# Calc2LaTeX & towards my experiment ..:P

Calc2LaTeX is an OpenOffice.org Calc (Spreadsheet) macro for converting tables. It makes making tables on LaTeX very easy which can be downloaded from http://calc2latex.sourceforge.net/. For installation refer to ‘Calc2LaTeX installation on OpenOffice.org 2.0,’ ‘Calc2LaTeX installation on OpenOffice 1.1,’ or ‘Calc2LaTeX installation on OpenOffice 1.0.3

Upon conversion you will get the latex text like this:

\begin{table}[htbp]
\caption{}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|}
\hline
Parameter & Value & Description \\ \hline
T & 0.2 s & Time step duration \\ \hline
Tc & 15 & Coherence duration in time steps \\ \hline
TA & 5 & Avoidance duration in time steps \\ \hline
V & 0.15 m/s & Robot forward velovity \\ \hline
Ra & 0.4m & Avoidance sensor range \\ \hline
Rp & 0.1m & Robot body radius \\ \hline
Rw & 2.0 m & Wireless range \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\label{}
\end{table}
First Experiment: My running simulation

This week I need to run the simulation and show the first experimental result…was a bit worried..The robot simulation as shown:

First few seconds

Starts to loose cohesion

Maintain aggregation between robots, started to move towards beacon

Akhirnya tahu juga macam mana nak include standard deviation di dalam graph…blurghh

I used open office to generate this graph…pakai gnuplot sangat complicated ( maybe later baru boleh test2)

Ini semua raw data untuk melihat connection or robots which is tak betul lagi I guess sebab coding dia ada sedikit error…so this weekend buat coding untuk experiment ini dan next week baru inject faulty robot…hopefully by next week siap la experimental setup ini untuk dilihat oleh jon….

Eid-ul-adha is just around the corner…Malaysian society is busy preparing for the gathering which is the makan-makan’ activity, however looking at my tight schedule, it is very unlikely that I can join and do the preparation..has to submit additional 5 pages on the experimental design. It means no celebration on my part but my hubby will go on friday to help the others. I do belief that most of PhD students who are still sailing like me might have meeting, group seminar or submission’ which makes us ended up staying in the lab or in front of the laptop trying to prepare for any upcoming event’ ….To the others, eidul-adha mubarak and may we have a better days ahead!!!!

# Itulah Lukisan Alam ..Begitu Aturan Tuhan

Hidup tidak selalunya indah
Langit tak selalu cerah
Suram malam tak berbintang
Itulah lukisan alam
(Begitu aturan Tuhan)

Tak luruh dipukul ribut
Bagai karang di dasar lautan

Dalam suka hitunglah kesyukuranmu
Dalam senang awasi kealfaanmu
Setitis derita melanda
Segunung kurniaanNya

Usah mengharapkan ke segalanya
Dalam perjuangan penuh pengorbanan
Usah dendam berpanjangan
Maafkan kesalahan insan
(Begitu ajaran Tuhan)

Hasbiallah, Hasbunallah
HasbiRabbi jalallahu Ya Allah

Dalam diam taburkanlah baktimu
Dalam tenang buangkanlah amarahmu
Suburkanlah sifat sabar
(Di) dalam jiwamu itu

# A wake up call from JON!!!!!

I felt lazy in the morning and plan to stay at home, Today was planning to do some laundry and try to clean the house. But suddenly the sound of duck woke me up..( OOOoooops it was a phone call from Jon) ..He was asking why I am still not in his office? We have a meeting at 9.00…glance at my watch and it was 9.15 !!!!! how embarrassing!!! I have to catch up the meeting since it was scheduled 2 weeks ago and I need to show the simulation to him and discuss on the next experimental set up. Rushing to the toilet and grabbed my stuff and run to the department and was there in 10 minutes (macam superman pulak dah pagi ini)..The fist word was Sorry Jon’ I thought it is tomorrow…

Despite the wake up call, we discussed on our PhD schedule. Jon was satisfied and happy to have some running code from me and I am happy to show that I can do it…It was me who never tried hard enough for him. He reminded me again that I am in my third year and he said, he still remember when I first entered the department 3 years ago ….He has a strong belief that I can finish my PhD …That is a great news ..which I think another wake up call for me..Hey!! I am on my third year, no more waking up late huh….

We promised to meet in 2 weeks time for the next experiment, This weekend to show some result…I managed to have some result ..wohooooo but I have to show to Jon first..this week…Occupied the whole week for some coding stuff and again writing it as part of my thesis…

Cheer up and do some writing first, Jon encourages me to give the first experimental result this week…will do and try…:(

# While writing algorithm using algorithm2e.sty — package for algorithms in latex

Algorithm2e is an environment for writing algorithms in Latex. An algorithm is defined as a  floating object like figures. It provides macros that allow you to create different sorts of key words, thus a set of predefined key words is given. You can also change the typography of the keywords.

It takes a while to write the algorithm ….the input is

\begin{algorithm}
\label{alg:beta_algo}
\dontprintsemicolon
\SetKwInOut{Input}{input}
\SetKwInOut{Output}{output}
\SetKwComment{Comment}{}{}
%\Input{$??$ = data from sensors}
%\Output{$??$ = actuation of robot}
\Begin{
\SetLine
Create list of neighbours for robot, Nlist\;
k = number of neighbours in Nlist\;
\Repeat{forever}{\;
Save copy of Nlist in Oldlist\;
Save copy of k in LastK\;
Set reaction of indicator Back to FALSE\;\;
\BlankLine
Send radio ‘ping’ to neighbourhood every 100 time steps \;
Listen for return calls from robots in rabge that received the ping’\;
Create Nlist from all returns\;
k = number of neighbours in Nlist
\BlankLine
Create LocalList, list of robots which have lost contact since previous ping’
\For{each robot in LostList}{
Find nShared, number of shared enighbours\;
\If{nShared <= beta (threshold value)}{
Set reaction indicator Back to TRUE \;
}
}
\lIf{Back=TRUE}\;{Turn robot through 180 degrees}\;
\uElseIf{k>LastK}{
make rendom turn\;
}
}
}
\caption{Pseudo-code fo $\beta$-algorithm}
\end{algorithm}

# Today is Sunday…..

Today is Sunday and I am still coding…finally managed to add some input to the read and write file, cuma 6 columns, only 3 columns have result on it, while the other 3 is NIL…..erghh…….still preparing for meeting next Thursday on 9.00 a.m. Hopefully there will be some result generated showing the coherence of the robots before adding faulty to the algorithm. Coding is not something that I am keen at….after all I have to start everything from scratch…learning Ubuntu, player/stage ( the robotics simulator) and modelling the granuloma formation ( still half way …..) which is a long way to go and I am in my final year???? The first 2 years is not as easy as I tought, reading …writing (which is still not categorised as good by Jon, improved by Fiona – with careful terms being used).

I still have a clear remembrance on how I started my PhD, which I consider not a proper time for me…started with 0 – no topic at all…just a general issues of AIS and algorithm development. For the first six month we have to submit a Qualifying Dissertation’, which includes literature review and what we wanted to work on…that was horrified…I still remember how it was rejected and need to be corrected in 1 month (  I isolated myself from the others and work hard on the correction). I thought it will be rejected again since Jon told me Fiona is a bit picky and will reject any type of unprepared, unprofessional way of writing…. during that time, the deadline for Progress Report (the upgrading from Mphil to PhD is just around the corner). Preparing both documents at the same time were terrible. I asked for extension and Jon said NO’ since he said it would again delay the other submission. So, I struggled and try the hardest bit of PhD (writing).  I managed to pass both viva ( correction and upgrading for my PhD status, which I believe with the help of ALLAH) and I continue my journey.

In the department, every 6 months we have a submission. Started with Qualifying Dissertation for the first year, During our second year, we have to submit Progress Report and Thesis Outline ( for every submission we have a mini viva between the sv and the internal examiners with a pass, resubmission or fail status). Alhamdulillah, for each and every milestone, I prepare my document 1 or 2 months before submission, putting all my thoughts and outline and carefully pulling out literature and books to supports my arguments and I have no resubmission after the scary rejected’ Qualifying Dissertation.

Today, I still have my own lovely journey of my PhD. A lovely hubby that will always pray for my success, that will not angry if I don’t feel like cooking and always be accompany me to watch movie and listening to my PhD stories. A fully ambitious supervisor that will still smile at me if I am not progressing, that will still bring me back to the right direction if I am lost, that will still think I can pass my PhD, that will still give deadline and read all my nonsense writing on time and give feedback. It is him that is now a source of my inspiration, Thanks a bunch Jon, I am really thankful to have you…

To all PhD candidates, I wish you all the best and together we pray for our success. AMIN

————–Not  a PhD related story ——————–

Sekejap lagi will go to dvd movie rental shop again, beli barang2 di freshway and stop at the department to take the Halal food dinner coupon today..

Tomorrow? have to go to the department again in the morning , JON is BACK!!!!

————–Tara..——————–

it has been a while doing all the C code…adding xls pun dah lupa…grrrr..however managed to read and write to the aggregation code, however the code is wrong ended up the output is always 0 , ;P not bad huh!! Will spend sometime tomorrow to correct the coding part so that it shows some behaviour of the robots.

Was trying to open .tex from command line and do some searching. To do that just use command

gnome-open filename

gnome-open experiment.tex

;P..till then

# It works again after a long dependencies, old and outdated issues

It was odd when player/stage is not working properly and shows error…it says macport error…bla bla bla…frstrating!!!! sudo apt-get install update takes longer that I was expected and finally it works again after reinstalling macport and updating necessary libraries…. I am trying to run swarm taxis in exlipse..if it is successful then, the bug has been corrected. Whilst doing the eclipse stuff, managed to draw few diagrams with EazyDraw, renewed the license last weekend. The diagram is clear and the most important, Fiona likes it ( when it is clear!!!) 😛 , how does it looks? perfect?

Basic algo for swarm alpha

Lets starts…trying to run again the program using player/stage. Was unsuccessful once. hopely this time it works..

The Thesis Audit: Completion target December 2009

The audit is another means of checking that appropriate progress is being made. The student completes a short form summarising the state of his or her work towards a thesis. After discussion with the supervisor and assessor, plans are revised if necessary to ensure that a successful thesis can be submitted on time.

Lets revised the plan for my PhD …ergh

Malaysian Glasgow Doctoral Symposiums….Thanks for extending it!!!!

The deadline for the abstract submission has been extended to 5th December 2009.