Changes in SD SafeRange in SensDesk

How does it work?

As from January 2020, sensor Safe Ranges in selected devices can be set directly in SensDesk. This feature is currently available only for the SD Device, NB Device and the upcoming STE r2 device families. It will be gradually extended to other device families, such as Poseidon2, Damocles2, STE2 or Ares. However, before this feature can be extended to such devices, it is necessary to maintain the possibility to have different Safe Ranges in the device and in SensDesk. Therefore, existing customers will not lose any features, they will just find them at a different place. This is also linked to other changes, such as Notice ranges and templates. Safe Ranges of devices other than SD Devices and NB Devices can be synchronized only after these changes are fully rolled out.

Security based on user permissions, of course, applies. Only users with Team Admin and Device Admin rights may modify Safe Ranges. This also prevents unintentional mistakes.

Safe Range, SD Safe Range, Notice range – what is the difference?

Safe range is the range of sensor readings that is considered safe. We started using this notion in devices capable of performing autonomous operations based on this range – activate and deactivate the Alarm state and use it to send alarm messages and control outputs.

SD Safe range is the range of safe sensor readings in the SensDesk portal. It is used when displaying sensor states as well as when sending alarm messages configured in the Email & SMS alerts section for each sensor, input or output. This range is set for each sensor separately when editing the sensor.       

Notice range is an alternative range of safe sensor readings. It will be used to send information (alarm) messages or control outputs. These ranges are only used to send messages and display the ranges of allowed values in charts.

What are the changes

First of all, the SD Safe Range disappears completely. It was confusing for SD Devices and ND Devices: in these devices, Safe range cannot be set directly in the device. However, it is needed for critical infrastructure: when the range is exceeded, the device must send a message to the portal immediately, without waiting for the standard communication window (the delay can be 15 minutes for SD devices but hours for NB devices, and that is way too late for a timely reaction). The Safe range mechanism also includes delta AutoPush; that is, if the change in the measured value is equal to or greater than this parameter, an AutoPush is sent as an immediate alert to a possible problem. This again makes monitoring simpler and more effective. For SD devices and NB devices, these parameters will be configured directly in SensDesk when editing a sensor. Therefore, it would be confusing to have a SafeRange and a separate SD SafeRange, when in fact these parameters are synchronized between the device and the portal.

However, with SD Safe Range disappearing, we wanted to maintain the possibility of specifying a second safe range, which is very useful for early warnings. Therefore, instead of one independent SD Safe Range, we will provide an unlimited number of ranges called the Notice range. These can be used in alarm actions or in charts but they are not synchronized with the device. Therefore, the possibility to have an independent range is maintained, and even extended to support an unlimited number of ranges for each sensor. For better clarity, it is not shown when editing a sensor but rather at a completely new Notice Range tab. 

Will I lose my settings?

The introduction of Safe Range synchronization between SensDesk and the device indeed links the values in the device with those in the portal; however, custom settings will be preserved. When the Notice Range feature is introduced, the existing SD Safe Range is first copied to a new Notice range together with the existing alarm actions, and only then is the synchronization between the device and the portal enabled. Therefore, for existing customers, Notice ranges will be set up automatically and none of their settings will be lost. In addition, when synchronizing, the device settings will take priority; that is, the SD Safe Range in the portal will be overwritten with the Safe range value from the device, and not vice versa.  The synchronization also needs to be supported by the device firmware. To avoid any issues, firmware versions with synchronization support will be released only after the Notice Range feature is deployed in the portal.

Time schedule for the changes

• SD devices –  already in place
• NB devices – already in place
• STE2 rev.2 – already in place
• All other devices – as from 1st June 2020