Devices and Endpoints
In Gear Studio, the infrastructure of each facility is organized hierarchically into devices and endpoints.
Devices
Devices constitute the first level of a facility's infrastructure. They typically correspond to physical devices such as sensors, gateways, dimmers, actuators, thermostats, etc. Devices have the following characteristics:
- They have a model (or a brand and model combination)
- They have a unique identifier, such as a MAC address or serial number.
- They have some type of communication interface (MQTT, HTTP, NB-IoT, ZigBee, LoRaWAN, etc.)
- They have a description used in Gear to identify the device more easily.
Endpoints
A single device can have multiple sensors, functions, or channels. For example, in the case of a dimmer capable of controlling four light circuits, it can be said to have four distinct functions or "channels". When a user interacts with the device, they are actually interacting with one of those channels, not the entire device.
Each of these functions or channels, in Gear Studio terminology, is called an "endpoint". Endpoints have the following characteristics:
- They have a unique identifier within the device.
- They have a sensor type (temperature sensor, light, energy, volume, etc.)
- They have a description used in Gear to identify the endpoint more easily.
- They have an associated sector, indicating where they are installed or where they operate (the location within the facility).
- Depending on the sensor type, they may have other specific characteristics.
More Information
For more information about device and endpoint management, see the following tutorials: