InSensor

InSensor suits remote, unattended sites that need to read multiple sensor types and send data automatically to a central system, such as water-level stations, weather stations or machine data collection points. InSensor reads Analog, RS-485 and digital signals through expansion boards, sends data via MQTT and power-cycles itself if the firmware hangs.

Field data collection often faces 3 constraints: multiple sensor types in one cabinet, unattended sites that may lack grid power, and the need to send someone to reset a hung device. Existing PLCs are often not designed for central data transmission or on-site processing. InSensor combines sensor acquisition, processing and transmission in one kit.

InSensor users

• System integrators and IoT installation contractors needing a field controller with application-specific board configurations
• Water, irrigation and environmental agencies setting up remote solar-powered stations
• OEMs and machine designers collecting high-frequency signals or developing on-machine Predictive Maintenance
• Factories collecting machine data on site (Edge Data Acquisition) for transmission to a central system
• Researchers and field data system developers needing a programmable board

InSensor works in 3 layers: sensors connect to expansion boards, X1 Board reads and processes the values, then sends data to a central system via MQTT. In the reference firmware, the internal processor splits tasks between two cores (AMP — Asymmetric Multi-Processing): core 0 handles safety and networking, while core 1 supports application-specific processing.

1. 1

   Choose expansion boards for your sensors

   Send us the sensor models, signal types and channel counts. We match Analog, RS-485 or digital expansion boards to X1 Board before preparing a quotation.

2. 2

   Connect sensors and power

   Connect sensors to the expansion boards inside the cabinet and supply the board with 12–24 VDC. Solar and battery power can be used.

3. 3

   Configure networking and MQTT

   Connect a LAN cable or external 4G router, then configure the board and central system to use the same MQTT Broker (the IoT messaging intermediary).

4. 4

   View readings and manage remotely

   Open the board's web interface over LAN to view readings and settings, or monitor all stations in X1 Station Manager and control relays remotely.

X1 Board and expansion boards inside InSensor

InSensor separates functions between a main board and expansion boards. Choose only the boards your application requires to avoid buying unnecessary channels. If requirements change, replace or add expansion boards without redesigning the main board.

Supported signals and buses

• 24-bit differential Analog input through an Analog board
• RS-485 / Modbus, such as water-level radar, solar charge controllers and weather sensors
• Isolated 5–24V Digital I/O through an SSR board
• I2C, such as an ADXL345 vibration sensor
• SPI, UART and CAN

What the V6.9 reference firmware for DoRare stations does

The V6.9 reference firmware for DoRare stations runs on RT-Thread and lets X1 Board read water-level radar over RS-485, battery and solar status from the charge controller, and weather sensors according to the installed models. The following features come from the reference board's firmware manual; they do not confirm the firmware version of every station.

• Controls 4 relay channels: camera, 4G router, sensor power and cabinet fan (on at 45°C, off at 40°C)
• At each startup, the board tests the cabinet fan for 5 seconds and reports the result to the central system. It then keeps the camera, router and sensors powered for 5 minutes to establish connections before applying the energy policy based on battery and charging status.
• 3 energy policy levels (CONTINUOUS / DUTY-CYCLE / SURVIVAL) extend transmission intervals as the battery drops, for periods of little or no sunlight
• Battery thresholds and transmission intervals are stored on the SD card and can be edited without reflashing firmware

InSensor suits sensor data collection at remote, unattended sites, solar-powered installations, or sites with multiple sensor types in one cabinet. Our deployed use case is water-level monitoring. Factory applications such as machine vibration analysis are design capabilities with no actual deployment case yet and require software development and testing with real data first.

Built-in recovery mechanisms

• Hardware watchdog (STWD100): if the firmware stops responding for approximately 1.6 seconds, it triggers a Normally-Closed relay (contacts closed in the normal state) to power-cycle the device without an on-site reset.
• Reads cabinet temperature with BME280 for use by the configured program
• Heartbeat status light, alarm buzzer and Program/Run DIP switch

In 2026, we installed InSensor as the controller in 20 DoRare Station cabinets along rivers in 4 Thai provinces for a government water-level monitoring project commissioned by a private company. Every cabinet uses InSensor to read water-level radar, and 5 sites also read weather stations. Data is sent through 4G routers. All cabinets use solar panels and LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) batteries.

Each cabinet uses an X1 MainBoard with power, RS-485 and output expansion boards. The IP camera photographing the staff gauge connects directly by LAN to the 4G router, bypassing InSensor. We provided a system operation manual and a 24-month hardware and software warranty for this project.

What we learned

Field equipment needs to report its own condition as well as measured values. In this project, operators can view each cabinet's battery, fan, router and SIM information and receive alerts for offline cameras or low batteries. They can also select from 4 cabinet energy modes on the dashboard.

In this project, cameras connect directly to the router, bypassing InSensor, while InSensor reads radar and weather sensors. We therefore recommend separating camera-image traffic from sensor readings so the board does not carry the image-transfer load.

Prepare site information before field installation: coordinates of every location, mobile coverage and monthly SIM data allowance, because the cabinets regularly transmit data through SIM cards.

What does it mean to you?

Before quoting, we request your sensor list, power sources and site coordinates to select expansion boards and check network coverage before installation. If cameras are included, we recommend connecting them directly by LAN to the router, bypassing InSensor as in this project. For factory applications such as machine vibration measurement, you can begin with 1 pilot station using real data before deciding to expand.

InSensor sends MQTT data on topic x1/{cabinet_id}/telemetry to X1 Station Manager, a central system for managing multiple stations, or to nimitFlow for combining data, building dashboards and alerts. If you only need to view readings, the board's web interface or X1 Station Manager can be used without nimitFlow.

Production deployments should use a private MQTT Broker and have our engineers assess network security before installation. We assess nimitFlow integration scope for each project.

Manage multiple stations centrally

• On-board web interface (over LAN): Dashboard, System, Network, Power Management, Expansion (relay control and scheduling), Controller Script and History
• Cloud-based X1 Station Manager: view all stations on one page, view 24-hour water-level graphs, control relays remotely and issue Force Read / Restart Router / Sync NTP / Flush Buffer commands
• Register new stations through the cloud Install Wizard

Develop your own programs

X1 Board runs RT-Thread; programs are written or flashed using firmware development tools. If an application needs more AI processing power than X1 Board provides, such as camera workloads, connect a single-board computer such as Jetson Nano through CN2 (UART1) as a co-processor.