Rules Engine Set Up

In this article, we will discuss how to properly set up and use the rules engine feature in the Rhombus web console. 

• What is Rules Engine?
  • Example use case
• Rules Engine Walkthrough

What is Rules Engine?

Rules Engine is a feature that runs off the logic of "If At/On During Then". Below is a breakdown of each individual segment. After the description is an example photo of what the rules engine looks like.

• The "If" section is comprised of triggers like all camera events (i.e. human movement, license plate alert), door events (i.e. door open), environmental events (i.e. high temp, low temp), and other sensor events. 
• The "At/On" section refers to locations or devices that are needing to be tied to the "If" section triggers. 
• The "During" section is the time schedule for the rule and when it is active. 
• The "Then" section is the action that will happen when the trigger happens for the specific device in the specific time frame. 

Example Use Case

A good use case for the rules engine is to have a rule set up that sends out a warning to people who trespass onto the business premises when the place of business is closed. Below is a link to a LinkedIn post our company made showing how the rules engine works for this use case. 

• Rhombus Rules Engine Example

From the rules engine example, you see the person walking up the building and then a voice recording is played and the person leaves the property. This exchange is because the rule below showing if human movement happens on the devices during a specific time frame a text-to-speech message will play on the audio gateway device. 

Rules Engine Walkthrough

In order to have the rules engine enabled currently in the Rhombus console you would need to have an A100 device registered to your account. This is because the "Then" section of the rules engine currently only has the option to use audio clips from the A100. To learn more about our A100 please go here. Below is a walkthrough of the feature. 

1. In order to find the rules engine you must follow the pathway below:

Rhombus Console > Settings > Rules Engine

2. Below is a graphic of what Rules Engine looks like in the settings:

3. Once you have clicked on the feature go ahead and click on the 'Add Rule' icon. This will populate a new rule with the layout below. 

4. The first thing to do is to enter a name for the rule in the 'Enter rule name' section. The next step is to 'Add Trigger' in the 'If' section of the rule. Now triggers can a number of events from cameras, sensors, or audio gateway. Below is a snapshot of some of the triggers available. 

5. Once a trigger is picked move to the next section 'At/On' and pick the devices to which you want the trigger to be applied too. You have the option of either applying the triggers to a location or to individual devices.

6. Once you pick a location or devices go ahead and move on to the 'During' section and select a schedule in which you want the Rules engine to be activated. 

7. The next step would be the 'Then' section and choosing the A100 along with the audio you would like to play when the trigger is activated. Clicking on the 'Play Clip' option will show the drop-down giving you the option to add the clip. The next option would be to add the audio gateway. 

8. Finally press the 'Save' button in the top right-hand corner of the rule. After this, you are done and have created a rule in the Rules Engine feature. 

If you have any further questions please reach out to our Rhombus Support at help@rhombus.com. If you would like to talk to a Rhombus Sales Representative please reach out to sales@rhombus.com.