drone-detector/docs/HEALTH_PROBE_SIMULATOR.md

Health Probe Simulator

The Health Probe Simulator continuously sends heartbeat messages from all devices to test the offline detection feature of the drone detection system.

Features

• 🔄 Continuous Monitoring: Sends heartbeats every minute (configurable)
• 📊 Configurable Failure Rate: Simulates device failures to test offline detection
• 🎯 Real Device Integration: Uses actual devices from your system
• 📈 Statistics Reporting: Shows success/failure rates for each cycle
• 🐳 Docker Support: Can run as a container alongside the main system

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
PROBE_FAILRATE	30	Percentage of probes that should fail (0-100)
PROBE_INTERVAL_SECONDS	60	Interval between probe cycles in seconds
API_BASE_URL	https://selfservice.cqers.com/drones/api	API endpoint URL

.env File

Add these lines to your .env file:

# Health Probe Simulator Configuration
PROBE_FAILRATE=30
PROBE_INTERVAL_SECONDS=60
API_BASE_URL=https://selfservice.cqers.com/drones/api

Usage

Option 1: Docker Compose (Recommended)

Start the health probe simulator as a Docker service:

# Start with health probe simulator
docker-compose --profile healthprobe up -d

# View logs
docker-compose logs -f healthprobe

# Stop the service
docker-compose --profile healthprobe down

Option 2: Local Python Script

Run directly with Python:

# Linux/Mac
./start-healthprobe.sh

# Windows
start-healthprobe.bat

# Or directly with Python
python3 health_probe_simulator.py

Option 3: Manual Docker Build

# Build the health probe image
docker build -f Dockerfile.healthprobe -t health-probe-simulator .

# Run the container
docker run -d \
  --name health-probe \
  --network uamils_drone-network \
  -e PROBE_FAILRATE=30 \
  -e PROBE_INTERVAL_SECONDS=60 \
  -e API_BASE_URL=http://backend:3001/api \
  health-probe-simulator

Output Example

🏥 DRONE DETECTION SYSTEM - HEALTH PROBE SIMULATOR
============================================================

📋 Configuration:
   PROBE_FAILRATE: 30%
   PROBE_INTERVAL_SECONDS: 60s
   API_BASE_URL: https://selfservice.cqers.com/drones/api

🔧 Health Probe Simulator Configuration:
   API URL: https://selfservice.cqers.com/drones/api
   Probe Interval: 60 seconds
   Failure Rate: 30%

📡 Fetched 4 devices for health monitoring
   - Device 1941875381: Arlanda Airport Detector (Arlanda Airport Terminal 2)
   - Device 1725834521: Royal Castle Detector (Royal Castle Stockholm)
   - Device 1456789123: Muskö Naval Base Detector (Muskö Naval Base)
   - Device 1987654321: Gothenburg Port Detector (Port of Gothenburg)

🔄 Starting probe cycle at 2025-08-19 14:30:00
   Probing 4 devices...

💓 Device 1941875381: Heartbeat sent successfully (Arlanda Airport Detector - Arlanda Airport Terminal 2)
💔 Simulating probe failure for Device 1725834521 (30% failure rate)
💓 Device 1456789123: Heartbeat sent successfully (Muskö Naval Base Detector - Muskö Naval Base)
💔 Simulating probe failure for Device 1987654321 (30% failure rate)

📊 Probe Cycle Summary:
   ✅ Successful: 2
   ❌ Failed: 2
   📈 Success Rate: 50.0%
   🎯 Target Failure Rate: 30%
   ⏰ Next cycle in 60 seconds

Testing Offline Detection

The health probe simulator is perfect for testing your system's offline detection capabilities:

1. Set Failure Rate: Adjust PROBE_FAILRATE to control how many devices appear offline
2. Monitor Dashboard: Watch the map view to see devices changing status
3. Check Alerts: Verify that offline device alerts are triggered
4. Test Recovery: Failed devices will randomly come back online in subsequent cycles

Use Cases

• 🧪 Testing: Verify offline detection works correctly
• 🎭 Demo: Show system behavior during device failures
• 📊 Load Testing: Generate consistent heartbeat traffic
• 🔧 Development: Test heartbeat handling and device status logic

Stopping the Simulator

Docker Compose

docker-compose --profile healthprobe down

Local Script

Press Ctrl+C to stop the simulator gracefully.

Docker Container

docker stop health-probe
docker rm health-probe

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Connection Errors: Check API_BASE_URL and network connectivity
2. Authentication Errors: Ensure the API endpoint doesn't require authentication for heartbeats
3. High CPU Usage: Increase PROBE_INTERVAL_SECONDS to reduce frequency

Logs

Check the container logs for detailed output:

docker-compose logs healthprobe

Integration with Main System

The health probe simulator:

• ✅ Uses the same heartbeat API as real devices
• ✅ Automatically discovers all devices in your system
• ✅ Respects your configured offline detection timeouts
• ✅ Generates realistic device status changes
• ✅ Helps validate your monitoring and alerting systems