Table of Contents

Introduction

FOCUS is a cloud-based platform that hosts the 1m interval data and pre-processed key performance indicators (KPIs) from the transmitted from the Acuity edge computers installed locally at each facility.

Remote Data Storage

Unlike many data logging platforms that collect data and then transmit that data to the cloud for processing, the Acuity and FOCUS platforms provide a distributed architecture for resiliency, redundancy, and affordability at scale.

The Acuity edge computer stores all logged and KPI records in JSON files stored locally on industrial grade solid state drives. JSON files provide an extremely efficient and structured storage format that can be accessed quickly, heavily compressed, and transferred and synchronized using numerous server-grade management tools for mirroring and backups that both migrate data to the cloud for backup, but also provide an easy means to restore historical data when rebuilding an edge computer is required.

Data & Transfer Types

The Acuity edge computer stores six (6) types of data, each type is transferred using different frequencies and methods:

Data Types

  1. User Accounts - Maintained securely on the Acuity edge computer, hashed, and only accessible via the local operating systems security process calls.
  2. System Configuration - Containing all facility characteristics, device configurations, device communication and data mappings, alarm definitions, and report configurations; system configuration data is synchronized with the FOCUS cloud platform on change. System configuration data may be viewed via FOCUS and interacted with but may only be modified in Acuity to ensure stability of the remote monitoring and control processes.
  3. Event Logs - All activities are tracked in the Acuity system including logins, settings changes, report processing, and control commands. Event logs are partitioned by month and synchronized with the FOCUS cloud platform on change.
  4. Interval Data - All monitored data measures (tags) are archived by the Acuity edge computer at a 1m interval in files that are partitioned by day and device. Transferring interval data to the cloud is bandwidth intensive and is carefully managed to reduce ownership costs. Every 5m, today’s interval files are synchronized with the FOCUS cloud platform, only transferring the portions of the data files that have been added to since the last transfer. Data from previous days is only re-synchronized to the FOCUS cloud platform on change.
  5. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - 1m interval data that supports troubleshooting and trending is cumbersome and analysis intensive for answering common questions related to total energy, peak output, or aggregate environmental questions. KPIs are processed on the Acuity edge computer and stored at both a Facility and Device level to answer specific performance related questions quickly and easily. A significantly smaller set of data than the 1m interval data, KPIs are synchronized to the FOCUS cloud platform every 5m and power the monitoring and operations dashboards.
  6. Alarm Logs - Alarms are raised whenever a monitored Device alarm bit/value is raised, or a custom alarm definition is satisfied. Alarm events are logged on detection and pushed to the FOCUS cloud platform at the time of the event’s detection.

Cloud Data Storage

Data transferred to the cloud are stored in their native JSON format and maintained in that format for long term archiving and restoration purposes.

On arrival to the cloud, the JSON data is immediately available to the FOCUS cloud platform.