Observation
Definition: abstract entity that provides telemetry data for a DataItem at a point in time.
Version Info
| Introduced | Deprecated | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 |
Documentation
Description

Note: See Section Observations Schema Diagrams for XML schema. The XML schema also shows differences in XML representation of certain MTConnect entities.
Figure DeviceStream Example shows a complete example of DeviceStream for the Device shown in Figure 2: Component Example in Device Information Model.

Note: See devicestream-example for the XML representation of the same example.
This section provides semantic information for the Observation model.
Note: See Section Observations Schema Diagrams for XML schema of
Observationtypes.
Observations made for DataItem
Component observesact of measuring or determining the value of a property at a point in time. DataItem entities and creates Observation entities for the DataItem entities. See Figure Observations.
Observation entities made by a Component are organized by a ComponentStream which is specifically created for that Component.

Note: See Section Observations made for DataItem Example for how XML representation of the same example is separated into MTConnectDevices Response Documentresponse document published by an MTConnect Agent in response to a probe request. and MTConnectStreams Response Documentresponse document published by an MTConnect Agent in response to a current request or a sample request..
Figure Observations made for DataItem Example is a subset of Figure DeviceStream Example. It shows an example of the association between a DataItem Event type (EMERGENCY_STOP) and an Observation Event type (EmergencyStop). See Section Naming Convention for Observation types.
Figure Observations made for DataItem Example also shows example of the association between a Component type (Controller) and related ComponentStream.
Naming Convention for Observation types
The name of an Observation type MUST derive from the DataItem property type converted to Pascal-Case by removing underscores (_ ) and capitalizing each word. The conversion MUST NOT apply to the following abbreviated words: PH, AC, DC and URI. MTCONNECT MUST be converted to MTConnect. See Figure Observations made for DataItem Example for an example.
The name of an Observation type reported in the MTConnectStreams Response Documentresponse document published by an MTConnect Agent in response to a current request or a sample request. is extended when the representation property is used to further describe that DataItem in the MTConnectDevices Response Documentresponse document published by an MTConnect Agent in response to a probe request.. See Representations for more details.
Properties
| Name | Type | Int | Dep | Multiplicity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compositionId | ID | 1.4 | 0..1 | identifier of the Composition entity defined in the MTConnectDevices Response Documentresponse document published by an MTConnect Agent in response to a probe request. associated with the data reported for the Observation. | |
dataItemId | ID | 1.0 | 1 | unique identifier of the
| |
name | string | 1.0 | 0..1 | name of the
| |
sequence | integer | 1.0 | 1 | number representing the sequential position of an occurrence of an observationobserved value of a property at a point in time. in the data buffer of an agentsoftware that collects data published from one or more piece(s) of equipment, organizes that data in a structured manner, and responds to requests for data from client software systems by providing a structured response in the form of a response document that is constructed using the semantic data model of a Standard. .
| |
subType | DataItemSubTypeEnum | 1.2 | 0..1 | subtype of the
| |
timestamp | dateTime | 1.0 | 1 | most accurate time available to a piece of equipment that represents the point in time that the data reported was measured. | |
type | DataItemTypeEnum | 1.0 | 1 | type of the
| |
units | UnitEnum | 1.0 | 0..1 | units of the
| |
result | string | 1.0 | 0..1 | observationobserved value of a property at a point in time. of the The default value type for |
Relations
| Name | Type | Int | Dep | Multiplicity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
isObservationOf | Component | 1.0 | 0..* | ||
isObservationOf | Agent | 1.0 | 0..* | ||
isObservationOf | DataItem | 1.0 | 0..* |