VOLTTRON Fake Driver Interface

The FakeDriver is a way to quickly see data published to the message bus in a format that mimics what a true Driver would produce. This is an extremely simple implementation of the VOLTTRON Driver Framework. This driver does not connect to any actual device and instead produces random and or pre-configured values.

Requires

• python >= 3.10
• volttron-core >= 2.0.0rc0
• volttron-lib-base-driver >= 2.0.0rc0

Documentation

More detailed documentation can be found on ReadTheDocs. The RST source of the documentation for this component is located in the "docs" directory of this repository.

Installation

Before installing, VOLTTRON should be installed and running. Its virtual environment should be active. Information on how to install of the VOLTTRON platform can be found here.

1. If it is not already, install the VOLTTRON Platform Driver Agent:

   vctl install volttron-platform-driver --vip-identity platform.driver
   

2. Install the volttron fake driver library:

   poetry add --directory $VOLTTRON_HOME volttron-lib-fake-driver
   

3. Create configurations for a fake device:

   • Create a file called fake.config and add the following JSON to it:

     {
         "driver_config": {},
         "registry_config": "config://fake.csv",
         "interval": 5,
         "timezone": "US/Pacific",
         "heart_beat_point": "Heartbeat",
         "driver_type": "fake",
         "publish_breadth_first_all": false,
         "publish_depth_first": false,
         "publish_breadth_first": false
         }
     

   • Create another file called fake.csv and add the following contents to it:

     Point Name,Volttron Point Name,Units,Units Details,Writable,Starting Value,Type,Notes
     EKG,EKG,waveform,waveform,TRUE,sin,float,Sine wave for baseline output
     Heartbeat,Heartbeat,On/Off,On/Off,TRUE,0,boolean,Point for heartbeat toggle
     OutsideAirTemperature1,OutsideAirTemperature1,F,-100 to 300,FALSE,50,float,CO2 Reading 0.00-2000.0 ppm
     SampleWritableFloat1,SampleWritableFloat1,PPM,1000.00 (default),TRUE,10,float,Setpoint to enable demand control ventilation
     SampleLong1,SampleLong1,Enumeration,1 through 13,FALSE,50,int,Status indicator of service switch
     SampleWritableShort1,SampleWritableShort1,%,0.00 to 100.00 (20 default),TRUE,20,int,Minimum damper position during the standard mode
     SampleBool1,SampleBool1,On / Off,on/off,FALSE,TRUE,boolean,Status indidcator of cooling stage 1
     SampleWritableBool1,SampleWritableBool1,On / Off,on/off,TRUE,TRUE,boolean,Status indicator
     OutsideAirTemperature2,OutsideAirTemperature2,F,-100 to 300,FALSE,50,float,CO2 Reading 0.00-2000.0 ppm
     SampleWritableFloat2,SampleWritableFloat2,PPM,1000.00 (default),TRUE,10,float,Setpoint to enable demand control ventilation
     SampleLong2,SampleLong2,Enumeration,1 through 13,FALSE,50,int,Status indicator of service switch
     SampleWritableShort2,SampleWritableShort2,%,0.00 to 100.00 (20 default),TRUE,20,int,Minimum damper position during the standard mode
     SampleBool2,SampleBool2,On / Off,on/off,FALSE,TRUE,boolean,Status indidcator of cooling stage 1
     SampleWritableBool2,SampleWritableBool2,On / Off,on/off,TRUE,TRUE,boolean,Status indicator
     OutsideAirTemperature3,OutsideAirTemperature3,F,-100 to 300,FALSE,50,float,CO2 Reading 0.00-2000.0 ppm
     SampleWritableFloat3,SampleWritableFloat3,PPM,1000.00 (default),TRUE,10,float,Setpoint to enable demand control ventilation
     SampleLong3,SampleLong3,Enumeration,1 through 13,FALSE,50,int,Status indicator of service switch
     SampleWritableShort3,SampleWritableShort3,%,0.00 to 100.00 (20 default),TRUE,20,int,Minimum damper position during the standard mode
     SampleBool3,SampleBool3,On / Off,on/off,FALSE,TRUE,boolean,Status indidcator of cooling stage 1
     SampleWritableBool3,SampleWritableBool3,On / Off,on/off,TRUE,TRUE,boolean,Status indicator
     HPWH_Phy0_PowerState,PowerState,1/0,1/0,TRUE,0,int,Power on off status
     ERWH_Phy0_ValveState,ValveState,1/0,1/0,TRUE,0,int,power on off status
     EKG_Sin,EKG_Sin,1-0,SIN Wave,TRUE,sin,float,SIN wave
     EKG_Cos,EKG_Cos,1-0,COS Wave,TRUE,sin,float,COS wave
     

   • Add fake.csv and fake.config to the configuration store:

     vctl config store platform.driver devices/campus/building/fake fake.config
     vctl config store platform.driver fake.csv fake.csv --csv
     

4. Observe Data

   To see data being published to the bus, install a Listener Agent:

   vctl install volttron-listener --start
   

   Once installed, you should see the data being published by viewing the Volttron logs file that was created in step 2. To watch the logs, open a separate terminal and run the following command:

   tail -f <path to folder containing volttron.log>/volttron.log
   

Development

Please see the following for contributing guidelines contributing.

Please see the following helpful guide about developing modular VOLTTRON agents

Disclaimer Notice

This material was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the United States Department of Energy, nor Battelle, nor any of their employees, nor any jurisdiction or organization that has cooperated in the development of these materials, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness or any information, apparatus, product, software, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.

Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof, or Battelle Memorial Institute. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.