FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

Here you can find answers to the most common questions that we get asked when talking to new and existing customers.

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    Hardware: Can the hardware handle very wet, cold, or hot conditions? 

    For wetness, the gateway is IP66, and the sensor is IP67. The sensor can also handle temperatures within the ranges of –40 degrees Celsius up to 85 degrees Celsius. The gateway can operate from -20 degrees and up to 50 degrees Celsius.

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    Hardware: Does this require wired hardware? 

    No, currently the only required cable is the power cable to the gateway. The gateway can then wirelessly connect with the sensors. The sensors themselves are battery driven, and do not require any wires. If using a Hexastate provided IoT connection, the gateway will also connect to the internet wirelessly from any area where a data connection can be established with nearby telecommunication towers. 

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    Hardware: How far should the sensor be placed from the gateway?

    Without obstacle, 50 meters from the sensor to the gateway. Depending on the atmosphere and potential interference, some environments may allow for a shorter or longer distance. Lower signal strength can be boosted with an extension node using wireless network-mesh technology, which can help route information to the gateway from hard-to-reach locations.

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    Hardware: How much battery capacity does each sensor have?

    It depends on a number of things, like the type of sensor and the environment (changes in temperature or humidity could affect the battery life). The frequency of the samples being taken is also a factor.

    The duration range is between 3 and 7 years.

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    Hardware: Is the sensor measuring SPM measurements or is it acoustic?

    With the standard sensor hardware, there is no shock pulse or equivalent data; only the vibration and temperature data are sampled.

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    Hardware: What is the connection range of the gateway and sensors? 

    The gateway and sensors connect using a wireless mesh. The strength of the signal depends on the environment. Thick obstructions, interference, and climate can all reduce the signal strength. The expected distance is longer than 10 meters. However, the sensor nodes and gateways create a self-optimizing mesh network. This means when sensors are mounted to assets in their vicinity, a single gateway can reach very long distances by utilising the network of sensors to transmit messages. 

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    Hardware: What type of power cable is required? 

    For all EU customers the power cable uses a standard EU-type cable, some examples are the EU socket types F, E, C, and K. For other regions such as the US, variants exist that follow the appropriate standards. 

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    Monitoring: Can the PREDICT solution monitor moving assets or robots? 

    Hexastate is currently already providing monitoring for various types of moving assets. Some types of analysis are not feasible due to the physical limitations caused by being in motion, however the rest of the PREDICT system is still capable of monitoring assets, visualizing data, and providing alarms.

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    Monitoring: Does Hexastate only monitor large machinery? 

    No. The analysis is developed to suit each individual asset, based on both provided information as well as the collected data.  

    Our approach helps us keep the system flexible to cover various types of assets, including small machinery. 

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    Monitoring: How far into the future can the analysis predict?  

    The PREDICT platform utilizes patterns in the collected data to determine potential trends and extract in-depth points of information from the signal patterns. This allows the system to provide insights into an asset before the potential issue becomes critically urgent. 

    In practice, this provides the same benefit as predictive analytics: The maintenance team can plan their maintenance ahead and based on the assets actual condition, instead of a rigid schedule that can lead to redundant maintenance or sudden breakdowns. 

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    Monitoring: How frequently are samples made at each sensor?

    The default period between samples is 240 minutes, or 4 hours.

    This can be adjusted in scenarios where another sampling rate is preferred.

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    Monitoring: How many sensors do I need on an asset 

    This depends on a few factors. Larger machines consisting of several rotating and moving parts do benefit from having several sensors installed. However, for most assets, only a single sensor is required. We will happily consult you on how to best distribute the sensors to optimize the efficiency of the data collection and asset state monitoring. 

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    Monitoring: What information can the anomaly graph provide?  

    The anomaly graph visualizes how the incoming collected data relates to the asset profile and historic data.

    The graph can be read similarly to the health graph but utilizes the individual datapoints instead of simplifying it to the 4 zones. Anomaly detection is more responsive, and due to this the points in the graph have a larger variation than the health graph.  

    Each point of the anomaly graph should be interpreted in the following manner: The x-axis is the time of the calculation, and the y-axis is the anomaly score. A positive anomaly score indicates the incoming data aligns with the expected measurement patterns. A negative score indicates its level of abnormality.  

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    Monitoring: Why use automated asset monitoring?

    Manual monitoring and analysis have been utilised for decades and proven its value. However, it also has unfortunate limitations such as long periods without monitoring, as well as paying expensive experts for their time. 

    This can now be mitigated through innovation in the industry. 

    Previously the cost and complexity of automated asset monitoring forced it into being a more niche solution. However, hardware prices have fallen dramatically in recent years. On top of this, the accessibility available through modern software has made it possible for untrained individuals to also reap the benefits of fully automated monitoring. 

    Because of this, we developed a platform that can tie all these advances and advantages together. 

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    Onboarding: How do I install the sensors?

    Step 1

    Find the stud you need. If no stud needed as you have an m8 thread – great. 

    Step 2

    Place it on the asset, with the sensor’s small dot following in the axial direction.

    Step 3

    Connect the gateway to power. When the sensor and gateway blink green the data is streaming to the Hexastate CONNECT Cloud, monitoring it fully automatically.  

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    Onboarding: How do I prepare the gateway?  

    The gateway is ready to be deployed as soon as you receive the package. It just needs to be plugged into a compatible power outlet. 

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    Onboarding: What does the health graph visualize

    The health graph is a collection of various approaches to asset analysis, simplified into being a state of 4 zones. As more asset information is collected through the sensor while the asset is running, the assets profile will become increasingly tuned.  

    The 4 zones are as follows: Good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory, and unacceptable.  

    Good means there has been no measured indicators of lower asset health. 

    Satisfactory means some signals could indicate wear but does not require any direct action. 

    Unsatisfactory represents a state where several indicators have been found and the asset should be considered for a check-up and should be more closely monitored than assets in a more desirable state. 

    Unacceptable indicates that a large volume of critical signals has been detected and the asset should be tended to at your next opportunity. 

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    Onboarding: What is required to utilize the PREDICT system?  

    For a standard solution, you will require licenses, an account, and a hexastate provided package of sensors and gateways. The license is received when purchasing hardware from hexastate. The account is free to create on predict.hexastate.com. 

    Tip: You can access the Demo Account by contacting our sales team at sales@hexastate.com. 

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    Onboarding: Will the gateway need special network configuration or firewall configuration?  

    No. The gateway utilises an IoT SIM card to connect directly to the internet, without requiring any access to nearby networks. This circumvents any potential requirements with network configuration. 

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    Support: How do I contact Hexastate if I have an issue or question? 

    You can always reach Hexastate at our support email at support@hexastate.com, or support phone number +45 70 60 50 45. 

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    Technical: Can data be downloaded and opened in vibration analysis software?

    Yes. You can retrieve historic data from the REST API and reformat it so that it can be used with the vibration analysis program of your choice. These integrations are not natively supported by Hexastate at this time.

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    Technical: Can I integrate PREDICT with an existing or internal dashboard? 

    Yes, be our guest! We take pride in our approach to integration. Our online dashboard has been built in such a way that any information available through the PREDICT web-application is also available through our REST-JSON API. Because of this, using our Web App and Mobile App is entirely optional. 

    In practice, we experience the following models to be the best suited options for our distinct types of clients: 

    End-To-End 

    Use our solution branded as Hexastate, ready to go out of the box without any additional technical development needed from either party. 

    Server-To-Web-Platform 

    Collecting data from your own sensors and hardware, then utilize Hexastate’s algorithms and potentially white labelling our dashboard. 

    Server-To-Server 

    Collect and use the data from your own sensors and hardware, displaying all the analysis performed by Hexastate’s algorithms in your very own dashboard. 

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    Technical: Can I look at vibration and temperature patterns in the software?

    Yes, raw RMS and temperature graphs are accessible for assessing simple trends.

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    Technical: Can the PREDICT platform be hosted and managed on-site instead? 

    We at Hexastate believe that it is important to stay ahead of the curve. Because of this, we have decided to not provide offline solutions as a standard solution.  

    Any self-hosted offline solution would add a lot of technical complexity to the initial setup for the client, which can be entirely avoided by using our cloud. 

    Our support team also has much better ability to get insight and help clients if they can easily access the information. 

    The computational power required for some more complex types of analysis are also best suited for a cloud architecture, and overall reduces the expenses associated with the solution. 

    While none of these qualities invalidate our solution to any on-site offline variant, we believe the best solution for both us and the end-users is cloud based in most circumstances. If you believe your case is best suited for an offline solution, please contact us at: sales@hexastate.com

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    Technical: How long is the data from each sensor saved and backed up?

    Each sensor’s data is kept for an unlimited period of time within the cloud platform. The data is backed up numerous times each day, with each backup lasting a few days in the system. This allows the platform to run with a full historic view of the collected asset data.

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    Technical: Is it possible to download historic data?

    Yes. We have an open REST API in which you can request previous data with your user permissions.

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    Technical: Is this solution compatible with other sensors?  

    Currently only selected hardware partners are fully integrated as a part of our end-to-end solution. Because of this, we usually require the hardware to be purchased directly from Hexastate or from a Hexastate partner. Exceptions can be made if the volume of sensors is substantial enough to warrant an integration project. If you believe this to be the case, please contact us at sales@hexastate.com

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    Technical: What does Hexastate’s solutions prioritize? 

    Scalability, ease of use, and reliability. We hear the issues our clients have had with previous solutions, and a few key qualities keep being mentioned. 

    Because of this, we have focused our efforts on keeping our solution easy to get started with, easy to scale up to even more assets and facilities, and remaining reliable without needing constant effort and time from the users. 

    As a result, the full automation of our solution is why you can scale from 100 sensors, to 1000 or 5000+ sensors without any problems.