Sensors

The Sensors module lets your project collect data automatically from IoT sensor devices connected through TTN (The Things Network). Instead of someone filling in a form, your sensors send their readings directly to Information Hub, where each reading is decoded and written into your project tables.

Sensors is an optional module. It only appears once a project admin turns it on, and all sensor configuration is admin-only.

How it works

At a high level:

1. You create a metadata table - one row per device - that tells Information Hub which devices to expect, where their data should go, and how to decode it.

2. You give TTN a webhook URL and token so it forwards your sensors' readings to your project.

3. You set up column maps so each decoded reading lands in the right table column.

4. Devices then appear automatically on the Devices tab as they start sending data, where you can monitor and pause them.

Before you start

Sensors is off by default. A project admin enables it from the project settings page:

1. Open Settings from the project sidebar.

2. Find the Sensors section and turn on Enable IoT sensors (TTN) for this project.

Once enabled, a Sensors item (chip icon) appears in the project sidebar and on the project overview page.

Everything in the Sensors module is restricted to project admins. If you can see the project but not the Sensors module, or you open it and cannot change anything, you likely do not have admin rights on the project.

The Sensors tabs

The Sensors module is organised into tabs across the top:

Tab	What it is for
Devices	See every device that has sent data, monitor its status, and pause or resume it.
Setup	Designate the metadata table and get your TTN webhook URL and token.
Column Maps	Map decoded sensor fields to the columns in your destination tables.
Parsers	Build custom parsers that decode raw payloads (see Parsers).
Help	An in-app walkthrough of the full TTN setup.

The first time you open Sensors you land on Setup. Once at least one device has sent data, you land on Devices instead.

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Step 1 - Create the metadata table

The metadata table is an ordinary project table where each row configures one device. Create a table (from the Tables module) with these columns:

Column	Required	Purpose
device_eui	Yes - must be required and unique	The device's TTN EUI (its unique hardware ID).
tables	Yes - must be required	The destination table(s) that receive this device's data. Use a comma-separated list of table IDs to write to more than one.
parser	Yes	How to decode the device's payload - a built-in parser key or the name of a custom parser.
device_id	Optional	A human-readable name for the device.

device_eui must be marked required and unique when you create the column, and tables must be marked required. The Setup tab validates this for you before you can save.

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Step 2 - Designate the metadata table and set up the webhook

Open the Setup tab.

Sensor metadata table

1. In the Metadata Table search box, find and select the table you created in Step 1.

2. Click Validate. Information Hub checks the table has the right columns and settings.

   • If it is correct, you see Table structure is valid.

   • If not, a list of validation errors tells you exactly what to fix (for example, a missing column or a device_eui column that is not marked unique).

3. Once valid, click Save to designate this as the project's sensor metadata table.

TTN webhook

The Setup tab shows the values you paste into TTN:

• Endpoint URL - a unique URL for your project (it includes the project ID so data reaches the right place). Copy it with the copy button.

• Bearer Token - a secret token, shown masked. Click the copy button to copy it, or Regenerate Token to create a new one (which immediately invalidates the old one).

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Step 3 - Configure the webhook in TTN

In the TTN Console:

1. Open your application and go to Integrations → Webhooks → Add webhook → Custom webhook.

2. Set the Base URL to the Endpoint URL from the Setup tab.

3. Add a header with key Authorization and value Bearer <token>, using the Bearer Token from the Setup tab.

4. Enable Uplink message events.

5. Save the webhook.

TTN will now forward each sensor reading to your project. Information Hub matches each reading to a row in your metadata table by its device_eui, decodes it with the chosen parser, and writes it into the destination table(s).

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Step 4 - Map fields to columns

Open the Column Maps tab to tell Information Hub which decoded sensor field goes into which table column.

1. Use Add Target Table to add a destination table. Each table you add gets its own section.

2. In a table's section, add a mapping row for each field:

   • Sensor field - the field name from the decoded payload (for example temperature).

   • Target column - the column in that table where the value should be written.

3. Click Add Row for more fields, and Save All to save the mappings for that table.

Column maps store the column's stable ID rather than its name, so renaming a column later does not break the mapping. Saving a table's maps replaces all current mappings for that table.

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Devices

The Devices tab lists every device that has sent data to your project's webhook. Click Refresh to reload the list.

Each device row shows its ID or EUI, how many times it has failed in a row (out of 10), and when it last succeeded. Devices you have not configured yet show a Add to Metadata Table button so you can register them quickly, and a status badge shows whether the device is Active (green) or Blacklisted (red).

Register a device from the Devices tab

For a device that has sent data but is not yet in the metadata table, click Add to Metadata Table:

1. The device's EUI (and ID, if known) are filled in for you.

2. Choose the Target Table the device's data should go to.

3. Choose a Parser - Decoded Payload (default), Message Default Parser, or SenseCap Default Parser (see Parsers for what these do).

4. Click Register Device. This adds a row to your metadata table.

Pause or resume a device

Each device has a toggle. Switch it off to blacklist the device - its incoming readings are paused. Switch it back on to resume.

If a device fails to deliver data 10 times in a row, it is automatically blacklisted and its readings are dropped until you re-enable it. You receive a push notification when this happens. To re-enable a device, go to the Devices tab and toggle it back on.

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Built-in parsers

When you register a device you choose a parser. The built-in options are:

• Decoded Payload (default) - uses whatever TTN's payload formatter has already decoded. Best for most sensors.

• Message Default Parser - a decoder for SNOET, Dragino, Sentrius, Smart Room, and Milesight devices.

• SenseCap Default Parser - for SenseCAP sensors; maps their numeric measurement codes to readable names such as temperature, humidity, CO₂, and light.

If none of these fit your device, you can build your own - see Parsers.

In this section

Parsers