Silvanet Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Air quality: Air quality is quantified as an Index of Air Quality (IAQ) which has a range of values the indicates the quality of air within range of the sensor. It is used by the Silvanet sensor to trigger the fire detection process, if it passes a defined threshold. See IAQ below.
Active: A device is considered Active after it has been installed (registered with the Silvanet Cloud using the QR Code). It does not necessarily indicate the device is sending messages to the Silvanet Cloud via Silvanet Mesh Network. An active state is indicated by a specific color of the Status Icon.
ALOHA: Random access protocol. LoRaWAN networks use an ALOHA based protocol so end devices do not need to peer with specific gateways.

B

Border Gateway: A Border Gateway receives messages from Silvanet sensors via Mesh Gateways using LoRaWAN and forwards the messages to the Silvanet Cloud using one of three services: LTE-M (mobile), Ethernet (PoE adapter and router) or satellite.

C

Calibration: Once deployed, the Silvanet sensor needs to perform a 14-day calibration to determine a value for normal air in the environment around the sensor. This is critical for allowing the sensor to detect a smoldering fire. The calibration period is approximately 14 days after deployment and during this period the sensor does not detect smoldering fires.
CCA: Clear Channel Assessment, same as listen before talk to RF-channels.
CSS: LoRA is based on Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) where a CHIRP (Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse) is a type of signal that is the carrier of data. Chirps have two types of signals: up-chirp and down-chirp. An up-chirp increases in frequency while a down-chirp decreases in frequency.
CW: Constant Wave = Sending a sinusoid via radio frequency.

D

Datagram: A connectionless protocol that doesn’t guarantee delivery. It is a “self-contained, independent entity of data carrying sufficient information to be routed from the source to the destination computer without reliance on earlier exchanges between this source and destination computer and the transporting network.”
Data packets: According to the ISO model, data packets are data units within the Network Layer. They include the source and destination IP addresses, as well as other information. Packets are essentially a connection-oriented protocol. It ensures each single packet is not dropped or compromised. It is considered reliable communication.
Device ID: A unique, human-readable identifier for a Dryad device. It is a unique text string that identifies a device within the Silvanet System. The Device ID is displayed in a user-readable form as the Sensor ID in the Silvanet Site Management and Deployment apps.
Device Address (DevAddr): Address by which the device is known in the Mesh network. It is composed of two parts: the address prefix and the network address. It defines an end device within the current network and all communication between devices use it after joining the network.
DevEUI: Device Extended Unique Identifier. It is a 32 bit non-unique device address. It identifies an end device globally.
Downlink messages: Messages sent from Gateways to devices lower down in the hierarchy; for example, messages sent from the Silvanet Cloud to Border Gateways, Border Gateways to Mesh Gateways or Mesh Gateways to sensors are downlink messages. Satellites do not send downlink messages to Border Gateways.

E

EFS: Elastic File System. A scalable Amazon file system that grows or shrinks automatically as files are added or removed.
EIRP: Effective Isotropic Radiated Power. Indicates the properties of a transmitter. It is used to estimate the total power needed for a hypothetical isotropic antenna (a theoretical antenna radiating the same intensity of radio waves in all directions) if the antenna produced the same power density as a beam antenna.
End device: In Silvanet, it is a sensor that sends LoRa-modulated wireless messages to Gateways (Border or Mesh) and receives messages from Gateways.
EUI: Extended Unique Identifier. It is a 64-bit unique identifier as defined by IEEE. Dryad assigns a unique identifier (EUI) to each device. Each device's EUI consists of a unique combination of a DevEUI and a JoinEUI.

F

False alerts: During the calibration period and up to one month after deploying, the sensor may trigger false fire alerts. This is normal behavior and is expected.
Fire alerts: A sensor triggers a fire alert after the sensor determines with a high probability that a fire has been detected. The fire alert is sent immediately to registered users via the Silvanet Cloud.
Firmware Version: Version of the firmware loaded in the device memory.
FUOTA: Firmware Update Over the Air. LoRa allows sensor firmware to be updated over the Mesh Network.

G

Gateways: Silvanet has two types of gateways: Mesh Gateway and Border Gateway. See the definitions for Mesh Gateway and Border Gateway.

H

I

IAQ: Index of Air Quality. It is an index that has a range of values that indicates or quantifies the quality of the air in the environment surrounding the sensor. The threshold value which triggers a fire detection process is defined by Dryad.
Interactions: Interacting with a sensor causes the sensor to be recalibrated. Interactions can include touching the sensors in any way, moving the sensors in any way, being in proximity to the sensors and running machinery and vehicles, especially diesel, near the sensor. It can also include bringing any source near the sensor that could trigger the fire detection such as cigarettes and even breathing on the sensor.
IoT: Internet of Things. Silvanet devices are IoT devices.
ISM radio band: Industrial, Scientific, Medical. A license-free radio spectrum limited to certain bands of frequencies. These frequencies must tolerate interference generated by other devices using the same ISM radio frequencies.

J

JoinEUI: A 64 bit extended unique identifier.

K

L

LoRa: LoRA is a wireless modulation technique at the PHY layer based on Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) where a CHIRP (Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse) is a signal that carries data.
LoRaWAN: LoRaWAN is built on top of LoRa in the MAC layer. It defines how devices use the LoRa hardware such as when the devices can transmit and receive messages as well as the format of the messages.
LoRaWAN Version: Indicates the MAC layer version used by a Silvanet device, for example MAC_V1_0_3.
LoRaWAN PHY Version: Indicates the PHY Version used by a Silvanet device, for example PHY_V1_0_3_REV_A.
LTE-M: Radios in Silvanet Border Gateways use LTE-M which is a type of 4G cellular network. It is designed for IoT devices to connect to mobile networks. Dryad Border Gateways use LTE Cat M1. It is designed to allow IoT devices to go into Power Saving Mode to reduce energy consumption. It also allows FUOTA without draining the supercapacitors in the Border Gateway. (Optionally, the Border Gateway can also support NB-IoT.)

M

Mesh Gateway: Mesh Gateways receives messages from sensors and forwards them to other Mesh Gateways or directly to a Border Gateway using a LoRaWAN mesh network. Messages sent from sensors hop through all Mesh Gateways within range.
Mesh network: A LAN topology in which nodes can connect directly in a non-hierarchical way to as many other nodes as possible to find the most efficient route to end nodes. Silvanet implements mesh networking.
ML Model: A ML (machine learning) model is a program that has been trained to recognize certain types of patterns.
ML Version: Version of the ML Model loaded in the memory of the device. It is updated to all sensors in a Site using FUOTA.
MQTT: Client Server publish/subscribe messaging transport protocol used by third-parties to communicate with a Silvanet Network.

N

Network Server: In the Silvanet System, the Network Server is the Silvanet Cloud which manages the entire Silvanet network. If It receives multiple copies of the same message, it keeps a single copy of the message and discards the others (preventing message duplication).

O

OTAA: Over The Air Activation. FUOTA (Firmware Update Over the Air) uses OTAA to update sensor firmware.

P

Packets, Silvanet: See Silvanet Packets below.
Phase 1 alert: A Phase 1 alert is not necessarily an indicator of a fire. However, when a Silvanet sensor triggers a Phase 1 alert (yellow), it indicates a deterioration in air quality in the surrounding environment. Phase 1 alerts are used as an optimization to reduce the number of gas scans (which check for fire) and only do so when there is a change in the gas composition of the air.
Phase 2 alert: If the sensor determines a fire is the most likely cause for the deterioration of air quality (which is indicated by a Phase 1 alert), the sensor immediately issues a Phase 2 fire alert sent to the Site's registered users.
PoE Adapter (Injector): Power over Ethernet. The Border Gateway requires a PoE Adapter (also known as a PoE Injector) that provides an input voltage range of between 36V and 57V. The PoE must be IEEE 802.3af compliant.

Q

R

S

Sensor (Silvanet Wildfire): The Silvanet Wildfire Sensor is designed to detect forest fires during the early stages (even during the smoldering phase) within minutes. The sensor monitors the microclimate by measuring temperature, humidity and air pressure.
Sensor ID: A user-readable form of the Device ID that is displayed in the Site Management and Deployment apps. This allows users to reference a device conveniently rather than reading out the Device ID text string. For example, the Sensor ID Pilot SN 3 is a user readable form of the Device ID sn-silvav3n3-d61d1419dc7c4e02867edb9.
Site: A Site is a geographical area which is protected by Silvanet Wildfire sensors. Each Site has its own unique Site ID.
Site ID: A Site ID is a unique ID assigned to a Site by Dryad. It appears in the URL of a Site as well as the breadcrumbs line when a Site is opened. For example, dryad.app/sites/Site ID. A Site name can be changed but the Site ID cannot be changed. Use this Site ID when requesting support for a specific Site.
Supercapacitor: A supercapacitor is a high capacity capacitor that can accept and deliver charges faster than batteries and tolerates many more charge and discharge cycles than rechargeable batteries.
Site Packet: A Site Packet includes the Silvanet Devices that are to be deployed by users. It typically include the planned deployment locations of the devices and typically include sufficient devices for a day's deployment activities. More than one Packet can be prepared for Site deployments. They are prepared using the Site Management app and opened in the Silvanet Deployment app for registering actual deployment locations.

T

TTI: The Things Industry. The website thethingsindustries.com/docs/ provides documentation for LoRaWAN end devices, gateways, integrations, and a detailed reference section.

U

Uplink Messages: Transmissions sent by end-devices to the Network Server relayed by one or many gateways. Satellites only receive Fire Alerts messages from Border Gateways.

V

VOC: VOCs (Volatile Organic Compound) are organic chemical compounds which contain elements that
VOC: A VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) is an organic chemical compound that evaporates easily at room temperature. VOCs are compounds that have a high vapor pressure and low water solubility. The gas sensor in the Silvanet Sensor is designed to detect VOCs. They are released from a variety of sources but for purposes of the Silvanet Sensor are burning fuels such as wood (trees) and other organic parts of a forest (leaves, fallen branches, bushes).