Admin: Devices

The Devices tab is where you manage all the hardware and signal-processing configuration that powers real-time personnel tracking. It covers BLE beacons, gateway receivers, and the algorithm settings that determine how the system interprets radio signals into positions.

Navigate to Admin > Devices.

The Devices tab contains six sub-tabs:

Sub-tab	What you manage
Beacons	Registered BLE transmitters and their personnel/asset assignments
BLE Settings	Scan intervals, RSSI thresholds, positioning algorithm parameters
Signal Monitor	Real-time per-device signal diagnostics
Path Loss Calibration	Measure and apply accurate path loss values per floor
Aruba Profile Inspector	Inspect Aruba AP placement and BLE configuration by floor
Gateways	BLE receiver CRUD — register, configure, assign to floor

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Beacons

The Beacons sub-tab is the registry of all BLE transmitters known to the system. A beacon must be registered here before it can be tracked. Beacons can be assigned to personnel (employee tracking) or left unassigned (ambient/asset tracking).

Screenshot placeholder: [Beacon registry table with transmitter ID, name, type, department, entity type, and action buttons]

Statistics Cards

Four cards summarise the registry at a glance:

• Registered — total number of registered beacons
• Personnel — beacons assigned to employees
• Standalone — beacons not assigned to a person (ambient/asset)
• Assigned — beacons linked to a department

Supported Beacon Types

The system supports several beacon hardware types out of the box:

Type	Value
MikroTik Beacon	MikroTikBeacon
Estimote	Estimote
Kontakt.io	Kontakt
iBeacon	iBeacon
Eddystone	Eddystone
EnOcean	EnOcean
Other	Other

You can also add custom device types from the beacon creation dialog (select "+ Add New Device Type..." from the type dropdown).

Registering a Beacon

1. Click Register Beacon.
2. Fill in:
   • Transmitter ID / MAC Address (required) — the unique identifier broadcast by the beacon. For most hardware this is a MAC address in the format AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF.
   • Beacon Name (required) — a human-readable label, e.g. Beacon-101 or the employee name.
   • Beacon Type — select from the dropdown. If your hardware type is not listed, select "+ Add New Device Type..." and enter the type name.
   • Department (optional) — link this beacon to a department for easier filtering.
   • Active — leave enabled unless the beacon is being decommissioned.
3. Click Register Beacon.

Tip: You can also import a large number of beacons at once using the Import CSV button. Download the CSV template first, fill in the transmitter IDs, names, and types, then upload the file.

Assigning a Beacon to Personnel

Beacons are assigned to personnel from the People > Personnel section, not directly from the beacon registry. However, the beacon must be registered here first before it appears in the Personnel beacon dropdown.

If a beacon in the registry shows entity type Employee, it means it is already linked to a personnel record.

Editing a Beacon

1. Click the pencil (Edit) icon on the beacon row.
2. Update the name, type, department, or active status.
3. Click Save Changes.

Note: Changing the Transmitter ID (MAC address) of a registered beacon will break the link to any personnel record using that ID. If you need to replace hardware, register the new beacon as a new entry and reassign it to the personnel record.

Deregistering (Deleting) a Beacon

1. Click the Delete (trash) icon on the beacon row.
2. Confirm the deletion.
3. If the beacon was assigned to a personnel record, that assignment is cleared.

Searching and Filtering Beacons

Use the search bar to filter by transmitter ID, beacon name, type, department name, or entity type. The filter is applied in real time as you type.

Importing Beacons from CSV

1. Click Import CSV.
2. Download the template if you have not done so before (template link is provided in the dialog).
3. Fill in the template: one beacon per row, with columns for transmitter ID, name, type, and optional department.
4. Upload the completed file.
5. The system processes the file and reports success or any row-level errors.

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BLE Settings

The BLE Settings sub-tab controls how the system scans for beacons and how it calculates positions. These settings affect every tracked device in the system — change them carefully in a production environment.

The panel is now organised by pipeline stage (Scanning → RSSI Filtering → Envelope Aggregation → Positioning → Math Tuning → Dominant Receiver Bias → Position Smoothing → Presence → Battery → Ambient) and every field carries inline help with suggested ranges.

Full reference: The dedicated BLE & RTLS Settings page documents every field, explains what "too high" and "too low" look like for each one, and includes troubleshooting scenarios and recommended starting-point profiles (dense office, sparse warehouse, healthcare). Open it from the docs banner at the top of the panel.

Quick reference

Section	What it controls
Gateway Scanning	How often BLE radios listen for beacons
RSSI Filtering	Drop noise-level samples, throttle per-tag pipeline passes
Envelope Aggregation	Collapse raw samples per (tag, AP) into a max-hold envelope — rejects multipath fade dips
Positioning Algorithm	Trilateration / weighted centroid / nearest-receiver + top-N AP cap
Math Tuning	Centroid exponent, IRLS outlier rejection
Dominant Receiver Bias	Snap to a single AP when the tag is clearly right under it
Position Smoothing	Kalman filter, calibrated initial variance, optional velocity model
Presence Thresholds	Active → Last Seen → Stale transitions
Battery Monitoring	Low / critical battery alert thresholds
Ambient Device Tracking	Capture non-personnel BLE devices

Saving BLE Settings

After making changes, click Save Changes at the top right. All settings are saved in a single operation. A success or error notification appears at the top of the screen. Each section also has a Reset section to defaults button.

Caution: Changes to scan intervals, RSSI thresholds, envelope aggregation, and positioning algorithm settings affect the entire system immediately. Test changes during a low-activity period where possible, and monitor the Signal Monitor tab after saving to verify that positions are being calculated as expected.

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Signal Monitor

The Signal Monitor provides real-time diagnostics showing exactly which gateway readings are being used to calculate each tracked device's position. It is the primary tool for diagnosing positioning problems.

Screenshot placeholder: [Signal Monitor showing a device with receivers listed, RSSI values, and eligibility indicators]

How to Use the Signal Monitor

1. In the Floor dropdown, select the floor you want to investigate.
2. Optionally, select a specific Device from the dropdown to focus on a single beacon.
3. Set the Window (seconds) — the time range of readings to include (default 30 seconds).
4. Click Refresh to load the current data.
5. Optionally, enable Auto Refresh to update the display automatically every few seconds.

Reading the Results

Each device in the results shows:

• Device ID and name
• Receiver count — how many gateways can see this device
• Selected receiver count — how many gateways are contributing to the position calculation
• Position method and accuracy estimate
• Dominant receiver — which gateway has the strongest signal (if dominant bias is enabled)
• Solver decision — a short description of how the positioning algorithm chose its receivers

Expanding a device shows the per-receiver breakdown:

Field	Description
Receiver ID / Name	The gateway
Raw RSSI	Signal strength as received, in dBm
Filtered RSSI	Signal strength after smoothing
Average RSSI	Rolling average
Variance	Signal stability (low variance = stable signal)
Age (ms)	How old this reading is
Selected Rank	Position in the ranking of receivers used (1 = dominant)
Selected	Whether this receiver is contributing to the position calculation
Stale	Whether the reading has exceeded the Max Reading Age threshold
Eligible	Whether this receiver meets all criteria to participate in positioning

Current System Settings Panel

Below the results, a summary panel shows the active BLE settings thresholds so you can cross-reference readings against the configured limits.

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Path Loss Calibration

Path loss calibration lets you measure the actual radio signal attenuation on a specific floor and store a calibrated path loss exponent. A more accurate exponent leads to more accurate distance estimates and better trilateration.

Screenshot placeholder: [Path Loss Calibration form with floor selector, device selector, and coordinate inputs]

When to Calibrate

Calibrate a floor when:

• You have just deployed gateways on a new floor
• Position accuracy on a floor seems consistently off
• The floor has unusual construction (concrete walls, metal shelving, glass partitions)

Running a Calibration

1. Select the Floor where you are calibrating.
2. Select the Device (beacon) to use as the calibration reference. Choose a beacon whose exact physical location you know.
3. Enter the X Coordinate and Y Coordinate of the beacon's known position on the floorplan (in floorplan pixel units).
4. Click Compute Calibration.
5. The system samples current gateway readings for the selected device and computes:
   • Calibrated N — the path loss exponent
   • Calibrated Tx Power — the effective transmit power
   • Per-receiver details showing each gateway's contribution and estimated error
6. Review the results. If the numbers look reasonable (N typically between 2 and 4 for indoor environments), click Accept Calibration.
7. The floor record is updated with the new path loss exponent.

Tip: For best results, place the calibration beacon at a known central location on the floor and ensure at least 3 gateways can see it. Run the calibration during a quiet period when few other people are moving on the floor.

Note: If the calibration produces an N value outside the 1.5–5 range, the environment may be unusual or the beacon placement may be obstructed. Check for metal obstructions between the calibration beacon and the gateways.

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Aruba Profile Inspector

The Aruba Profile Inspector is a diagnostic view for deployments that use Aruba access points as BLE gateways. It shows the current state of Aruba APs on a selected floor including their placement coordinates, online status, and active BLE configuration parameters.

Screenshot placeholder: [Aruba Profile Inspector showing a floor with Aruba APs listed and BLE settings summary]

Using the Inspector

1. Select a Floor from the dropdown.
2. The page shows three summary counts:
   • Total Aruba gateways on this floor
   • Mapped — those with X/Y coordinates assigned
   • Online — those currently reporting as online
3. The gateway table lists each Aruba AP with its receiver ID, name, online status, coordinates, and the active BLE deduplication and positioning settings it is operating under.

The BLE settings displayed (dedup window, lookback, max receivers, RSSI threshold) come from the system-wide BLE Settings. This view helps you confirm that gateways are operating with the expected parameters.

Note: Aruba APs must be registered in the Gateways sub-tab with a receiver type containing "Aruba" to appear in this inspector.

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Gateways

Gateways (also called receivers) are the devices that listen for BLE beacon signals and report them to the server. They must be registered and assigned to a floor before the positioning system can use them.

Screenshot placeholder: [Gateways table with receiver ID, name, type, building/floor assignment, online status, and action buttons]

Gateway Types

Type Code	Hardware
KNOT	KNOT gateway (default)
ARUBA	Aruba access point with BLE radio
Other	Custom types as needed

Viewing Gateways

The gateway table shows:

• Receiver ID and name
• Receiver type
• Assigned building and floor
• IP address and MAC address
• Firmware version
• Online status (Online / Offline / Unknown) with colour coding
• Last seen timestamp
• X/Y coordinates on the floorplan

Use the search bar to filter by name, ID, type, or building. The statistics cards at the top show total, online, offline, and unmapped gateway counts.

Registering a Gateway

1. Click Add Gateway.
2. Fill in:
   • Receiver ID (required) — the unique identifier of the gateway hardware (e.g. Aruba AP MAC, Desktop Gateway BLE-adapter MAC, or the hardware serial number)
   • Receiver Name (required) — a human-readable label, e.g. GW-A1-Floor2
   • Receiver Type — select from the dropdown (KNOT, ARUBA, or custom)
   • Building (required) — the building this gateway is installed in
   • Floor — the specific floor within that building
   • X Coordinate / Y Coordinate — the position of the gateway on the floorplan in pixel coordinates (used by the positioning algorithm)
   • IP Address (optional) — the network address of the gateway
   • MAC Address (optional) — the hardware MAC address
   • Firmware Version (optional)
   • Signal Tx Power (optional) — override the default transmit power (dBm) for this gateway
   • Path Loss Override (optional) — override the floor-level path loss exponent specifically for this gateway
3. Click Save.

Tip: X and Y coordinates are in floorplan pixel units. Use the Floorplan editor (Admin > Floorplan view) to click and record the position of each gateway after installation. Precise coordinates directly improve positioning accuracy.

Auto-registration from ingested telemetry

New gateways register themselves on first telemetry:

• Aruba APs — the first arubaEventHubTrigger invocation that sees a new AP MAC creates a receiver row. Pick it up in the list, then set its building / floor / coordinates.
• Desktop Gateways — the Windows agent calls /api/desktop-gateway/heartbeat on startup; the receiver row is created (or upserted) from the BLE-adapter MAC and the machine name becomes the receiver_name.

You normally do not need to add gateway rows manually — they appear in the list after the first detection. The Import-from-IoT-Hub flow is no longer supported (IoT Hub was deprecated in the realtime-relay migration; Aruba Event Hub is the live path).

Editing a Gateway

1. Click the pencil (Edit) icon on the gateway row.
2. Update any fields — building, floor, coordinates, IP, firmware version, or signal parameters.
3. Click Save.

Deleting a Gateway

Single gateway:

1. Click the Delete (trash) icon on the gateway row.
2. Confirm in the dialog.

Bulk delete:

1. Select multiple gateways using the checkboxes in the left column of the table.
2. Click the Delete Selected button that appears above the table.
3. Confirm the bulk deletion.

Warning: Deleting a gateway removes it from the positioning system. Any personnel on the floor whose position was calculated using that gateway will stop receiving position updates from it. If the gateway is the only receiver on a floor, tracking on that floor will be lost until a replacement is registered.

Gateway Online Status

The system automatically updates gateway online status based on received signal data. Status meanings:

Status	Meaning
Online	The gateway has reported recently within the expected heartbeat window
Offline	The gateway has not reported within the expected window
Unknown	Status has not yet been determined (e.g. newly registered)

If a gateway shows Offline unexpectedly, check its network connection, power supply, and Azure IoT Hub registration. The gateway does not need to be deleted and re-added — once it resumes reporting, its status automatically updates to Online.