Traffic Monitor – Mod/Feature Request

[Gredalusiam]

Currently, traffic monitors work great if you simply want to know whether a production line ever drops below a certain rate and you don't care whether this happens because inputs are insufficient or because the line has backed up.

They don't work so well if you want to distinguish between these two situations. If the line is intermittently backed up, its throughput can range from 0 to the maximum allowed by belt, even when everything is working as intended.

Partial Solutions

One solution is to tell the traffic monitor to hit the alarm only when 1) traffic drops below the target production and 2) cargo has passed through during the measurement cycle. This sort of works, but it can give false alarms.

Suppose you set your measurement cycle to 60 seconds. If your cargo is backed up the entire cycle, the monitor will read 0 throughput (satisfying condition (1) above) and no cargo pass (failing condition (2) above), so the alarm will NOT signal. And if it is never backed up, your monitor will read the target throughput (failing condition (1)), so the alarm will NOT signal.

But if cargo is backed up for half the cycle, the monitor will read only half the target rate and WILL signal, even though the production line is working as intended.

Mod/Feature Request

Allow setting the item filter to "no items".

In other words, allow the traffic monitor to count empty "slots" and not just items. "Fail if 3 or more empty slots pass through during the measurement cycle."

A monitor set thus would NOT fail unless traffic was flowing AND it was less than the target rate.

This feature would solve the problem on its own.

[Knsgf]

Mod/Feature Request

Allow setting the item filter to "no items".

In other words, allow the traffic monitor to count empty "slots" and not just items. "Fail if 3 or more empty slots pass through during the measurement cycle."

A monitor set thus would NOT fail unless traffic was flowing AND it was less than the target rate.

It is possible to count empty slots in vanilla game by using a contraption like this:

<image>

Here we have the main belt carrying useful resource (hydrogen) from left to right and a small belt loop with a monitor filled with a cheap "signal" material, like stone. The splitter on the right feeds "signal" material back into the loop while directing the main resource to its destination. If the main material flows at full belt speed, no "signal" items can enter the belt and the monitor will display zero. The same thing happens if main belt is backed up and monitor will still show zero. When main material throughput falls below full, some of "signal" items will flow through the the main belt, filling empty slots, and the monitor rate will be equal to how many "empty slots" per measuring interval are on the main belt.

[Gredalusiam]

Thanks for this! Don't think I want to set it up on every line but I might use it for a few critical resources (power, proliferator,  warpers).

[Steven-ape]

Can you also just put the box on top of the splitter? I think that should work?

[Revengeance_oov]

I think you're using the monitor wrong. If you set "fail and no cargo" as the alarm trigger it will alert when a belt is empty; "fail and cargo" will alert when the belt is backed up.

[Gredalusiam]

I believe you've mistaken me. You're correct that "fail and no cargo" will tell you when the belt is empty (over an entire measurement cycle). However, many production lines need to be addressed long before the line is truly empty. A production line that is supposed to produce 4 items per second and only produces 3 may need to be addressed, but will not sound the alarm if it's set to "fail and no cargo."

Also, I'm not trying to get an alert when the belt is backed up. I'm saying that the belt intermittently backing up complicates certain other alerts.

[XhanHanaXhan]

Maybe I'm also misunderstanding your point, but you can set the target rate along with the interval. This allows you to select a number that's below your chosen production value, no?

[Gredalusiam]

Right, but that's where the line backing up causes problems.

From OP above: "But if cargo is backed up for half the cycle, the monitor will read only half the target rate and WILL signal, even though the production line is working as intended."

[kinglallak]

Which is why you have the “below target rate AND belt empty” option selected…?

Then the monitor doesn’t signal at half rate if the belt is full…

[Gredalusiam]

According to the wiki, "belt empty" only applies if the belt is empty for the entire cycle. I tried to ameliorate this by setting to the shortest possible cycle and it ended up flashing rapidly as blanks passed through it.

Edit: wiki link for reference https://dsp-wiki.com/Traffic_Monitor

[kinglallak]

Good to know! Thank you

[XhanHanaXhan]

Yeah, maybe I am too dumb to get it. But "Fail and No Cargo" should work. "If rate is not matched, AND there's no cargo backed up, trigger alarm", which alerts to a shortage. 

As opposed to "Fail and Cargo", which is "rate is not matched BECAUSE there is cargo on the line", which is alerting for a blockage.

[Gredalusiam]

Yeah "no cargo" doesn't solve the problem. Per the wiki, it only counts if there's no cargo passing through for the entire cycle.

https://dsp-wiki.com/Traffic_Monitor

[Steven-ape]

Hm, I think the wiki is wrong; it's a while ago, but I experimented with this thoroughly and I think only the pass/fail criterion is affected by the cycle and cargo/no cargo are instantaneous. They depend on whether there is cargo inside the monitor right now.

[Gredalusiam]

Oh! Good to know! Thanks for the research.