A DPS system works well if all products are almost always connected and data flows to and from the system without interruption or loss.
The Connection Index of a connected product is a numerical value that measures the reliability of the connection between the product and the DPS system.
There are a number of factors that can affect connection index, including:
Connectivity type: Wi-Fi or Mobile.
Device location: some locations may have a bad internet coverage, even if Wi-Fi or Mobile. Incorrect location of the device can cause continuous reconnection, and thus even if mostly connected, there could be data loss. Also in the case of cellular connection, the continuous reconnections, could have an effect on the costs related to data consumption.
Product status: in some cases, it is not possible to distinguish between a turned-off and an offline product. To mitigate this problem, a good approach is to turn off the product with a specific procedure, informing the cloud that the product is about to be turned off, or use a gateway that remains connected even if the product is turned off.
Inputs
Here is the list of inputs required by this Algorithm.
INPUTS | |
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Connection Status | The Connection Status metric, available by default on each product registered in the DPS. |
Outputs
Here is the list of outputs provided by this Algorithm.
OUTPUTS | |
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Connection Index | This is the main indicator of the connection insight, it is a percentage value (0-100%) describing the quality of connection. A high percentage indicates that the product is able to communicate with cloud reliably. Conversely, a low connection percentage indicates that the product is prone to connection problems. This value is calculated based on a number of factors, including:
A product that is always OFFLINE has an index of 0%, while if it is always ONLINE without disconnections the index is 100%.
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Online Time Percentage | The Online Time Percentage measures the percentage of time a product is ONLINE. It is calculated by dividing the total time the product is on by the total time it is connected to the cloud. A high value indicates that the product is mostly connected, but this does not automatically indicate a good connection, as the product may be subject to constant reconnections.
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Disconnection Count | The Disconnection Count measures the number of times the product disconnected from the cloud. This data is used to double-check the reliability of the connection together with online time.
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Offline Time | The Offline Time is the time spent in OFFLINE. This information allows quantifying for how much time the product is unreachable.
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Insight Metric Configuration
To use this Algorithm in an Insight Metric, you need to:
Go to the Insight / Insight Metrics page.
Select the Thing Definitions tab.
Select the Thing Definition where to create the insight metric.
Click the Add Metric button.
Select the Connection Index algorithm.
Configure the Algorithm required inputs.
Select the output for which you want to calculate the metric.
Displaying Insight Values
Insight metric values can be displayed by using the predefined templates available in the Connection template component.
In addition, you can define your own templates by using any widget supporting metric data loading, for instance:
Value: to display a single value, also aggregated on a period.
Benchmark: to compare your machine with similar ones.
Time Series Chart: to display the trend on a period.
Bar Chart: to display aggregated data through statistics.