When connected devices function out of your required parameters, it is essential that you receive relevant notifications to take actions for such events. In our platform, you understand your devices’ behavior when they function beyond the required parameter by setting rules.
Rules in IoTConnect means defined event conditions that trigger some action. When rules are triggered, there must be some action performed by the devices. In the platform, this concept is termed as command execution. You can learn more about commands in our how-to guide.
There are two types of rules that you can create using IoTConnect:
- Standard rule: A rule defined by simple conditions is called a standard rule.
- Smart rule: A rule defined by providing multiple conditions that should be matched to trigger the action is termed as smart rule.
Standard rule use case
Let’s take an example of smart factory – predictive maintenance. Suppose a manufacturing company wants to be notified when the RPM count of their machine is unusual.
They can set a rule RPM>50. They can then add a command to it to turn it off or reset the settings. They also need to set the type of notification that they would like to receive whenever the rule is triggered, or the command is executed.
This will enable them to get alerts when the machine(s) malfunctions which will further help them in taking proactive measures, fault detection during early stages of damage, and constantly improving the machine’s performance.
Smart rule use case
To understand smart rules let’s take an example of a company that leases water purification systems. To ensure that the system is working efficiently, they will need to monitor the water pressure, water flow rate.
They can set a rule for water pressure and flow from the options mentioned below:
- Pressure > 50 and flow > 15
If the company wants to execute a command associated to that rule, they can use ‘and’ between the set of conditions.
- Pressure > 50 or flow > 15
If the company wants one of the conditions to be true to execute a command associated to that rule, they can use ‘or’ between the set of command.
- Pressure > 50 and (flow > 15 or volume > 25)
If the company wants one condition to mandatory be matched and either of the other two to be optional, they can adopt a combinational use of ‘and’ and ‘or’.
Essentials to define rule
Once the rules are set, you can select an entity that you have already defined in the system. The rule by default will be applied to all the devices that belong to the selected entity. You can also choose ‘selected devices’ that belong to the entity on which you want to apply the rule.
After assigning the rule to devices, you can select the type of notification like email, push, UI alert and more, that you wish to receive when the rule is applied.
Read our how-to guide to get more insights on rules management.