How to Get Started with the New Features of the NEON Vibration Sensor v4

The newest firmware update of the NEON Vibration Sensor (v4) is TWTG's most ambitious and comprehensive update to date. Adding often requested features and significantly improving already existing functionalities of the sensor's previous variants.

This section provides an overview of the features available in this firmware update, please refer to the communication protocol for detailed information. Note that previous generations can be updated to the newest release, contact TWTG for further details.

Configuration read request

The Configuration Read feature allows users to read the state of the device, by reading the currently used configurations, letting the user know how the device is configured.

Synchronized measurements

The protocol v4 of the NEON Vibration Sensor includes the synchronized mode, which ensures measurements occur at precise, pre-set times (e.g., every day at 2 PM), ideal for coordinating measurements across multiple devices.

Timing

The timing specifies when the schedule is executed, which can be defined either as a period in minutes or as a cron expression.

Cron expressions are being added to the previous way to set periodic measurements. The cron expression consists of 5 fields separated by a space: <minute> <hour> <day-of-month> <month> <day-of-week>. This expression provides the time for schedules to be executed. Note that <day-of-month> and <month> are not supported and should always be "*".

Examples:

Example 1: "0 */4 * * *" Schedule triggers every 4 hours.

Example 2: "/15 8-17 * * 1-5" Schedule triggers every 15 minutes between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM on weekdays.

Example 3: "2,4,6 */2 * * *" Schedule triggers on 2, 4 and 6 minutes past every two hours.

More information is available in the communication protocol.

Schedule command

The device schedule is a type of configuration used to define trigger intervals for device tasks such as measurement and message transmissions. The schedule command is a feature that instructs the device on how the schedule should be handled providing flexibility to the user. The available options are:

• Set: Sets the schedule. Overwrites any existing schedule with the same settings type and configuration type.

• Replace: Replaces all schedules with the same settings type with this one.

• Execute: Runs the schedule immediately upon receipt, considering only the settings field.

• Reset: Removes all schedules of the specified settings type, ignoring all other fields.

• Remove: Removes the schedule of the same settings type and configuration tag.

Battery percentage

The NEON Vibration Sensor with the communication protocol v4 now reports a battery percentage instead of just the battery voltage like its predecessors.

LoRa class B

Class B support has been added to the NEON Vibration Sensor alongside the already supported class A.

Past measurement request

Measurements are stored in the device's memory, which allows the user to request past measurements with a timestamp. This feature can be used to receive a snapshot of measurements from different sensors attached to an asset in a given time or to look at historical data.

Envelope spectrum

Measuring and calculating the envelope spectrum is now part of the innate functionalities of the NEON Vibration Sensor. The envelope spectrum is essential for diagnosing bearing faults which constitute one of the most common failures of rotating equipment.

3 axial spectrum configuration

Older versions of the NEON Vibration Sensor allowed to calculate only the FFT spectrum in one of the 3 axes (X, Y, or Z). By appending 3 spectrum schedules the user can obtain the FFT for all 3 axes.

Machine fault indicator

The Machine Fault Indicator (MFI) is a new feature of the NEON Vibration Sensor which is able to detect common faults and bearing faults. The sensor does so by detecting anomalies on the FFT spectrums. The message the device sends over LoRa contains the fault type and category alongside the harmonics evidencing the diagnostic.

Spectrum alerts for a given frequency range

Previous versions of the NEON Vibration Sensor only allowed alerts to execute when a given magnitude threshold is met in a specific frequency. On the other hand, the v4 of the NEON Vibration Sensor allows users to define a frequency range to monitor for a defined magnitude threshold.

On/Off Detection

Conditions to send messages can be set. For example, a measurement schedule can be set to be sent always, or if RMS velocity is above a threshold. This allows the device only to send messages if a certain condition is met (e.g., the machine is running or not).