Looking at your first Device data
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We are going to look at some example data in this chapter. While every device in the MClimate portfolio is different and has its data set, that depends on its functionality, there are some commonalities.
All devices that are associated with a particular Building are displayed on the Main screen. They are under the Devices panel and are grouped in tables per category (devices of the same type are in the same table). If you have a lot of devices you would need to scroll down to see them all (look at the image below for reference).
The table has all parameters listed and labeled. We are going to go into each in order, however it is worth noting that:
There is a check box for selecting multiple devices (Bulk Management that will be discussed in a later chapter)
The eye icon opens up a detailed view page for the device, this can be done by clicking on the device name as well
The thrash icon remove the device from Enterprise
Let us look at the field in the table for an example device the Multipurpose Button. It is the one with the least parameters and they are all shared by the rest of the MClimate devices (every other device has additional parameters tied to their functionality). You will find the following parameters in every MClimate device:
Battery - the measured battery voltage that is an indication of the remaining lifetime of the device. The threshold value for where the device stops functioning is different for all devices, the Battery Estimation section in the detailed device view will give you good guidelines.
RSSI - the Received Signal Strength Indicator is a measure of how good the device signal to the LoRaWAN Gateway is. This depends on your network coverage and directly impacts the stability of the connectivity and battery life. Values below -90 are a measure of good coverage and set expectation for good battery life.
SF - the Spreading Factor is related to both coverage and battery life. A lower spreading factor means more battery life and better coverage of your network, higher values mean your coverage is not optimal and battery life will be impacted. SF7 to SF9 are considered as good, if you are operating at SF12 definitely examine your Gateway coverage.
Frame Counter - the total number of uplink packets the device has sent to the server since it last joined the network. A high value over time is an indication of stable connectivity.
Join Requests - how many times the device has tried to join the network since it was onboarded in Enterprise. A high number can indicate network coverage issues or device power issues.
Last Active - the time of the last uplink message from the device.
Online - current status of the device as perceived by Enterprise.
Building -> Floor -> Space -> Room - these depend on the structure of the building and denote where the device is located, a device can be in any of the aforementioned, it does not have to be in a specific Room, it can be on a Floor only for example.
Let us look at another device that has more metrics to better understand what the platform is capable of.
Let us look at an example that is a bit more complicated, a device that not only sends measurement data, but also has the option to be interacted with via Enterprise. In contrast the Multipurpose button could only send an uplink to relay its state (for example by pressing the button once). In the case of Vicki the user can instruct it via Enterprise to work towards a specific target temperature, for example 24 Degrees Celsius.
The image below is a snippet of the main view where we have a Vicki device operating in Enterprise. It has the following data fields in addition to the common ones we already discussed with the MClimate Multipurpose Button.
Target Temperature - the temperature in Celsius that the Vicki will be working toward
Measured Temperature - the current temperature provided either by Vicki's internal sensor or an external one (advance mode for a later chapter)
Humidity - the humidity of the air, an important parameter as it changes perception on how hot a room feels
Valve opening - to what percentage has Vicki opened the valve in order to increase or decreased the heating intensity of the radiator
Open Window - the state of the built-in window opening detection algorithm. If an open window is detected Vicki will close the valve entirely for a period of time in order to not waste energy
You have the option to expand the view of a particular device, in this case a Vicki, by either clicking on the "eye" icon or its name in main screen table.
Once you expand the view the screen opens up in the "Monitor" tab where data is displayed in several forms. There are additional tabs like "Control", "Battery estimation", etc. These are out of the scope of this chapter and will be discussed separately, we are just going to summarize what purpose they serve.
Monitor tab - a collection of the data the device measures and the option to adjust settings when applicable (in the case of this Vicki, the target temperature)
Dashboard - a customizable dashboard can be created displaying any of the data the devices sends to Enterpise in a variety of ways. Great for creating a customized view of the most relevant parameters for a specific use case.
Control tab - you can adjust device parameters here and change its behavior
Battery estimation tab - metrics on energy consumption, predicted battery life, etc.
Command logs - a log of the commands that have been sent by Enterprise as downlink packets to the device
Uplink data - a collection of the uplink data packets coming from the device in real-time. It contains both the Raw Data in HEX form and the Decoded Data
Heating profile - this is where you change the assigned heating profile (more on that further down)
Target temperature
The most important parameter in this case is at the top left of the panel, showing the currently set target temperature. Vicki will adjust its behavior, dynamically adjusting the degree to which the valve is open in order to reach this temperature. You can adjust the value via the arrows.
Measured temperature, Humidity, Valve Opening and Battery
These are also important, however can not be regulated from the panel, they are just reported on.
If the valve is operating properly the Target and Measure temperature should be within 1 to 2 Celsius apart as is in this example.
The Humidity should be around 30% in Winter and 50% in Summer (here we have a humidity problem as it is 70% plus - Mold risk detection plays a role here).
The Valve opening is an indication of how rapidly the room is cooling or heating. For example if there is a large hap between the target temperature and the measured one and heating is required the valve can open up as much as 100%. If it is too warm on the other hand, the Vicki could close the valve entirely (0%).
The Battery widget gives the Voltage measured with the last uplink packet and is a measure of how much more the battery will last. The critical voltage is different for different devices (refer to their documentation pages for details), in this particular example once Vicki drops to 2.7V, it is recommended to replace the battery.
Network
This widget gives a summary of the connection quality. Ideally one would want to have the following.
RSSI - Received Signal Strength Indicator values -90 and higher are considered minimum requirement for good quality of the link
SF - the spreading factor is directly related to the link quality. If your network coverage is poor and ADR is enabled (Adaptive Data Rate), Vicki will try to adjust the SF from 7 up to 12 in order to effectively boost the signal. However, this comes at the cost of longer transmission time and creates more network congestion. As a rule of thumb SF7 to SF9 are acceptable, if higher look into installing more Gateways
Frame Count - The higher, the better as this is the number of consecutive packets since the node last joined/re-joined the network. A low value of a couple of hundred denotes poor link quality or misconfiguration
Last active - when the device last sent an Uplink (useful to determine the time of disconnection of the network)
This portion of the Monitor screen displays data based on what the risk of developing mold is. It gives a quick glance on what the risk based on the measurements of this particular device is.
If you press on the "See more" button you will be taken to a section at the bottom of the page where you will see the Mold Detection algorithm calculations in the form of a graph. This is useful for identifying specific points where the risk is high and correlating it to events, identifying the cause of the issue.
This is your data in a linear chart form. This is perhaps the most useful metric representation to be found in the Monitoring tab. It gives you insights not only on the current state of the device, but also its long term performance. It is useful for troubleshooting, evaluation of performance, etc.
All the parameters that are listed in the widgets with their current values can be seen on the graph. By default the Target and Measured Temperature, the Humidity and Valve opening are visible (for this specific device - Vicki). You show/hide a curve by clicking on the corresponding parameter name below the X-axis.
You can change the period to be visualized via the calendar button at the top right, selecting multiple days, weeks, etc. You can zoom on a period by selecting a portion of the graphs with the mouse. You can also export the graph in a variety of formats via the "..." button (refer to the image below).
