Tracing
Introduction
Supported in: SimplePack 2.0, SimplePack 3.0/4.0 Plus, SimpleIndustry.
Please note that this is a very basic guide. There are tons of ways to do tracking and you need to define what you expect from the device to do very clearly and choose the right device with the right settings based on your expectations. For more information, read the Location tracking whitepaper.
Intended for: End users and integrators & platform providers to understand device behavior before direct implementation and fine-tuning (for those who want to integrate the device into their own platform, the firmware documentation is here: API 6 and API 5)
Use case description: We will use the SimplePack mode Trace me - this can be generally used for tracing the journey of lorries and any cargo imaginable. Let's say you want to monitor a package you sent via the post office. The device behaves like this: first, a message is sent when the package starts moving and while in move, a periodical message is sent every 10 minutes (this interval can be changed). If the package stops and no movement is detected any longer, the device will send an end of movement message after 10 minutes. All the messages can be shown on a map in the IO Frog platform so you can see the exact journey your package has taken.
Prerequisites
Before-you-start checklist (you should have everything on the list if you went through the first message guide):
✅ Hardware/devices ✅ Sigfox connectivity ✅ Sigfox coverage where you need it ✅ IO Frog platform account and access ✅ Correctly set up callbacks in the Sigfox backend (if you're using your own connectivity) ✅ You're receiving messages from your devices ✅ Everything is fine!
Step-by-step setup guide
Go to the IO Frog platform and login with your account.
After you log in, head over to your profile in the top right and make sure your Experience level is Expert, otherwise you will not be able to change the device downlink - if necessary, increase your level and hit Update to save the changes.
Go to the All devices tab and click on device Setup.
In the downlink tab, set the mode to Trace me (0...0104 in the top bar), and hit Update.
Press the button of your device for 10+ (SP 2.0) or 6+ (SP 3.0 Plus) seconds, this will trigger a downlink with the new settings - the LED will keep blinking for about a minute.
| SimplePack 2.0 | SimplePack 3.0/4.0 Plus |
|---|---|
Once the LED stops blinking, you place the device where you need it: depends on what cargo you're monitoring, but generally, the device should avoid direct contact with any metal objects (you can read more here).
Once placed, activate the device by pressing the button and try moving the cargo around to make sure you are receiving all three messages. There, all done!
Please note that Sigfox has a 90% delivery success rate. It's possible that the downlink will not be received by the device, the best way forward, in this case, is simply to repeat the whole process from Step 4 onwards.
Suggestions
If you're getting false or limited reports of usage, try playing around with accelerometer sensitivity settings (the higher the number, the less sensitive the sensor).
If you're losing a lot of messages, set up 3x alert repetition. This will better the performance of your device and you should lose less messages.
Public data sharing: IO Frog also supports public channels, where you can add multiple devices and display data from all of them at the same time, including their position on a world map. It's very cool and we highly suggest you take a look! Here's our coffee project and here's how to set a public channel up.
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