equipment monitoring

[Nuno Moreno]

Dear All,

We run in our institute a homemade calendar for equipment reservation.
Despite of being working quite well, a persistent problem is someone
making a reservation and not showing up or using it without reservation.

I know that some already pointed out a computer login connected to
booking systems and so forth. However, this does not include equipment
not connected to a PC or mac. Does any one knows a general platform that
would send you warnings (SMS or email) if the equipment status (eg,
standby, current in power cord, temperature, etc) if working period does
not match with reservation period?

If not, who would be interested in an affordable solution for this
problem. Even better, how much would you pay for it?

Any feedback is welcome,
Nuno Moreno

[Chris Tully]

I guess this is a semi-commercial response - keep reading and you will understand.

I have never put a system like this together, but if there are enough people interested in the idea, I am willing to start designing it and working with the community to make it feasible for all.  The rough idea that has come to mind is as follows:

This system would be based on computers and small monitoring devices.  The basis of the service would be a virtual Linux box to work with the rest of your network.  It would record user authentication on the network (exactly how is to be determined).  This scheme would require that each individual user be issued an ID and password.  This would monitor and record computer usage.  Depending on the granularity necessary it could likely be extended to monitor individual program usage...

As for equipment that can be used without a computer, a simple power monitor circuit could be used to monitor the instrument's power usage, connected to the Ethernet.  The most facility friendly approach here would be to design the circuit so that it cuts power (or throttles it to an idle or power save limit) until a user has logged into the server and unlocked the instrument. 

Whether the control point is a computer or a power monitor unit, they would all be tied to a central server app running somewhere in IT that would monitor usage, provide a calendar for reservation and could also email or text an administrator if unauthorized use occurs.

After talking this over with my brother in law (a Linux programmer), the basis of this system would be a virtual server running in VMware to host a calendaring app (with web interface and integrated into Exchange) for scheduling and a Daemon to monitor actual usage against the schedule and keep records.  The system could be setup to notify administrators of unscheduled use and to remind users of scheduled use. 

I am currently unemployeed and would be very interested in working with all here to develop a system that meets your (varied) needs and is priced reasonably.  I envision a semi-shrink wrapped solution with room for expansion or tweaking as needed for each situation.  Obviously, I am interested in creating a company that would sell and support this system.

The questions I have for the group right now are:

1) Do you have a commercial calendaring system now?  Which one?
  a) How much did it cost?
  b) Does it meet all of your needs?
2) Regardless of the above answers what is your wish list for a calendaring system?
3) Is Access Control more or less inportant than Usage Monitoring?
4) Do you have a Server in your facility that could host the VMware image?  If not, how about working with IT?

Please feel free to reply to me directly or via the list.  I will flesh out my initial rough ideas if there is enough interest.

Chris

Chris Tully
Microscopy and Image Analysis Expert
[hidden email]
240-888-1021
http://www.linkedin.com/in/christully

On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 10:07 AM, Nuno Moreno <[hidden email]> wrote:

Dear All,

We run in our institute a homemade calendar for equipment reservation. Despite of being working quite well, a persistent problem is someone making a reservation and not showing up or using it without reservation.

I know that some already pointed out a computer login connected to booking systems and so forth. However, this does not include equipment not connected to a PC or mac. Does any one knows a general platform that would send you warnings (SMS or email) if the equipment status (eg, standby, current in power cord, temperature, etc) if working period does not match with reservation period?

If not, who would be interested in an affordable solution for this problem. Even better, how much would you pay for it?

Any feedback is welcome,
Nuno Moreno

[Dale Callaham]

Dear Nuno,

I have considered this problem and never implemented any solution. Our
problem is equipment that is not computer-based and/or has no "hooks" to
monitor/control/enable; we aren't just running point-of-sale terminals.

The solution I considered was to use a small device on each instrument
that would have a microcontroller to enable some critical function
(disabled, the instrument would be useless) based on an inexpensive
iButton  (http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/ibutton/)  (inexpensive
2-terminal "touch button" ID device) that could be issued to each user
for a few $. This could also be part of a lab door-access system with a
time stamp to give further control/information on the lab use.

The microcontroller would log the ID, time of day, time of use - for a
sputter-coater it could monitor the current - indicative of how much
target was consumed - or some other parameter like filament time on a
TEM or SEM. The individual instrument microcontroller data could be read
by a portable master unit that would subsequently transfer the data to
an office "PC" for generation of bills. These systems probably already
exist.

Even with this system you have to make sure the device can't be bypassed
(as in plugging in a different IEC power cord), and some efforts will
have to go into interfacing to the individual instruments. The iButton
device should always be combined with a personal code so that finding
one does not allow people into the lab. And the iButton device, even if
combined with a passcode, could be given to untrained persons by lab
mates and would still enable access or machine use.

Some of our issues aren't even malicious; more a matter of people
forgetting to enter log data. I have timers on everything possible and
ask users to write the time starting and leaving so we can catch missing
time and do some detective work to try to figure it out.

In the end, we deal with it using paper logbooks at each instrument and
I'm sure we suffer some losses but it is a matter of relative balance of
the losses vs. the cost of implementing a proper monitoring system. If
access to, and control of, the instrumentation for safety reasons are
critical, that changes the picture.

Manufacturers should pay attention to this topic and design instruments
with fairly verastile interfaces that could be used in systems like
this. It would cost very little to design-in these features and this
topic comes up over and over.

Dale




Chris Tully wrote:

> I guess this is a semi-commercial response - keep reading and you will
> understand.
>
> I have never put a system like this together, but if there are enough
> people interested in the idea, I am willing to start designing it and
> working with the community to make it feasible for all.  The rough idea
> that has come to mind is as follows:
>
> This system would be based on computers and small monitoring devices.  
> The basis of the service would be a virtual Linux box to work with the
> rest of your network.  It would record user authentication on the
> network (exactly how is to be determined).  This scheme would require
> that each individual user be issued an ID and password.  This would
> monitor and record computer usage.  Depending on the granularity
> necessary it could likely be extended to monitor individual program usage...
>
> As for equipment that can be used without a computer, a simple power
> monitor circuit could be used to monitor the instrument's power usage,
> connected to the Ethernet.  The most facility friendly approach here
> would be to design the circuit so that it cuts power (or throttles it to
> an idle or power save limit) until a user has logged into the server and
> unlocked the instrument.
>
> Whether the control point is a computer or a power monitor unit, they
> would all be tied to a central server app running somewhere in IT that
> would monitor usage, provide a calendar for reservation and could also
> email or text an administrator if unauthorized use occurs.
>
> After talking this over with my brother in law (a Linux programmer), the
> basis of this system would be a virtual server running in VMware to host
> a calendaring app (with web interface and integrated into Exchange) for
> scheduling and a Daemon to monitor actual usage against the schedule and
> keep records.  The system could be setup to notify administrators of
> unscheduled use and to remind users of scheduled use.
>
> I am currently unemployeed and would be very interested in working with
> all here to develop a system that meets your (varied) needs and is
> priced reasonably.  I envision a semi-shrink wrapped solution with room
> for expansion or tweaking as needed for each situation.  Obviously, I am
> interested in creating a company that would sell and support this system.
>
> The questions I have for the group right now are:
>
> 1) Do you have a commercial calendaring system now?  Which one?
>   a) How much did it cost?
>   b) Does it meet all of your needs?
> 2) Regardless of the above answers what is your wish list for a
> calendaring system?
> 3) Is Access Control more or less inportant than Usage Monitoring?
> 4) Do you have a Server in your facility that could host the VMware
> image?  If not, how about working with IT?
>
> Please feel free to reply to me directly or via the list.  I will flesh
> out my initial rough ideas if there is enough interest.
>
> Chris
>
> Chris Tully
> Microscopy and Image Analysis Expert
> [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
> 240-888-1021
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/christully
>
>
> On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 10:07 AM, Nuno Moreno <[hidden email]
> <mailto:[hidden email]>> wrote:
>
>     Dear All,
>
>     We run in our institute a homemade calendar for equipment
>     reservation. Despite of being working quite well, a persistent
>     problem is someone making a reservation and not showing up or using
>     it without reservation.
>
>     I know that some already pointed out a computer login connected to
>     booking systems and so forth. However, this does not include
>     equipment not connected to a PC or mac. Does any one knows a general
>     platform that would send you warnings (SMS or email) if the
>     equipment status (eg, standby, current in power cord, temperature,
>     etc) if working period does not match with reservation period?
>
>     If not, who would be interested in an affordable solution for this
>     problem. Even better, how much would you pay for it?
>
>     Any feedback is welcome,
>     Nuno Moreno
>
>