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IoT Integration

RansNet SD-WAN branch routers (UA, HSA, and XE series) include a built-in MQTT broker to interface with IoT sensors for data collection and remote control. Sensor data is forwarded to mfusion, which auto-discovers and parses each sensor and presents the readings in an intuitive dashboard.

Sensor Collection Methods

RansNet supports collecting sensor data in several flexible ways, depending on each sensor's connectivity capabilities:

Method Path to mfusion Typical Sensor
Wi-Fi Sensor → router Wi-Fi → router MQTT broker → mfusion Smart Wi-Fi power plug
BLE / ZigBee Sensor → IoT gateway (BLE/ZigBee) → router MQTT broker → mfusion Battery BLE/ZigBee sensors
GPIO (wired) Sensor → router GPIO ports (XE-300) → mfusion Dry-contact / digital sensors
Cellular (4G) Sensor → mfusion directly Sensors with built-in 4G

IoT Topology

In all of the above options, mfusion auto-discovers and parses individual sensor data and presents it in an intuitive dashboard.

Info

If the router loses connectivity to mfusion for any reason, it caches the monitoring data — typically up to 3 days. Once connectivity is restored, it uploads all historical data to mfusion, so there is no data loss during the outage.

Configuration

GUI Configuration

GUI-based configuration will be documented in a future release.

CLI Configuration

Start the MQTT broker and subscribe to one or more sensor topics:

mqtt start
mqtt sub secure/smartplug
mqtt sub secure/envsensors

You can configure multiple subscription topics to support different types of sensors.

Info

The router forwards sensor data to mfusion over the SD-WAN tunnel. Enabling authentication between sensor and router is optional, since sensors connect through a secure local LAN — the subscription topic name itself functions as a lightweight PSK between sensor and router. Use topic names that are not easily guessable.

Verification

Items to Test Command Expected Outcome
Broker running show mqtt status Status shows RUNNING
Subscriptions configured show mqtt subscriptions Lists each configured topic (e.g., secure/smartplug)
Data being received show mqtt status Queue has entries; latest readings show sensor values
Sensors auto-detected show mqtt status Discovered sensors list shows sensor MAC address(es)

In mfusion, open the router and select the Items tab to confirm sensors are auto-discovered (allow up to 5 minutes after provisioning). Refer to Monitoring Items.