Sensor Insights is an IoT solution created to deploy and manage complex IoT Infrastructure, including sensors, gateways and connectivity, across multiple IoT protocols including LoRaWAN, BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and IO-Link (coming in the future).
It allows organizations to activate, onboard and manage sensors and gateways, and manage cellular and IoT connectivity.
The solution is built on top of America’s most reliable 5G network1 and includes:
Pre-approved sensors
Verizon-certified gateways
Bundled IoT cellular connectivity
Sensor Insights management portal
The Sensor Insights management portal lets users visualize the end-to-end IoT infrastructure in near real-time. It provides features to monitor and manage aspects of the IoT infrastructure, create condition-based monitoring rules and alerts for device or infrastructure attributes. Sensor Insights also provides native feature-rich API’s, aka
“Cloud Connectors”, to stream sensor data in near real-time to Verizon or third-party applications or cloud platforms..
1. Most reliable 5G network based on more first place rankings in RootMetrics® 5G data reliability assessments of 125 metro markets conducted in 2H 2023. Tested with best commercially available smartphones on three national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. RootMetrics rankings are not an endorsement of Verizon.
A complete IoT solution including sensors, gateways, connectivity and IoT infrastructure management
Out-of-the-box condition-based monitoring: users can create condition-based rules and alerts to respond to issues in near real-time
Open technology including Cellular, BLE, LoRa (and IO-Link - coming in future). Any IoT application that uses one of these protocols can be activated, deployed and managed within the Sensor Insights portal.
Sensor Insights portal and end-to-end IoT device health score provides insights about the state of the IoT infrastructure to improve operational efficiency
IoT Digital Advisor provides a self-serve and convenient way to plan and scale the solution across additional use cases
These protocols are the most common IoT protocols for industrial/commercial enterprise markets and address a large percentage of possible use cases across multiple industries. Other protocols are more focused around home appliances and personal consumer applications.
Passwords can be reset directly through the My Business portal, at the login page. Go to https://sso.verizonenterprise.com/account/business/login/unifiedlogin
or
https://mblogin.verizonwireless.com/account/business/login/unifiedlogin
and click “I forgot my User ID”
The number of sensors a gateway can support varies considerably, depending on several different technology and operational factors, independent of Sensor Insights.
The market offers gateways with a range of 8 channels, 16 channels, 32 channels and above. The number of channels is proportional to the amount of concurrent data that sensors can send at the same time to the gateway.
The first step is to confirm the gateway or sensor has a signal. If the gateway or sensor has a signal, try rebooting as the next step.
Do not power on a new sensor before onboarding it to the Sensor Insights portal.
If the sensor was accidentally powered on before onboarding it to the Sensor Insights portal, the battery should be removed and reinserted for the sensor to reset and register with the platform again.
Otherwise, it might take a few hours for that sensor to wake up and try to join the platform.
If the gateway or sensor still does not connect, call the helpdesk at 1-800-525-0481
To reset a gateway refer to the instructions below or consult the device user guide for additional details:
The Conduit AP MTCAP3 has a reset switch located under the status LEDS, which can be pressed with a paperclip, pin or similar tool. Pressing and holding the reset for 3 seconds will reboot the gateway; pressing and holding reset for 30 seconds will reset the gateway to factory defaults.
The Verizon GAT Bluetooth gateway can be reset with the status button. Press and hold the status button for 12-14 seconds to reboot the gateway.
The KONA Micro gateway has no provision for resetting and must be disconnected from power and have the battery removed to reset.
Any settings made in the Sensor Insights portal will be restored once the gateway reconnects to the network.
For resetting a sensor, please refer to the user documentation for that sensor. Most sensors will fully reset once power is disconnected and reconnected.
For sensors, refer to the user documentation for that sensor. In general, the following will apply:
Sensors with rechargeable batteries will require being plugged into an outlet to charge.
Some sensors allow battery replacement; refer to the sensor documentation for battery specifications and instructions.
Some sensors do not allow for battery replacement, therefore the entire sensor will have to be replaced.
Currently, only the Verizon GAT Bluetooth gateway will accept Firmware-Over-The-Air (FOTA) updates from ThingSpace.
For more info, please refer to
The Sensor Insights portal lets organizations visualize the end-to-end IoT infrastructure in near real-time, including sensors, gateways and the connectivity between the different devices. It provides features to monitor and manage aspects of the IoT infrastructure such as battery lifecycle, device software updates, connectivity experience and overall IoT infrastructure health.
It also stores up to 90 days of IoT data from each of the connected sensors and provides data charts that allow users to explore historical sensor data. Users can easily create condition-based monitoring rules and alerts for any condition they want to monitor for the sensors and receive alerts via email or SMS in near real-time.
Rules and alerts can also be created and managed for conditions related to the health of the IoT infrastructure, such as fast battery draining, outdated FOTA, and connectivity issues, among others.
Finally, it provides native cloud connectors to stream the IoT data in near real-time to Verizon or third party applications and analytics running on the cloud or on-premises.
A wide variety of alert rules can be created by the user within the Sensor Insights portal (under Configurations > Rules). Rules can be based on network events or sensor events.
Rules can be enabled, disabled and assigned to sensors or groups of sensors to monitor conditions in near-real time. Triggered rules then send alerts to individuals or groups of users.
Yes, the Sensor Insights portal offers SMS alerts.
SMS alerts are not restricted to Verizon users. Specific carrier restrictions may apply so a user will need to confirm with their cellular provider first.
The platform has several KPIs to monitor the health of every single device connected, such as sensors and gateways. A few examples are battery level, estimated battery life, signal strength, software versioning and connectivity history. We track missing data packets and other infrastructure-related performance indicators as part of an overall device “health score.”
Users may be able to manage third party sensors as long as they are compatible with one of the supported IoT protocols (Bluetooth, LoRA, etc.)
In order to verify compatibility, Verizon will perform a series of lab validations. Details about the test procedures are as follows:
Each sensor is tested, in order to determine if any additional data normalization is required for the platform to collect, process, store and provide visualization for the sensor data, as well as for the platform to monitor the sensor, battery and other features available in the Sensor Insights portal.
For Verizon to successfully test the sensors, customers must provide detailed information about the sensor including (but not limited to) sensor model, manufacturer, technical specification documentation, user manuals, developer guides or any other relevant documentation. Customers also must share with Verizon all details related to the use cases associated with the sensor.
The customer must provide Verizon with at least one sensor unit for the tests. Verizon will return the sensors to the customer after the completion of the test.
The test is provided at no cost for the customers.
The timeline for the completion of the test varies depending on the complexity of the sensor, from two weeks to several weeks. A more detailed estimate may be provided after Verizon receives the sensor and all of the details listed above.
If a gateway loses power, data transmission may be interrupted. Battery backup is available on some gateway models as specified below:
The Multitech hybrid gateway has a battery and will continue to receive data as well as send sensor data for up to 24 hours.
The KONA Micro gateway has a battery and will continue to send and receive data for up to 4 hours.
Battery-powered sensors will continue to operate however data transmission to the cloud will depend on the gateway(s) being powered and online.
The two main reasons a gateway does not show up in the device list are:
The gateway does not have adequate cell signal
First and most importantly make sure the gateway is powered on and in good coverage.
Options and accessories vary by manufacturer for each certified gateway. Please refer to the gateway documentation for details. Additionally, Verizon product specialists can assist in identifying compatible parts and accessories.
Verizon’s certified gateways have security built-in. Verizon submits all developed software and all devices to specialized penetration test routines and provides cyber security standards and recommendations both internally as well as externally with our partners.
The platform retains data up to 90 days. Customers can optionally enable streaming data to a third party cloud provider for longer term storage and archiving.
Verizon does not offer additional storage options at this time.
No, any sensor data not exported after 90 days will automatically be deleted.
The number of sensors a gateway can support varies considerably, depending on several different technology and operational factors, independent of Sensor Insights.
The market offers gateways with a range of 8 channels, 16 channels, 32 channels and above. The number of channels is proportional to the amount of concurrent data that sensors can send at the same time to the gateway.
For more information on Sensor Insights, see the user manual and tutorial video on the Sensor Insights portal at https://thingspace.verizonwireless.com/Portal/manage/sense