Virtual Devices
- Evgeny Aleshin
- Nikolay Abrosimov
Introduction
VIrtual Devices emulate real device behaviour. They generate raw messages that are similar to real devices. Virtual Devices are helpful for testing HTTP and RabbitMQ integration without having to physically occupy and vacate sensors. There is no need to have a base station to use virtual devices.
Getting started
To start using virtual devices go to the Virtual devices.
It is available from the main menu under Device Management > Virtual Devices.
Click the [+] button to add a new Virtual Device.
There are three fields in the create form:
Firmware - firmware version that will be used for this virtual device.
Number of devices - number of devices to be created.
Active/Inactive - when active, messages will be processed normally and incidents will be created.
Firmware filed allows you to change type of sensor. Please, use firmware PS basic UK B1/3.0.1 for virtual spot sensors and CC basic UK B1/1.11.5 for car counters.
Fill in the form and click Add.
You can create a maximum of 10 virtual devices. To extend this limit, please contact Nwave.
After creating a device, it has to be positioned using SPlace.
Click the [+] button in the position column to position the device. This will open the SPlace Web page.
Select Zone and Group to bind the virtual device to. Zones and Groups can be created from the same form by giving them a name. Note that the Device ID is automatically filled in. Click Bind to select a position on the map.
You can use search to find a location, drag the map to adjust the pin’s position and use arrows for finer position adjustments
Once you position the pin on the map click OK to finalize.
Sending Messages
Once Virtual Devices are created and positioned, you can start sending messages.
Virtual Devices has different behavior and data sending options in depend of thei firmware.
PS basic UK B1/3.0.1 - Virtual Sport Sensors
CC basic UK B1/1.11.5 - Virtual Car Counters
Virtual Spot Sensors
Virtual Devices can send four types of messages:
Message Type | Sending | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heartbeat | Automatic | This messages are sent every 3 hours and are necessary for the Device Monitoring system to track the device’s health status. Heartbeat messages are enabled by default. |
| 2 | Occupancy Status Change | On-demand & periodic | Testing occupancy processing. |
| 3 | Calibration | On-demand | Testing calibration message processing. |
| 4 | User Registration | On-demand | Testing BLE tag authorization |
Sending messages on-demand
To send message on-demand, click on the Send Message button.
Occupancy Status
Select the Occupancy Status Change message type, the next occupancy status will be displayed below, click Send.
User Registration
Select the User Registration message type, enter the SDI tag id and click Send.
SDI tag ID is an 8-digit hexadecimal number
Calibration
Select the Calibration message type and click Send.
Sending messages periodically
To send messages periodically, go to the individual device page by clicking on the device id from the table. Under the expandable Send Messages section, you can configure periodic sending and disable heartbeat messages.
To configure periodic sending, enable auto-change occupancy toggle, select auto-change occupancy period and click Save.
Occupancy messages will now be generated by your virtual device at the specified period.
Virtual Car Counters
Virtual Car Counter can send only one type of message: Regular.
Sending messages on-demand
To send message on-demand, click on the Send Message button.
Enter Counter value in range 0-1023 and press button “Send”.
Sending messages periodically
To send messages periodically, go to the individual device page by clicking on the device id from the table. Under the expandable Send Messages section, you can configure periodic sending and disable heartbeat messages.
To configure periodic sending, enable Auto-increase counter toggle, select Auto-increase counter period , Min increase step, Max increase step and click Save.
Min and max increase step configure range of random-generated value of counter incrementation. If you set the same values in the both field, the counter grows on this value each time.
Viewing Messages
You can view raw messages sent by a device, by clicking the View Messages button on the device’s row.
This will redirect you to the Raw Messages page filtered by the device id. You can enable auto-update in the top right corner of the page under the Filters buttons.
If you have HTTP or RabbitMQ integrations configured, you can also view message history on their corresponding pages.
Check out our set-up guides:
Deleting Virtual Devices
If you reach your virtual device limit, you can delete a virtual device by clicking the Delete button.
Click Delete to confirm.