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Plants

The Plant resource represents a logical grouping of IoT resources that are physically colocated at a specific geographical area. Plants serve as the primary organizational unit for managing devices, nodes, and assets within a defined location or facility.

Overview​

A plant is a location-based container that groups related IoT resources together, typically mapping to physical facilities, sites, or geographical areas where your IoT infrastructure is deployed. Plants enable location-based management, access control, and operational oversight of your distributed IoT ecosystem.

Key Properties​

Basic Information​

  • name (required): A distinguishable name for the plant (e.g., "Manufacturing Plant Berlin", "Warehouse District 5")
  • description: Detailed description of the plant, its purpose, and scope
  • projectId (required): The project this plant belongs to

Geographic Information​

  • location: Geographical boundary defined as a polygon, representing the physical area covered by the plant

Organization​

  • tags: Array of alphanumeric tags for categorization and filtering
  • metadata: Custom key-value pairs for additional plant-specific information

Location Management​

Geographic Boundaries​

Unlike devices and nodes that have point locations, plants use polygon-based location definitions to represent areas:

  • Coverage Areas: Define the geographical boundaries of facilities, campuses, or operational zones
  • Multi-Building Sites: Encompass multiple structures within a single management domain
  • Outdoor Installations: Cover large areas like solar farms, agricultural fields, or distribution networks

Location Hierarchy​

Plants typically represent the highest level of geographical organization:

Project Level
└── Plant Level (Geographic Areas)
    ├── Node Level (Gateways/Edge Devices)
    └── Device Level (Sensors/Actuators)
    └── Asset Level (Complex Equipment)

Resource Grouping​

Managed Resources​

Plants can contain and organize several types of resources:

Nodes​

  • Gateways and edge computing devices
  • Data collection and communication hubs
  • Local processing and control systems

Devices​

  • Sensors, actuators, and monitoring equipment
  • Field devices connected through nodes
  • Standalone IoT devices with direct connectivity

Assets​

  • Complex machines and equipment
  • Logical groupings of multiple devices
  • High-level operational systems

Consistency Requirements​

  • Node-Device Consistency: When a device has a nodeId, both the node and device must belong to the same plant
  • Operational Boundaries: All resources within a plant should be operationally related and manageable as a unit

Resource Management​

Base Resource Properties​

All plants inherit standard resource properties:

  • uuid: Unique identifier (auto-generated if not provided)
  • createdAt: Resource creation timestamp
  • updatedAt: Last modification timestamp
  • metadata: Flexible key-value storage for custom attributes

Project Association​

Every plant must be associated with a project through the projectId field, enabling:

  • Multi-tenant resource isolation
  • Project-level access control and permissions
  • Billing and resource usage tracking
  • Organizational hierarchy management