New downlink improvements offer more device control

Our latest downlink improvements offer even greater control over your devices on akenza.

First, we've introduced new downlink functionalities to turn monitoring dashboards into dynamic control panels. These device control components let you send real-time commands directly from the dashboard. In addition, we’ve enhanced support for payload encoders, enabling you to send commands in a simple and intuitive way. With these updates, managing and controlling your devices is more intuitive than before.

The four device control components 

Device control components turn dashboards into powerful interfaces for device management. Designed to simplify specific actions, these components make it easy to send downlink commands, adjust device settings, and respond to device changes with a few clicks directly from your dashboards. 

Here’s an overview of the four available components:

Button

The button allows you to send predefined, stateless commands to your device. This component is perfect for one-time actions like rebooting a system or triggering outputs, such as opening a door.

Switch

The switch component enables toggling between two predefined messages, with the state persisting in the dashboard. It is ideal for operations like turning lights on and off or controlling smart plugs.

Input field

The input field lets you send custom text messages directly to your device. This component is great for sending commands, such as AT commands, or displaying custom messages on a connected screen.

Slider

With the slider component, you can adjust numeric values within a predefined range. This tool offers precise control over your devices, making it ideal for tasks such as adjusting thermostat temperatures or controlling motor speeds. 

But how about having visual feedback on the actions sent via these device control components?

This is what we’re introducing with our new status component. This block displays status messages in a human-readable format, helping to interpret device data easily. Instead of displaying raw messages, e.g., “temperature: 20°C”, you are now able to add translations for each value, e.g., ”The temperature in the room is elevated/optimal”. The status component offers many customization options to fit different cases. This works great in combination with the previous downlink components.

Improved support for payload encoders

In addition to the device control components, we've also upgraded the downlink functionality in the device management app. Previously, users had to specify downlink messages in RAW formats, such as hex-strings for LoRa devices. Now, with the addition of payload encoder support, you can compose your downlink messages directly in a human-readable format. This update makes sending downlink messages to your devices significantly more intuitive and user-friendly.

The Rule Engine has also benefited from improved downlink management. We have now introduced new options for selecting the target device in the rule output. You can send a downlink to the device that triggered the rule, direct it to a specific device of your choice, or use templating to select the target device based on the output of a logic block. 

Finally, our MQTT downlinks now support setting the Quality of Service (QoS) level for more reliable message delivery, while LoRaWAN devices feature an option to flush the queue before sending a downlink.