 items/min. Clicking on the value to the right of the slider allows the player to directly type in the desired flow rate.

Condition - The logical operator used to compare the observed flow to the target flow, in order to determine whether the cargo Passes or Fails. If the logical operator is true, the Traffic Monitor's status is Pass; if it is not true, the status is Fail. If less than a single cycle's time has passed since the monitor was built or the cycle length was last adjusted, the monitor's status is Waiting.

The operators that can be selected are:

= (equals) - The observed and target flow are exactly equal.
≠ (not equal)- The observed and target flow are not equal.
≥ (greater than or equal to) - The average flow is greater than, or exactly equal to, the target flow.
> (greater than) - The average flow is strictly greater than the target flow.
≤ (less than or equal to) - The average flow is lower than, or exactly equal to, the target flow.
< (less than) - The average flow is strictly lower than the target flow.

Item filter - By setting a filter, the Traffic Monitor will only monitor that specific item that passes through it, and all other items will be ignored.

Alert Settings

There are 2 types of alerts that can be prepared: a global alert displays an icon in a warning box at the top of the screen, while a speaker alert makes a noise. When setting a global alarm, the player can choose what icon will be displayed for that alert.

A Traffic Monitor's alarm has a setting to determine when the alert will go off. The options for when to trigger the alert are:

None - No alert can trigger.
Fail - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is Fail.
Pass - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is Pass.
Pass cargo - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is Pass, and at least 1 item passed through the Traffic Monitor within the last cycle.
No cargo - The alert triggers if no items passed through the Traffic Monitor within the last cycle.
Fail and pass cargo - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is Fail, and at least 1 item passed through the Traffic Monitor within the last cycle.
Fail and no cargo - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is Fail, and no items passed through the Traffic Monitor within the last cycle.

Player Tips & Tricks

The most obvious use for the Traffic Monitor is to place it on a production line to keep an eye on if that belt stops working properly.
Place a Traffic Monitor in front of a storage unit to set an alert for when that storage fills up. This is especially useful when storing byproducts.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 ==Summary==
-The Traffic Monitor is built on the conveyor belt to monitor the real-time cargo flow rate at the corresponding location. Conditions can be set to trigger an alarm.
+The '''Traffic Monitor''' is a building placed directly on a [[Conveyor Belts|conveyor belt]] that monitors the flow of items through it. It has pass and fail conditions that can be set to trigger an alarm when the conditions are not met, alerting the player.
 ==Production Chain==
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 |}
-==Player Tips & Tricks==
+==Mechanics==
-The color of the panel on the top surface of the traffic monitor will change color depending on the monitor's state; Pass = green, Fail = red, Waiting = light grey.  The flow is displaced on a 7 segment style of display one side of the monitor,
+The color on top of the Traffic Monitor will change color depending on the monitor's state: green for '''Pass''', red for '''Fail''', and light gray for '''Waiting'''. The flow rate is displayed on a 7-segment display on the side of the Traffic Monitor.
-'''Monitor Setting'''
+=== Monitor Settings ===
+Each Traffic Monitor has several settings that ultimately determine when the cargo passing through will pass or fail:
-Cycle - the length of time (between 1 - 60 seconds; default 6) over which the rolling average of belt throughput is calculated; and over which the alert "pass cargo" and "no cargo" conditions are evaluated.
+'''Cycle''' - The period of time over which the rolling average of the flow rate is calculated, and over which the Traffic Monitor checks the "pass cargo" and "no cargo" conditions. This can be set as low as 1.00 seconds and as high as 60.00 seconds in increments of 0.25 seconds, with 6.00 seconds as the default.
-Target flow - the desired cargos per minutes flowing through the traffic monitor (between 0 and 7200 cargos).  Tip: You can click on the number, to the right of the slider, and directly type in your desired target value.
+'''Target flow''' - The desired flow rate for the items through the Traffic Monitor, measured in items per minute. This can be set to anywhere from 0 to 7200 items/min. Clicking on the value to the right of the slider allows the player to directly type in the desired flow rate.
-Condition - the logical test that will compare the observed flow (the rolling average of cargos over the last cycle duration) to the target flow; to determine Pass or Fail.  IF the logical test is true then the traffic monitor is Pass, if it is not true the traffic monitor is Fail, if less that one cycle duration has passed since the cycle length was adjusted or the traffic monitor was placed it is not yet either (and the colored panel atop its structure will be default light grey color)
+'''Condition''' - The logical operator used to compare the observed flow to the target flow, in order to determine whether the cargo '''Passes''' or '''Fails'''.  If the logical operator is true, the Traffic Monitor's status is '''Pass'''; if it is not true, the status is '''Fail'''. If less than a single cycle's time has passed since the monitor was built or the cycle length was last adjusted, the monitor's status is '''Waiting'''.
-* '=' (average and target flow are identical)
-* '≠' (average and target flow are not identical)
-* '≥' (average flow is greater than or equal to target flow)
-* '>' (average flow is greater than target flow)
-* '≤' (average flow is less than or equal to target flow)
-* '<' (average flow is less than target flow)
-Item filter - if you want the flow to be calculated only for one cargo type on the belt.
+The operators that can be selected are:
+* '''=''' (equals) - The observed and target flow are exactly equal.
+* '''≠''' (not equal)- The observed and target flow are ''not'' equal.
+* '''≥''' (greater than or equal to) - The average flow is greater than, or exactly equal to, the target flow.
+* '''>''' (greater than) - The average flow is strictly greater than the target flow.
+* '''≤''' (less than or equal to) - The average flow is lower than, or exactly equal to, the target flow.
+* '''<''' (less than) - The average flow is strictly lower than the target flow.
-'''Alert Settings'''
+'''Item filter''' - By setting a filter, the Traffic Monitor will only monitor that specific item that passes through it, and all other items will be ignored.
-A global alert displays an icon inside a warning box at the top of the screen.  A speaker alert sounds a noise.
+=== Alert Settings ===
-Once a global alert has been selected, clicking on the yellow triangle ! icon that appears (to the right of that dropdown box) will allow you to pick a different icon to be displayed when the alert is triggered.
+There are 2 types of alerts that can be prepared: a '''global alert''' displays an icon in a warning box at the top of the screen, while a '''speaker alert''' makes a noise. When setting a global alarm, the player can choose what icon will be displayed for that alert.
-Options to trigger an alert:
+A Traffic Monitor's alarm has a setting to determine when the alert will go off. The options for when to trigger the alert are:
-* None - no alert will be triggered.
+* '''None''' - No alert can trigger.
-* Fail - alert will trigger when traffic monitor is fail.
+* '''Fail''' - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is '''Fail'''.
-* Pass - alert will trigger when traffic monitor is pass.
+* '''Pass''' - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is '''Pass'''.
-* Pass cargo - alert will trigger when traffic monitor is pass '''AND''' at least 1 cargo has been through/under the traffic monitor during the last cycle duration (aka the belt wasn't empty for that entire time)
+* '''Pass cargo''' - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is '''Pass''', ''and'' at least 1 item passed through the Traffic Monitor within the last cycle.
-* No cargo - alert will trigger (regardless of pass/fail state) if no cargo has been through/under the traffic monitor during the last cycle duration (aka the belt was empty for that entire time)
+* '''No cargo''' - The alert triggers if no items passed through the Traffic Monitor within the last cycle.
-* Fail and pass cargo - alert will trigger if the when traffic monitor is fail '''AND''' cargo has been through/under the traffic monitor during the last cycle duration (may occur if the belt is fully, or partially, jammed up; or just if a steady output is below the desired target rate)
+* '''Fail and pass cargo''' - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is '''Fail''', ''and'' at least 1 item passed through the Traffic Monitor within the last cycle.
-* Fail and no cargo - alert will trigger if the when traffic monitor is fail '''AND''' no cargo has been through/under the traffic monitor during the last cycle duration (aka the belt was empty for that entire time)
+* '''Fail and no cargo''' - The alert triggers when the Traffic Monitor's status is '''Fail''', ''and'' no items passed through the Traffic Monitor within the last cycle.
+== Player Tips & Tricks ==
+* The most obvious use for the Traffic Monitor is to place it on a production line to keep an eye on if that belt stops working properly.
+* Place a Traffic Monitor in front of a storage unit to set an alert for when that storage fills up. This is especially useful when storing byproducts.
-Got a good tip or trick? Come suggest it on the Discord!