An introduction to running a control system with PCTMonitor.

  • Start the PCTMonitor application

If you get this warning just click “Disable Modules and Continue”.

  • The GUI appears.

  • We are going to test a simple control system configuration represented by this diagram,

The triangle represents a PCT control system and the circles are functions. Functions are in use if they are configured with a properties box. So, in this case there are only two functions, a sine generator and a pause function, which regulates the iteration rate.

  • The file  for this configuration is found in the release folder as 000-000-SineTest.odg. Download it to a workspace folder.
  • In the GUI click the “Open File” button and navigate to this file.
  • You should now see two tabs “ControlPanel Window” and “PlotPanel Window“. You can drag the latter out of the main window so that you have two separate windows.
  • ControlPanel Window” will look like this,

  • Click on the word “Sine” and the display will open up to,

  • In the “PlotPanel Window” click on the word “Sine” and then “SineInput“,

  • In “ControlPanel Window” click the “Start” button and you will see the control system run with values being displayed in “ControlPanel Window” and plotted in “PlotPanel Window,

  • Click on the “Parameters” button to get the parameters window,

  • Changing these parameters will have an immediate effect on the live control system values.