Glossary
This glossary provides definitions for key terms and concepts used in the WEDA platform and edge AI application development.
Terms and Definitions
A
ACC (Advantech Container Catalog)
A comprehensive collection of ready-to-use, containerized software packages designed to accelerate the development and deployment of Edge AI applications, pre-validated and optimized for Advantech hardware.
Access Token
A short-lived credential used to authenticate API requests, obtained after successful authentication through OAuth 2.0 or other authentication mechanisms.
Activation
The process of registering and connecting an edge device to WEDA Core, establishing authentication and initial configuration for device management.
Alert Event
A record of an Alert Policy firing against a specific DataStream, capturing when the condition was met, its current lifecycle status, and when it was resolved. Alert Events are read-only history: they are generated by the platform, not created by users.
Alert Policy
An independent, Org-level resource defining conditions and thresholds that trigger notifications when a monitored DataStream's value exceeds defined limits. A single Alert Policy can attach to multiple DataStreams, enabling proactive system monitoring.
Analyzer
A cloud-side computation in WEDA Core that reads one or more existing DataStreams and produces an Output DataStream. The TransferFunction type applies a custom arithmetic expression; other types are reserved for future releases.
API (Application Programming Interface)
A set of protocols and tools that allows different software applications to communicate and exchange data with the WEDA system.
Auto-Provisioning
Zero-touch device onboarding capability where edge devices automatically discover and register to WEDA Core upon startup using MAC address-based identification, eliminating manual configuration requirements.
B
BMC (Baseboard Management Controller)
A specialized microcontroller embedded on the motherboard that enables out-of-band management, allowing remote power control, BIOS configuration, and OS updates even when the primary system is powered off.
BMS (Building Management System)
An automated system for monitoring and controlling a building's electrical and mechanical equipment, including HVAC, lighting, and security systems.
C
Container Orchestration
The automated management of containerized application lifecycles, including deployment, scaling, updates, and rollback operations across distributed edge devices using formats like Helm Chart or Docker Compose.
Container Registry
A storage and distribution system for container images, supporting both private and public registries with credential management for secure access to Docker images.
CRUD
The four basic operations of persistent storage: Create, Read, Update, Delete — fundamental database and API operations supported across WEDA Core APIs.
D
Data Bridge
A one-way forwarding rule that publishes DataStream values from WEDA Core to a customer-hosted MQTT broker. A Data Bridge is defined by two resources: an MQTT Broker Config holding the connection profile and credentials, and the Bridge itself, which binds specific DataStreams to outbound topics and sets the message assembly policy.
DataStream
The queryable, time-series data unit that all WEDA features build on — either auto-synced from a device's reported sensor (managedBy: System) or created directly, e.g. as an Analyzer's output (managedBy: User). Replaces the earlier Data Source and Data Object concepts.
Desired State
The target configuration defined by users in the back-office cloud system, representing the intended operational parameters for edge devices in the Digital Twin framework.
Device Credential
A device-specific encrypted authentication file (.bin) for single device provisioning with pre-configured access rights and security credentials.
Device State Synchronization
A mechanism that maintains a cloud-side record of each device's desired and last-reported configuration, enabling asynchronous synchronization of configuration and status information between WEDA Core and edge devices, with offline tolerance support.
Digital Twin
A virtual representation of a physical device in digital space, enabling real-time state synchronization, simulation, and remote control through standardized protocols.
Docker Compose
A tool and configuration file format for defining and running multi-container Docker applications, used in WEDA for container stack deployment.
DTDL (Digital Twin Definition Language)
A standardized language for describing models of physical devices, ensuring interoperability with platforms like Azure Digital Twins and consistent device representation across systems.
E
Edge AI
Artificial Intelligence algorithms and models deployed on edge devices rather than cloud servers, enabling real-time processing with reduced latency and improved privacy.
Edge Computing
A distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the location where it is needed, improving response times and saving bandwidth.
Edge Device
A physical computing device at the edge of a network that collects, processes, and analyzes data locally before sending relevant information to central systems.
G
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
A specialized processor designed to accelerate parallel computing tasks, commonly used in WEDA environments for AI inference and model training acceleration.
H
Helm Chart
A package management format for Kubernetes applications that defines, installs, and upgrades containerized applications in a standardized way.
I
IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface)
A standardized interface for out-of-band management and monitoring of computer hardware, enabling remote monitoring of system health, temperature, and power status.
J
JWT (JSON Web Token)
A compact, self-contained token format for secure information transmission and authentication between parties, used in WEDA for user and service authentication.
M
MAC Address
A unique hardware identifier assigned to network interfaces, used as the primary device identifier in WEDA for auto-provisioning and device registration.
Machine Learning (ML)
A subset of artificial intelligence that enables systems to learn from data patterns and improve performance without explicit programming, used for demand forecasting and behavior prediction in edge applications.
Master Key
An encrypted authentication file (.bin) enabling auto-provisioning for multiple devices in mass deployment scenarios, bundled with WEDA installer utilities.
MDC (Micro Data Center)
A localized, high-performance computing environment for on-premises deployment, operating in the WEDA Cloud layer alongside cloud deployments.
MLOps
A set of practices that combines machine learning model development, deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement, integrated with WEDA Core for edge AI lifecycle management.
Modbus
An industrial communication protocol widely used for connecting PLCs, sensors, and other industrial automation equipment, supported by WEDA SubNode framework.
MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport)
A lightweight publish/subscribe messaging protocol commonly used for IoT device communication, supported by WEDA for telemetry data transmission.
N
Notification Channel
An Org-level delivery destination used by Alert Policies to send notifications. WEDA supports email, Microsoft Teams, LINE, and webhook channel types, each with its own configuration schema. Channel secrets such as passwords and access tokens are write-only: they are never returned in API responses.
Notification Template
A reusable, Org-level message body with {variableName} placeholders. Each template declares which channel types it targets, and an Alert Policy references one when it sends a notification.
NPU (Neural Processing Unit)
A specialized hardware accelerator designed specifically for neural network operations and AI inference, supported by WEDA Ready-to-Dev Containers.
O
OAuth 2.0
An industry-standard authorization protocol enabling secure third-party access to resources without sharing credentials. WEDA uses it for user authentication.
Organization (Org)
A hierarchical organizational unit in WEDA Core that groups devices, users, and resources for access control and management purposes, identified by unique orgId.
OTA (Over-The-Air)
Technology for remotely updating software, firmware, or configurations through network connections, supported by WEDA Core's container orchestration capabilities.
P
PLC (Programmable Logic Controller)
A specialized industrial computer used for automation control of manufacturing processes, machinery, and assembly lines, connectable through WEDA SubNode.
Point of Sale (POS)
The location and system where retail transactions are completed, including hardware and software for processing payments and recording sales data.
R
Ready-to-Dev Container
Pre-built containerized AI development environments provided by ACC, optimized for various hardware platforms with GPU/NPU acceleration pre-configured, enabling immediate application development.
Ready-to-use Container
Pre-built container images available in ACC for direct deployment on edge devices, covering common applications like data collectors, protocol converters, and AI inference engines.
Real-time Processing
The immediate processing and analysis of data as it is generated, enabling instant insights and rapid response to operational conditions.
Refresh Token
A long-lived credential used to obtain new access tokens without re-authentication, enabling continuous API access with enhanced security.
Reported State
The actual current state of an edge device in the Digital Twin framework, continuously synchronized back to WEDA Core for monitoring and validation.
REST API (RESTful API)
An architectural style for designing networked applications using HTTP methods and stateless communication, implemented across all WEDA Core APIs for standardized resource access.
Revision
A versioned snapshot of stack configurations enabling configuration history tracking and rollback capabilities for safe deployment management.
Rollback
The process of reverting to a previous configuration revision when issues occur with current deployments, ensuring system stability and continuity.
S
Sensor
A hardware device that detects and measures physical properties (temperature, pressure, motion, etc.) and converts them into signals for monitoring and processing.
SSH (Secure Shell)
A cryptographic network protocol for secure remote command-line access and administration of devices, supported by WEDA's Virtual TCP Tunnel for remote device management.
Stack
A collection of related containerized applications and services deployed and managed as a single unit in WEDA, typically defined using Docker Compose or Helm Chart format.
T
Telemetry
Automated collection and transmission of data from remote sensors and devices for monitoring and analysis, supporting numeric, binary (images/video), and structured data formats in WEDA.
Transfer Function
Custom arithmetic transformation logic applied to DataStream values for normalization, scaling, or unit conversion. Implemented in WEDA Core as an Analyzer of type TransferFunction, which runs cloud-side on already-ingested DataStreams and writes its result to an Output DataStream.
V
Virtual TCP Tunnel
A secure, encrypted TCP tunnel established through WEDA Core to edge devices, supporting protocol-agnostic remote access (SSH, RDP, VNC, RTSP, etc.) without complex firewall configuration.
W
WEDA (WISE-Edge Development Architecture)
An integrated software framework designed to accelerate the development of AI+IoT solutions, providing full-stack architecture from edge hardware to cloud/MDC with standardized tools and infrastructure.
WEDA Activator
A pre-installed utility on Advantech hardware providing one-touch device onboarding with automated environment configuration and credential provisioning.
WEDA Core
The cloud-side management and orchestration platform within the WEDA ecosystem, providing comprehensive remote device management, data analytics, Digital Twin integration, and container orchestration capabilities for distributed edge infrastructure.
WEDA Node
An edge software agent running on industrial devices that serves as the intelligent bridge between edge devices and WEDA Core, managing container lifecycles, SubNode orchestration, and maintaining Digital Twin state synchronization.
WEDA SubNode
An open-source integration framework (available in Python and C#) that bridges physical sensor devices and industrial equipment with WEDA Core, serving as the execution layer for direct hardware communication without requiring Digital Twin protocol knowledge.
Webhook
An HTTP callback mechanism that automatically sends real-time event notifications to configured URLs when specific conditions or events occur, enabling integration with external systems.