Step 12 reduces battery voltage from the initial 13.5 volts down to 11.6 volts while holding temperatures constant. This tests the battery-based driver selection logic—the system should switch from any pump cycling mode to recirculation mode to avoid battery drain. Subsequent steps 13 through 15 walk external temperature back down through 75 degrees, 65 degrees, and finally 58 degrees, exercising the cooldown phase response tiers if cooldown phase has engaged, or the warmup tiers if cooldown hasn't yet triggered.
Step 16 drops water level to 0.10 meters, entering the gel priority band. The system should activate gel injection (P4) while maintaining pump operation at low flow. Step 17 reduces water level further to 0.04 meters, below the dry cutoff threshold of 0.05 meters. All outputs should force off to protect the pump from cavitation. Steps 18 and 19 cool external and internal temperatures back to near baseline (54 degrees external, 52 degrees internal), demonstrating system wind-down after the fire event concludes.
This 19-step sequence exercises every water level band, every temperature threshold in both warmup and cooldown phases, battery-based mode selection, and the transitions between all major autonomous states. The 30-second hold time for each step was chosen to be long enough that intermittent cycles can complete (the shortest cycle in the autonomous algorithm is three minutes on, three minutes off, requiring six minutes for one complete cycle, so multiple steps at 30 seconds each provide sufficient time) while short enough that the complete scenario finishes in reasonable time.
The scenario engine supports a speed multiplier that proportionally adjusts all timing. At the default speed of 1.0, each step holds for its specified duration (30 seconds) and the complete 19-step scenario takes 9.5 minutes. At a speed of 0.05 (20 times faster), each step holds for 1.5 seconds and the complete scenario finishes in 28.5 seconds. This time compression allows rapid functional testing during development, though it prevents observation of full intermittent cycle behavior. At a speed of 5.0 (five times slower), the scenario extends to 47.5 minutes, allowing detailed observation of system behavior over extended periods.
The scenario control protocol uses UDP messages sent from AR3 to AR2 on the same port (5000) that AR2 uses for sensor broadcasts. The control messages are distinguished by their SIMCTRL: prefix. SIMCTRL:START:1 initiates scenario 1 with the current speed setting. SIMCTRL:SPEED:0.05 sets the speed multiplier to 0.05 (20× fast). SIMCTRL:STOP halts any running scenario and returns AR2 to publishing real sensor values.
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