Install Optional Software

There are several optional pieces of software which are not written in Python and not easily installed automatically. There are a couple packages which most users would want to install. The first is PSUADE, which provides FOQUS UQ functionality. The second is TurbineLite which requires Windows and is used to interface with Excel, Aspen, and gPROMS software.

Other software listed below will enable additional features of FOQUS if available.

Install Turbine and SimSinter (Windows Only)

Note

You will need to install Turbine and SimSinter in order to run FOQUS locally with Aspen and Excel. The Turbine installation will install the Turbine Web API Windows Service and applications that manage Aspen and Excel processes. The SimSinter installation will install the SinterConfigGUI application and libraries for interacting with Aspen and Excel through COM Server interfaces. The programs “SimSinter” and “TurbineLite” should appear on the local installed programs list.

Install Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0.
Download and install the latest releases of SimSinter and TurbineLite.
Install SimSinter first, then TurbineLite.
After the install the Turbine Web API Service Will start automatically when Windows starts, but it will not start directly after the install. Do one of these two things (only after install):
- Restart computer, or
- Start the “Turbine Web API service”:
  1. open Task Manager
  2. go to the “Services” tab
  3. click the “Services” button (in the lower right corner)
  4. right-click “Turbine Web API Service” from the list, and
  5. click “Start”
Configure the location of the executables in FOQUS
- SimSinter
  1. In “Settings” (see Figure 1 below) go to the “FOQUS” tab
  2. Modify the “SimSinter Home” field to point to the directory you installed SimSinter. For installations of SimSinter 3.x or higher this will most likely be C:\Program Files\CCSI\SimSinter. For older versions of SimSinter this will most likely be C:\Program Files (x86)\CCSI\SimSinter
- TurbineLite
  1. In “Settings” (see Figure 1 below) go to the “Turbine” tab
  2. In the “TurbineLite (local)” section modify the “TurbineLite Home” field to point to the directory you installed TurbineLite. For installations of TurbineLite 3.x or higher this will most likely be C:\Program Files\Turbine\Lite. For older versions of SimSinter this will most likely be C:\Program Files (x86)\Turbine\Lite

Install ALAMO

ALAMO (Automated Learning of Algebraic Models for Optimization) is a software toolkit that generates algebraic models of simulations, experiments, or other black-box systems. For more information, go to the ALAMO Home Page.

Download ALAMO and request a license from the ALAMO download page.

The path to the ALAMO executable will need to be set in the “Settings” panel. Some installations may have two executables; alamo.exe is the main executable for accessing the ALAMO trainer, and alamo-ui.exe is a second executable for launching the stand-alone user interface application. The ALAMO EXE path should be set as the path to the main executable.

Install NLopt

NLopt is an optional optimization library, which can be used by FOQUS. NLopt can be installed as follows:

conda activate ccsi-foqus
pip install nlopt==2.7.1

Newer versions of NLopt cannot be used with the latest versions of FOQUS. For more information, see the NLopt Installation Instructions.

Install SnobFit

SnobFit is an optional optimization library, which can be used by FOQUS for unconstrained optimization. The python package can be installed with pip with:

conda activate ccsi-foqus
pip install SQSnobFit

The plugin has been developed for FOQUS versions 2.1 and greater. For further details on the available versions and installation, see the SQSnobFit PyPI package page.

Once the python package is downloaded, navigate the path to “SQSnobFit” folder (likely $CONDA_PREFIX/lib/python3.7/site-packages/SQSnobFit/) and modify the _snobfit.py file making the following changes:

Comment out or remove the following code lines just below def minimize(...) function definition:

if budget <= 0:
  budget = 100000

Then replace:

return Result(fbest, xbest), objfunc.get_history()

with:

return (request,xbest,fbest)

in the def minimize() function.

Install R

R is a software toolbox for statistical computing and graphics. R version 3.1+ is required for the ACOSSO and BSS-ANOVA surrogate models and the Basic Data’s SolventFit model.

Follow instructions from the R website to download and install R.

Open R and type the following to install and load the prerequisite packages:

install.packages('quadprog')
library(quadprog)
install.packages('abind')
library(abind)
install.packages('MCMCpack')
library(MCMCpack)
install.packages('MASS')
library(MASS)
q()

The last command exits R. When asked to save workspace image, type “y”.
Open FOQUS, go to the “Settings” tab, and set the “RScript Path” to the proper location of the R executable.

The FOQUS “Settings” Tab

Use the FOQUS “Settings” tab to set the optional software configuration described in this section.