Why It Matters

• Operators make better decisions when they know how long until a critical state occurs—not just the current value.
• A clear ETA to full/empty shifts thinking from reaction to planning (e.g., schedule a swap, stage an operator, throttle a valve).
• Expressing the projection directly reduces mental math and avoids the requisite memory trap of remembering past levels and doing rate math on the fly.

Operational Impact Examples

• Transfer line to surge tank:
  “ETA Full: 17 min” prompts a controlled setpoint reduction vs. a last-minute scramble.
• Truck unloading bay:
  “ETA Empty: 9 min” lets logistics call the next truck and avoid idle time.
• Batch step with feed ramp:
  An increasing ETA flags a drift in actual feed rate before limits are breached.

Presenting ETA directly improves coordination and timing—two levers that often cost nothing but save hours.

Cross-Domain Analogy

GPS Arrival Time:
Navigation apps don’t just show distance—they show ETA and keep it updated as your speed changes.
Operators benefit from the same pattern: surface how long until a state change at the current rate.

Typical Design Techniques

• Direct ETA readout: “ETA Full: 39 min” / “ETA Empty: 12 min.”
• Smoothing of rate: Light EMA or rolling slope to avoid flicker; suppress ETA when |rate| is below a threshold.
• Context-aware units: Rate of change expressed as percent or other process engineering units (%/min, gal/min, L/min, in/min).
• Boundary handling: When near min/max, show “—” or “At Full/Empty” instead of unstable ETAs.

Use Case for Platform Testing

Goal: Display Filling/Draining, Rate, and ETA for a tank level using only runtime tags and a lightweight script.

Inputs & outputs: The calculation uses the current tank level, configurable smoothing, and a minimum rate threshold to determine whether the tank is filling, draining, or stable. It outputs the rate of change, estimated time to full or empty, and a direction indicator, along with clear UI labels showing status, rate, and ETA.

Output Labels Examples:

• ▲ Filling at 0.5 %/min from 29.8% → ETA Full: 2h 16m
• ▼ Draining at 0.7 %/min from 65% → ETA Empty: 1h 33m
• Stable when |rate| < MinRate → ETA shows “—”

Tested Platforms

✅ FrameworX — Supports ETA (Time to Full/Empty)

Aspect	Notes
Implementation Approach	Server script with @Tag reads level, computes smoothed rate (EMA) and ETA; suppresses ETA when below threshold.
Display Build	Three labels bound separately: Filling/Draining (arrow Up/Down), Rate, ETA. Linear simulator drives fills/drains for testing.
Version Tested	10.0.1.464

✅ Ignition Perspective — Supports ETA (Time to Full/Empty)

Aspect	Notes
Implementation Approach	Gateway Timer Script reads level/min/max and tuner tags, computes smoothed rate (EMA) and ETA; suppresses ETA when rate is below threshold. Writes results to memory tags (Rate, Direction, ETA, label strings).
Display Build	Three labels bound separately: Filling/Draining/Stable (↑/↓/—), Rate (e.g., 0.8 %/min), ETA (e.g., ETA Empty: 70 min or —). Simple tag-driven simulator used to drive fill/drain for tests.
Version Tested	Ignition 8.1.x (Perspective)

Upcoming Vendor Testing

• AVEVA PI Vision

Explore the Clear Picture SA Vendor Matrix to see how different platforms support ETA-aware design techniques.