Glossary
Actuator
A component that is responsible for moving and controlling a mechanism or a system, e.g. opening a valve.
Alert
A notification that some part of the system requires attention. An alert can have two states: clear or set. Each alert state change is stored as a log record for further audit. An example of an alert is the Low Fuel
notification in a car.
Business Parameters
Configurable parameters that can be used in the Rule Engine's rules, e.g. to trigger alerts based on configurable thresholds. Business parameters can be set and modified from the relayr Cloud via the REST interface. See here for more information.
Command
A user-defined action executed on a device. Commands allow a specific action or script to run on a device and forward the command execution result back to the operator. Examples of commands are restarting a device or invoking a system self-checking script to get meaningful results for troubleshooting.
Complex Measurement
A batch of measurement data, in which several samples of collected data values are published as a single message. A number of data samples published in a complex measurement and, optionally, a collection interval are configurable in the Protocol Adapters' application configuration files. The Cloud Adapter supports publishing complex measurements to the relayr Cloud. Complex measurements can also be processed by the Rule Engine and the GWA Analytics and stored by the Storage Service.
Configuration Parameters
User-defined settings that control various aspects of a device or an application's behavior. An example of a configuration parameter is Light Control
, used to turn a light bulb on or off.
Configuration Manager
The Gateway Agent's component that provides a graphical user interface for managing the Gateway Agent's components and their application configuration files. For more information, see here.
Device ID (DID)
The unique identifier of a device. DID is a free-form string. To assure uniqueness, it is advisable to use the device's MAC address or serial number as a DID.
Edge
The first layer of connectivity for devices to connect to. The Edge is responsible for the local connectivity of devices, managing data collection, data processing and connection to the Cloud.
Edge Device
A hardware device capable of running the relayr edge software (Gateway or Nano Agent) and controlling other devices. An edge device acts as a bridge between Devices and the Cloud and allows these two to understand each other’s data transfer and communication. Edge devices can aggregate data from multiple devices to perform computing and analytics before the data is sent to the Cloud.
Gateway Agent (GWA)
Off-the-shelf relayr Edge Software composed of multiple GWA services, running on edge devices and acting as a bridge between IoT devices and the relayr Cloud. It provides protocol translation, data filtering, aggregation and caching capabilities to unify communication and optimize the amount of data transferred to the relayr Cloud. The Gateway Agent has a modular architecture. Most of its components are optional and can be adjusted to individual use cases. For an overview of the Gateway Agent components, see here.
GWA Analytics
The Gateway Agent's component that enables a wide range of data processing tasks at the edge, such as anomaly detection or data volume reduction. Data processing is defined as a set of Python scripts, executed according to a defined schedule or when new data is published. For more information, see here.
Heartbeat Message
A periodic message published to the management tool by every Gateway Agent component. This message contains basic information about the component and its current status and is used by the Configuration Manager to monitor the components' health. For more information on the platform monitoring, see here.
Internal High-Speed Bus
A message exchange method based on PMQ (POSIX Message Queues), most suitable for transporting high-frequency data like raw vibration or precise movement of an asset, from the data acquisition services (Protocol Adapters) to the data processing or storage services (Rule Engine and Storage Service). See here for more information.
IoT Device
A business entity equipped with sensors and/or actuators that produces data and is managed (monitored) by an edge device.
Log
An important incident in the system. Logs are stateless and are stored as a record for further audit. Examples of logs are a certificate expiration or a change of IP address. Logs are stored individually for each component. You can find them in the /var/log/relayr
folder. There are seven log levels you can set for each component. For more information, see here.
Measurements
Data readings reported periodically or on event. Each measurement has a unique ID, timestamp and value. Measurements can be stored persistently in a history database for further retrieval. Examples of measurements data are temperature or humidity values reported by device sensors over time.
Metadata
Attributes of a device. Each metadata has a unique ID and value. Metadata can be set by a Technician during the enrollment process or retrieved and reported by a Device. Examples of metadata are device location, owner's email address and device model ID.
Nano Agent
A lightweight version of the Gateway Agent targeted for edge devices with limited resources and edge computing capabilities. For more information, see here.
Northbound Service
A component that communicates over the Gateway Agent's northbound interface. An example of a northbound service is the relayr Cloud Adapter.
Package
A binary or text file that may contain e.g. software or configuration updates. Packages are propagated down to a device or a set of devices. The processing of package tasks is handled by the Task Executor.
Package Management
A process of software and/or configuration updates for an edge device or an IoT device. The package update process is handled by the Task Executor.
Peer
A device logically associated with a neighboring device. Each device can report multiple peers. Peer relationships between devices are used to create a physical or logical network topology, which can be given a graphical representation in the UI.
Pico Device
An IoT Device with the embedded Pico Agent software that can communicate via an intermediate edge device or directly to the Cloud. In the Gateway Agent, communication with Pico devices is handled by the Pico Agent CoAP Protocol Adapter. For more information, see here.
Pico Agent
Device-specific embedded software built based on the relayr Pico SDK, dedicated for constrained and/or battery-powered Pico devices. For more information, see here.
Pico SDK
A collection of software components designed to accelerate the development of Pico Agents. For more information, see here.
Protocol Adapter
The Gateway Agent's component responsible for interacting with devices implementing a particular IoT or industrial protocol and passing this information over the southbound interface. Protocol Adapters can also report data to custom topics or directly to the northbound interface. For more information on Protocol Adapters, see here.
relayr Cloud Adapter
The Gateway Agent's component responsible for communication with the relayr Cloud. The Cloud Adapter translates unified Gateway Agent messaging into the Cloud-specific protocol and provides advanced data buffering and compression mechanism, assuring efficient and reliable data exchange with the Cloud. For more information, see here.
Rule Engine
The Gateway Agent's component that enables defining a custom data processing logic at the Edge without a need for software recompilation. All application-specific data processing logic is defined as a set of rules written in the Lua scripting language. For more information, see here.
Sensor
A device or component that perceives and responds to physical input from the environment.
Southbound Service
A component that communicates over the Gateway Agent's southbound interface. An example of a southbound service is a Protocol Adapter. Depending on its configuration, a southbound service can report data to custom topics, or directly to the northbound interface.
Storage Service
The Gateway Agent's component that enables storing and backing up acquired data to avoid data losses. It allows you to persistently store data from the Gateway Agent internal bus to the local drive and to use further file backup tools to back up data on external storage/NAS. For more information, see here.
Task
A control operation scheduled by an operator via a WebUI or a provided API. Example of tasks include remote configuration changes or software updates. Tasks can be executed immediately or scheduled for execution at a specific point in time. Each scheduled task has a state representing its operation status. You can customize the task processing logic by means of Lua scripts handled by the Task Executor.
Task Executor
The Gateway Agent's component that enables customizing the logic of executing tasks, such as software updates and remote configuration change. Task processing is handled by scripts written in the Lua language. For more information, see here.