Problem Statement on Elevator
A software system must control a set of eight Acme elevators for a building with 20 floors. Each
elevator contains a set of buttons, each corresponding to a desired floor. These are called floor
request buttons, because they indicate a request to go to a specific floor. Each elevator, as well,
has a current floor indicator above the door. Each floor has two buttons for requesting elevators,
called elevator request buttons, because they request an elevator.
Each floor has a sliding door for each shaft arranged so that two door halves meet in the center
when closed. When the elevator arrives at the floor, the door opens at the same time the door
on the elevator opens. The floor does have both pressure and optical sensors to prevent closing
when an obstacle is between the two door halves. If an obstruction is detected by either sensor,
the door shall open. The door shall automatically close after a timeout period of five seconds
after the door opens. The detection of an obstruction shall restart the door closure time after an
obstruction is removed. There is a speaker on each floor that “pings” in response to the arrival of
an elevator.
One each floor (except the highest and lowest), there are two elevator request buttons,
one for UP and one for DOWN. On each floor, above each elevator door, there is an indicator
that specifies the floor the elevator is currently at and another indicator for its current direction.
The system shall respond to an elevator request by sending the nearest elevator that is idle or
already going in the requested direction. If no elevators are currently available, the request shall
pend until an elevator meets the above criterion. Once pressed, the request buttons are backlit to
indicate that a request is pending. Pressing an elevator request button when a request for that
direction is already pending shall have no effect. When an elevator arrives to handle the request,
the backlight shall be removed. If the button is pressed when an elevator is on the floor to
handle the request (that is, it is slated to go in the selected direction), then the door shall stop
closing and the door closure timer shall be reset.
To enhance safety, a cable tension sensor monitors the tension on the cable that controls
the elevator. In the event of a failure in which the measured tension falls below a critical value,
then four external locking clamps connected to running tracks in the shaft stop the elevator and
hold it in place.
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