A proportional-integral-derivative controller (PID controller) is a control loop feedback mechanism (controller) widely used in industrial control systems. A PID controller calculates an error value as the difference between a measured process variable and a desired setpoint. The controller attempts to minimize the error by adjusting the process through use of a manipulated variable.
Several implementations exist, this one is probably not the best.
It is simple, has some unit tests, and it should be easy to use.
Let's say you have a system to control a room's temperature.
def get_room_temperature():
# use a thermometer
return t
def set_heater_power(power):
if power > 10:
power = 10
if power < 0:
power = 0
# call to the heater's RPC APIYou can control this system with the following:
import time
import pidcontroller
def keep_room_warm():
pid = pidcontroller.PID(1.0, 0.5, 0.1)
target_temperature = 21 # in celsius degrees
while (True):
current_temperature = get_room_temperature()
error = target_temperature - current_temperature
correction = pid.Update(error)
print 'Setting the heater to %f' % correction
set_heater_power(correction)
time.sleep(60)Each problem requires different gains. The gains in the example above are arbitrary and probably wrong for most heaters. The Wikipedia page has information on how to tune the gains of a PID controller.