NCD mesh Topology

Hi, is there an example of NCD xbee sensor mesh topology visualization?

Hi Martin,

No, not really. Our Enterprise wireless sensors do utilize the Digi Mesh protocol, however since the sensors sleep when not transmitting they cannot act as repeaters. That said our USB modems can act as repeaters if needed. You can take a look at digi.com’s documentation for the Digi Mesh protocol for more information.

Thank you Martin,
Travis Elliott

If we use NCD modems or routers in NR, can we use some NR options/characteristics, to visualize and map the network topology?

Digi’s X-CTU software allows you to view the routing map for the network. It however only works via USB so the main modem would need to be USB.

I’m looking for to establish something like app, and i wish to create everything (like topology) in one platform, like Node-red or Labview. Is it a way to do this in one of this two software?

Hi,

Yes, we have a library for Node-Red called ncd-red-wireless. It supports most sensors in the Enterprise line. If you happen to purchase a sensor that is not already supported we will add it to the library.

Additionally we manufacture a device called the IoT Edge Computer. It acts as a gateway for enterprise wireless sensors. It comes with Node-Red and our library pre installed. You can view more information on that here:

This is interesting.
But still can’t find answer to my question- Can i map the network topology. May be something like this, or similar:

MAP

Hi Martin,

I am not sure I understand the use case for this.

The way our ncd-red-wireless library works is pretty simple. It adds two nodes to Node-Red. A wireless gateway node, and a wireless device node. The wireless gateway node must be added to the flow. Data from all sensors will flow out of this node and it can be used by itself without wireless device nodes. Alternatively however you can add a wireless device node for each of the wireless devices that connects to the modem/computer. This allows for creating flows dependent on the particular wireless device.

I know your library is very easy to use. But I want to be able to see (visually) the topology and how / when each node sends data to another. Is it possible?

Not without the X-CTU software from Digi. It will show a map of the mesh network. It however does require a USB modem.

The problem is, that when i use XBee in XCTU i can’t use them simultaneously in Node-red, that’s why i looking for a way to map the mesh network in Node-red, so that i be able to monitor the network, extract data, and anything else in one place.

We do not have a solution for that. However perhaps there is another library available for Digi Mesh on Node-Red that does support this.

I also use this xbee modules. Can use them with this NCD library in node-red?
https://store.comet.bg/download-file.php?id=14341
https://store.comet.bg/download-file.php?id=13668

Hi Martin,

Those are Zigbee protocol modules. The modules we use in our products and in the ncd-red-wireless Node-Red library are Digi Mesh so it is not compatible with the Zigbee protocol. There are however Zigbee libraries available for Node-Red.
https://flows.nodered.org/search?term=zigbee

I also have Digi Mesh modules, did they work with ncd-red-wireless Node-Red library ?

The ncd-red-wireless library was originally developed to parse transmissions from our sensors. However we added the ability for the Gateway Node to output raw data received from unknown devices, as well as the address that data originated from. There is also an input connection to the gateway Node that allows for transmitting data to devices from the gateway. So yes, it can be used with other Digi Mesh devices.

That’s really good. Is there any example?

Outputting raw data from unknown devices is a new feature that was just added a couple weeks ago. Currently I do not have any examples of this. Node-Red is very intuitive however so you should have no problem using the feature.

Is this feature uploaded to ncd-red-wireless Node-Red library site ?

Yes, I just validated that version 1.5.36 is live on the Node-Red repository, this version supports outputting data from unknown devices.