Power Application Program
Assignments for two High School
Courses
J.Foy
Physics, Math and Programming Instructor
L&N STEM Academy
Knoxville, TN
joe.foy@knoxschools.org
New AP Computer Science Lab
Requirement
• Effective August 2014, AP Computer
Science lab requirement has changed
• Instead of using previous provided lab,
instructors must create their own

Over 20% of AP test (MC and FR) questions
were from the “GridWorld Case Study”
• AP Central has provided three very good
labs, two will be supplemented by a power
transmission lab created this summer
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New AP Computer Science Lab
Requirement
• With one exception, the full program is
complete

Transmission line or station trip
• Students will initially be provided with a
partial set of code



Station ArrayList<>
Load ArrayList<>
PowerLine ArrayList<>
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New AP Computer Science Lab
Requirement
• Progressive lab assignments will include:

Adding GUI selection for load adjustment
 Implementing “Comparable” interface for objects
 Adding toString method, compareTo method

Adjusting station demand, assigning
adjustments to specific station
 Scanning ArrayList

Adjusting power line losses as a result of
station demand changes
 Scanning ArrayList, Math.pow() method
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New AP Computer Science Lab
Requirement
• Progressive lab assignments will include:



Changing station output in response to load
changes (algorithm development)
Extending provided Station Class to include
additional power station
Changing GUI to permit selection of line or
station to trip, adjusting line losses and even
causing “blackout” if necessary (algorithm
development)
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Honors Math 3199 Lab Assignment
• Students will connect Vernier voltage and
current probes to solar panel, and will then
write Embedded program which calculates
power output and displays on LCD


Materials not received yet, lab not written
Program will be written in “C”
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Honors Math 3199 Lab Assignment
• Students will write Mac-resident Cprogram which performs basic analysis of
wind data taken from one month of BPA
website listings





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File operations: open, close, read, write
Create 2-D array, store and retrieve data,
recognizing “NaN” data
String->float; float-String with formatting
Console output and input
Pointers, primitive data types
Loops, control instructions
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Honors Math 3199 Lab Assignment
• Extensions:



Students will add wind-power-density
calculation and report to output file
Students will extend existing analysis to
include multiple months
Students will select size, type and number of
wind turbines, determine estimated power
output available at the location
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AP Computer Science Program
Initial system no load
changes. Notice
Johnson City line losses,
total line losses, total
generation, and
efficiency
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AP Computer Science Program
Johnson City demand
was increased by 50
MWatts. Notice
Johnson City line losses,
total line losses, total
generation, and
efficiency
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AP Computer Science Program
Johnson City demand
was decreased by 50
MWatts. Notice
Johnson City line losses,
total line losses, total
generation, and
efficiency. These are
back to initial values.
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Honors Math 3199 C-Program
Daily Average, May 2014, Seven Mile Hill Level 2 site.
Output also written to text file.
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Honors Math 3199 C-Program
Per hour Average, May 2014, Seven Mile Hill Level 2 site.
Output also written to text file.
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