TS Priority Incentive

The Priority Incentive feature enables two very powerful controls over the schedule:

• The user can specify a preferred block-by-block mining/drilling sequence for any agent at any point in the schedule. (Sequencing)

• The user can specify that certain blocks cannot be mined between certain dates by certain agents. (Deferring)

Practically what this means is that the user can let ATS choose blocks automatically, then choose an exact sequence for ATS to follow for a time, and then release control back to ATS. The user can have different sequences specified for different agents, meaning that each agent can follow a different sequence. 

The Priority Incentive also allows users to nominate specific blocks that cannot be mined or drilled for a duration of time. This is also a method of controlling the sequence, but allows to user to tell ATS what NOT to do, rather than what to do. The user can specify these blocks graphically, and individual blocks can be disabled and enabled over the course of the schedule. 

Creating a Priority Incentive

Create a Priority Incentive on the Incentives Setup Task.

Open

Setup > Incentives > Add Incentive > "Priority"

The user can choose a name for the incentive, and specify to which agents the incentive applies.

Once finished configuring the incentives, complete the setup.

Priority Incentives Control Panel

Upon completing setup, go to the Animation tab, and there is a new panel hidden on the left.

Open

Schedule > Animation tab > Priority Incentives panel location

Open the panel by clicking on it.

1. Use the pin icon to lock the panel in place (1).

2. At the top of the panel is a listing of each Priority Incentive created by the user (2).

3. At the bottom of the panel is a list of sets (Sequence + Blockers), which are displayed as times (3). The time displayed is the time during the schedule when that set becomes active.

4. The four buttons, from left to right, allow the user to create a New set (4), Edit an existing set (5), change the Time of a set (6) and Remove a set (7), respectively.

Adding a set

To add a set, adjust the animation slider (at the bottom of the Animation window) to the time when you want to insert the new set, and press the blue plus icon (4). It is not possible to add more than one set a the same time, as this would not make sense. When the Animation time is changed, the orange indicator will move to indicate where a new Set would be inserted. 

Editing a set

To edit a set, select it using the mouse, and press the Edit button (5). Although you can select more than one set at a time, you are not able to edit multiple sets simultaneously.

Changing a set's time

To change the time of a set, adjust the animation slider (at the bottom of the Animation window) to the desired time. Then select the set whose time needs to be changed. Then press the Change Time button (6). When the time of a set is changed, it will be removed from the the current period, and allocated to the new period for the current Scenario. This may cause the set to be removed from other Scenarios if they do not share the new period with the current Scenario.

Remove a set

Select the sets to be removed by clicking a single set, or holding down <CTRL> or <SHIFT> and selecting multiple sets. Then press the red cross button Remove Selection (7). Note that there is no undo for this action, so use it with care.

Block Sequencer Panel

The Block Sequencer Panel is launched by either adding or editing a set.

The control panel is similar to all other Reserves panels with some added functionality. On the left side of the panel there are two lists - one contains the Sequence (Sequenced Blocks), and the other contains the Blockers (Blocked Blocks). 

Sequence

On the top left is a list of the Sequenced Blocks. The order of blocks in this control is important, because that is the sequence in which the blocks are to be mined.

By clicking on or between blocks in this list, the view on the right will be updated to hide all the blocks before the orange indicator. You can also use the slider at the bottom of the window to move this orange line to mimic animation, but note that this is not an actual schedule - it is merely a visual representation of the sequence that has been created.

You can select multiple blocks in this control using the <SHIFT> and <CTRL> keys, and press the red cross button on the upper right of the control to remove those blocks from the sequence.

Blocks are inserted into the Sequence by using the Draw Sequence tool on the toolbar above the viewport. This tool allows the user to paint the blocks to create the Sequence. As blocks are painted, they are hidden from view. Blocks can be painted by clicking on them individually, or dragging to Sequence multiple blocks in one go.

When blocks are inserted into the Sequence by painting, they are inserted at the location of the orange marker. If a mistake is made when painting, use the slider to rewind to where the mistake was made, and then continue painting. Any blocks which are painted that already appear in the list are removed and inserted in the new location. Any blocks which are in the Blockers list that are painted for the Sequence are automatically removed from the Blockers list.

Blockers

The Blockers list (Blocked Blocks) works similarly to the Sequence list, except that order is irrelevant. Any blocks that appear in the list are prevented from being mined/drilled. To add blocks to the list, use the Draw Blockers paint tool. When blocks are painted with this tool, they are added to the Blockers list, and the blocks are shown in the viewport with a hatch pattern. To remove blocks from the list, they can either be selected in the list and removed using the button, or the Erase Blockers paint tool can be used to remove Blockers visually. Note that it is also possible to remove Blockers with the Draw Blockers tool by holding the <CTRL> key while painting.

Mechanics of Priority Incentives

A set will remain active until another Set becomes active. Only one set per Incentive can be active at any point in time in the schedule. While a set is active during the schedule run, the Sequence and Blockers specified within will affect the decisions ATS makes. Therefore, if the User wants to remove a set from being active, they only need to create a new empty set after it.

Each set is allocated to a period in a Scenario based on the set's time. This means that when a set is created, it is only valid for that period in the current scenario. If other scenarios branch from the current scenario at a later period, the set will be applicable for those scenarios as well. If the user creates a set in a period which is not shared with other scenarios, that set will not appear in those scenarios. Basically this means that Sets can differ between scenarios in exactly the same way as calendar inputs.

Priority Incentives are just like other Incentives on agents. They influence the sequence of mining, but they do not necessarily mandate a specific sequence. Therefore, if the sequence specified violates user configured constraints or dependencies, ATS will still be able to continue mining by skipping blocks in the sequence which are impossible to mine. Once the blocks that are impossible to mine become available again, ATS will mine them ASAP. 

Just like other Incentives, the user must specify a weight against each agent to which the Incentive applies. If this number is too low, the Sequence will be ignored. If the number is irrationally high (over 1,000,000) it can lead to numerical instability, which can cause unexpected results. It is almost certainly best to leave the weighting at its default (100). Blockers will apply regardless of the weighting specified, except a weighting of zero (0.0) will cause the Incentive to be entirely ignored, including the Blockers.