Once you’ve created your Neuron account, it's time to connect your installation’s physical components to Neuron App so you can start collecting data.
⚠️ The phases in Neuron’s initial setup process must be completed
in order.
Initial setup
Step 1: Connecting devices
To connect devices, you need to have the following items at hand:
At least one IO-Link Master
IO-Link sensors for your installation
CPU to install Neuron Edge
First, make sure that the sensors in your installation are correctly in place. Follow the manufacturer's instructions and place them where you want to read data.
Then connect them to your IO-Link Master.
Finally, connect your IO-Link Master or IO Module to an industry CPU that has an Internet connection and where you have previously installed Docker.
If your industrial CPU doesn’t have Docker, you can download the software from this link.
Step 2: Creating a new gateway
Once the devices are physically connected, it's time to create a gateway that manages the connections between Neuron App and the several connected devices in your installation.
To do this you need to log in to your Neuron App user account, go to the "Equipment" section in the main menu and follow this step-by-step process:
A. Click on the "Add Gateway" button on Neuron App’s main section.
B. Next, a configuration window will open up. Select the specific settings you want for your gateway:
Select the type of gateway you want to create: EDGE or CLOUD.
Now, select the subtype based on the type of connection you’re using on your gateway: IO-Link, MQTT or LoRaWAN.
Finish entering the gateway information: communication port, gateway name, and a brief description of the gateway.
Add tags to identify the gateway in your installation and make it easier to search for it.
C. Once the gateway configuration is complete, press "Continue".
D. The system will automatically start a guided process in Neuron App’s main window.
Step 3: Downloading and installing Neuron Edge
When you add and edit specifications on a new gateway, the configuration software is generated. This software is created ad hoc based on features that have been chosen when creating the gateway.
The download process goes as follows:
After creating a gateway, you’ll see a step-by-step process in Neuron App’s main window.
Neuron App will let you Download and Install Neuron Edge with three download options: Mac, Windows, or Linux.
Select your CPU’s operating system.
Neuron Edge will automatically start to download.
Remember that in order for it to work correctly, this software must be installed on an industrial CPU where Docker has previously been installed.
During the installation process, Neuron Edge will request the gateway’s registration code that is highlighted on the screen. Copy and paste it into the field.
You can click on the icon to the right of the code to copy it to your system's clipboard.
Click on the button to start installing Neuron Edge on your computer. There will be a progress bar that shows how it’s going.
Once the installation is complete, Neuron App will directly start searching for devices.
Step 4: Searching for devices
Once the Neuron Edge installation process is complete, you’ll find the third step on Neuron App’s main screen: Searching for devices.
The software will automatically search for and identify communication modules (IO-Link Masters) and sensors that are physically connected to the new gateway.
Once the installation is complete, the modules, sensors and actuators that are connected to the new gateway will appear on your Neuron App interface, in the "Equipment" section.
Step 5: Setting device read frequencies
After creating the gateway connections, in order for Neuron to begin processing the information, you have to activate a read frequency rate in order to start monitoring the data.
Go to the "Equipment" section in Neuron App’s main menu.
Drop down the menu of the device you want to start monitoring.
When the menu is displayed, select the "Frequency" option.
Select a frequency for each device. You can choose between hours, minutes and seconds.
Neuron App will then automatically create a model for that device.
This new model will appear in the "Resources" section in Neuron App’s main menu.
Step 6: Checking automatically created models
After setting a read frequency, Neuron automatically creates a model. You should check it to make sure that it has been installed correctly.
You can find this new model in the "Resources" section in Neuron App’s main menu. The last part of its name will be the same as that of the sensor that Neuron recognized during the device search process.
For example, if Neuron recognizes a device named AT001, the model to be created will end with the same name: 837_AT001
Each automatically generated model includes a series of parameters that can’t be modified and are displayed in "read-only" mode so that Neuron always has a reliable database of the device. These parameters are the following:
Model name
Measurements
It does however allow us to apply different Metrics and Transforms through formula expressions.
⚠️ If you have devices of the same type, Neuron will only create
one model and from that model. The corresponding asset will be
created for each device.
Step 7: Checking automatically created assets
Neuron automatically generates models and assets after setting a device read frequency. You can access new assets from the "Resources" section in Neuron App’s main menu.
We recommend checking that each new asset has been successfully created. To do this, see if the name of the sensor that Neuron identified during the device search stage coincides with the name of the asset that Neuron created automatically.
For example, in the following case, Neuron found a device called AT001. The automatically generated asset is named 837_AT001_000085359204.
Step 8: Creating dashboards
After checking that the models and assets have been installed successfully, now it’s time to create a dashboard that will be used to display the device information in a visual way.
Follow this step-by-step process to create it:
In Neuron App’s main menu, go to the "Dashboard” section.
Once there, click on the "Add dashboard" button.
After this, a window will open up in Neuron App so you can configure the dashboard.
Add a name, a description, the tags that will help you easily search for it and select the icon that will be displayed when you open the dashboard.
Once you've added this information, it will appear in the "Dashboard" section.
From there you can set it as default, edit widgets and add widgets.
Step 9: Creating alarms
The final step is creating alarms so Neuron can notify us of any changes we might want to know of in our installation. Just follow this procedure:
We’ll start by going to the "Alarms" section in Neuron App’s main menu.
Then we will click on "Add alarm".
This will open a window where we can configure the following:
Model: choose the model you want to create an alarm for.
Description: choose a descriptive text for the alarm you are creating. Keep in mind that other users may see it, so they’ll need to be able to understand it.
Properties: enter the type of data that will trigger the alarm. For example, degrees Celsius, Fahrenheit...
Operator: a list will drop down with several operators. Select the one you want to apply to this alarm, for example: greater than, less than, equal to...
Value: enter the numeric value that will trigger the alarm. For example, if we talk about temperature, 80º.
Level: select the level of importance you want to give the alarm.
4. If you want to create another alarm after this one, click on "Add alarm" to continue with the setup process.
5. Once you're done, click on "Save". You can find your new alarm in the "Alarm" section in Neuron App’s main menu.
And that’s it! Neuron is set up and ready to use.
If you need help configuring Neuron, you can contact our technical support team at neuron@plexo.cloud.