FarmControl Guide

How to use the prototype

Quick Start: The Demo Scenario

Run this in 2-3 minutes to show the full platform

1

Open the Emulator

Go to the Emulator. Select Green Valley Farm from the settings gear if not already selected. Click Start Demo — this starts the simulation engine that drives all the data.

2

Open the Farmer view (in a second tab)

Open Farmer → Slurry Separation in a new tab. This is the mobile PWA that Sepp the farmer would use on his phone. You'll see tank levels, device status, and the system health card.

3

Click "Start" on the process card

Tap Start in the Separation Process card. The flow visualization shows each step lighting up in sequence:

  • 1. Mixer card turns amber → then green ("Running")
  • 2. After 3 seconds: Raw Pump does the same
  • 3. After 3 more seconds: Separator starts → all three green

You can tap any step card to open a detail sheet with status, speed, and role description.

4

Watch the system react

Now things happen automatically:

  • Raw tank level drops (pump is draining it)
  • Liquid tank level rises (separator is filling it)
  • Sparkline charts update in real-time
  • Power draw appears on the 3-phase supply bar (kW per phase)
  • System health score recalculates every tick
5

Alerts fire automatically

As the raw tank drops below 10%, a warning toast pops up and the notification bell gets a red badge. When it hits 0%, the pump goes to error state — the Raw Pump step card turns red.

Tap the red step card → see the error details and a Restart Device button to recover it right from the farmer view.

Shortcut: You can also force errors from the emulator — each device has ERR and OFF buttons to manually trigger fault states.

6

Switch to Admin view

Open the Admin / Provider view. Go to the System Logs tab — you'll see the full event trail in real-time. Click on the errored device to see its details, then click Restart Device to recover it.

7

Reset everything

Back in the Emulator, click Reset. This stops the simulation, resets all devices to defaults, and clears all alerts, events, and history. Ready for the next demo run.

The Three Views

Farmer View

This is Sepp's mobile app. Navigate: Farm → Device Group → Devices.

  • Process flow card — visual Mixer → Pump → Separator pipeline with live status per step. Tap any step to see details; tap an errored step to restart it
  • Tank gauges — circular progress with real-time percentage
  • Sparklines — mini trend charts below each fill sensor with labels (last 2 min, shows start → current range)
  • System health — 0-100% score with power draw, phase balance, separator efficiency
  • Predictive insights — cards like "Separator maintenance in ~3 weeks"
  • Power supply — kW per phase with total consumption
  • Device controls — tap any actuator to open its drawer (toggle on/off, speed slider)
  • Notification bell — tap to see alert history, mark as read

Provider / Admin View

This is Bauer's service dashboard. Overview of all devices across the fleet.

  • Stats cards — total devices, online, active, errors at a glance
  • All Devices tab — search and browse, click any device for details
  • Farms tab — farm-level overview
  • System Logs tab — live event feed (auto-updates, no refresh needed)
  • Device detail page — click a device to see controls, history chart, and admin actions:
  • Restart — sets device to idle, auto-recovers after 2s
  • Shutdown — takes device offline
  • Factory Reset — resets to original defaults

Emulator / Digital Twin

The control room. Simulates the physical hardware. Everything you do here drives what the farmer and admin see.

  • Start / Stop Demo — toggles the server-side simulation engine (2s tick interval)
  • Reset — stops simulation, resets all devices, clears alerts/events/history
  • Control Panel view — industrial-style UI with ON/OFF buttons, speed gauges
  • Force Error / Offline — each device has ERR and OFF buttons to inject fault states for demo scenarios
  • Sensors — click left side to decrease, right side to increase (manual override)
  • Phase indicators — click to toggle online/offline, shows live kW draw
  • Settings gear — switch between farms and view modes

How Things Connect

The Simulation Engine

When you click "Start Demo" in the emulator, a server-side loop starts ticking every 2 seconds. Each tick reads all device states, updates tank levels based on active pumps, computes power draw, checks for error conditions, and logs history. It runs on the server — even if you close all browser tabs, the simulation keeps going until you stop it.

Process Sequencing

"Start Process" in the farmer view kicks off a 3-step sequence with 3-second delays between each: Mixer → Raw Pump → Separator. Each step generates an alert and an event. If you click "Stop Process", everything shuts down immediately in reverse order.

The simulation also enforces safety rules: the raw pump won't drain the tank unless the mixer is also running. If the raw tank empties while the pump is running, the pump goes to error state automatically.

Alerts & Notifications

Alerts fire automatically from the simulation. They appear as toast pop-ups (top-right) and accumulate in the notification bell (badge count). Tap the bell to open the drawer and see all alerts. Tap an alert to mark it as read. "Mark all read" and "Clear" buttons are in the header.

Alert types: Info (process started/stopped), Warning (low tank, phase imbalance), Error (device fault). Duplicate alerts are suppressed for 30 seconds.

Charts & History

Sparkline charts appear below fill-level sensors in the farmer view. They show the last 2 minutes of data. When you click "Start Process", 60 historical data points are seeded so charts look populated immediately (no waiting for real data to accumulate).

In the admin device detail view, a larger area chart shows device value history with time axis.

Power Draw & Health Score

The 3-phase power supply shows real-time kW per phase. Each device contributes to a specific phase (Mixer → L1: 3.2kW, Pumps → L2: 5.1+2.8kW, Separator → L3: 4.7kW). Small random noise makes it look realistic.

The System Health card computes a 0-100% score from: device errors, offline count, recent alerts, phase balance, and separator efficiency. Predictive insight cards appear below it (e.g., "Separator efficiency declining — service in ~3 weeks", "Current draw: 13.0kW — est. €1,400/month").

Tips & Tricks

Side-by-side demo

Open the emulator in one browser and the farmer view on your phone (or a narrow window). Changes in the emulator appear instantly in the farmer view.

Force an error state

Fastest way: in the emulator, click the ERR button on any device. Or wait for the raw tank to hit 0% naturally. Either way, the farmer process card turns red instantly.

Recover from the farmer view

When a step card is red, tap it → see the error reason → tap Restart Device. The device recovers after 2 seconds. No need to switch to the admin view.

Show the admin recovery

For the Bauer story: after a device errors, go to Admin → click the device → Restart. Shows how the service team can fix things remotely.

Clean slate

Click "Reset" in the emulator before every demo. This clears all data and starts fresh. Then "Start Demo" → "Start Process" for a clean run.

Predictive insights

The health score and predictions need ~30 seconds of simulation data to populate. Start the demo, wait a bit, then show the farmer view for the best effect.

Notification bell

The bell badge count only increments for new alerts. If you cleared everything with Reset, you'll see it build up from zero as the simulation generates alerts.

Quick Links