Sending Statuses

Sending Status Attributes

A status attribute is a device attribute that is updated by the device. It can be seen through the BioT Manufacturer Portal and/or Organization Portal.
The device is expected to update its status to BioT whenever it is requested to do so (e.g. BioT asks the device for its status after disconnect-reconnect events), and can also update when it determines necessary - i.e. status changes.
For example: the device updates the cloud about its boot time (a built-in status field in the Device’s template using BioT Console), or its battery level (a custom field that can be added manually).

To listen to status update requests, the device needs to register to STATUS.subscribe topic read from the environmentData shadow. BioT will send an empty JSON message when it requires an update, usually after the device connects to IoT.

BioT includes a list of predefined attributes for every device. It is possible to configure custom device attributes in a device template (see Device Template documentation for more info).
BioT has the below default device attributes (see BioT documentation for more details about each attribute):

📘
Note
None of the attributes are mandatory.

Attribute JSON Name	Purpose	Type
_operational._status	Alert status of the device.	Single select - CRITICAL, MAJOR, MINOR, OK.
_operational._message	Details about the alert.	String
_fwVersion	Firmware version.	String Free text, e.g. 1.0.2 or myfw.1.8
_hwVersion	Hardware version / model.	String Free text, e.g. 1.0.2 or myhw.1.8
_timezone	Timezone where the device is usually located.	UTC taken from here. Example: America/Toronto
_bootTime	Boot time of the device.	Date & Time in ISO 8601 format Example: 2021-10-18T06:17:23Z

Status Message Body Structure

The device status message body is JSON in the following format:

Parameter	Description	Format
metadata	General metadata about the message.
timestamp	Event time, in milliseconds, in UTC. Mandatory.	Epoch time in milliseconds Example: 1641985478161
data	Status fields with values.	key-value JSON

Status message example:

{
  "metadata": {
	"timestamp": 1641985478161
  },
  "data": {
       "_operational": {
          "_status": "MINOR",
          "_message": "sensor 8 malfunction"
        }
	"batteryLevel": 0.63,
  "_fwVersion": "0.73"
  }
}

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Note
The name of the attributes in the “data” section should match the attributes configured in the Status Fields tab of the Device Template in the BioT Console.
The "_status" prefix that appears in the console should be omitted here
for example to send _fwVersion you will need to send:
"_fwVersion": "0.73"
Attributes that do not match are ignored.

Supporting BioT Requests for Device Status

A device needs to subscribe to the topic described in Sending Statuses & Measurements, in order to receive a request to update its status, from the BioT cloud.

The device will subscribe to messages received from this topic, and once a message arrives, it will need to publish its status to the publishing status topic.