PointGrab hardware and network requirements

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Laura CARBO

Difficulty: expert

Content

Learning Objectives

After reading this article, you’ll be able to:

  • Set up your IT network as needed for PointGrab installation

Hardware Requirements

PointGrab CogniPoint™ sensor devices are a wired solution. So make sure that you are allowed/able to foresee cabling and drill holes in the ceiling where needed.

The PointGrab CogniPoint™ sensor devices can be installed in 2 different ways:

1. powered + connected to the network using Power over Ethernet

2. powered using “DC power” or PoE + connected to the network using WiFi, with following power input interfaces:

Pointgrab v1 (shipped with white package)
  • DC Input: Connector/cable type = 2x Terminal Connector, 12-22AWG (Wire gauge 1.5mm2 / 15AWG); Power rating: 12V-24V
  • PoE: Connector/cable type = RJ-45 (Cat 5e cable or better); Power rating: conforms with 802.3af Class 2

Info

Only Shielded LAN cable should be used

Pointgrab v2 (new package design is colored red; serial number that starts from 3000040)
  • DC Input: Connector/cable type = USB-C; Power rating: 5V
  • PoE: Connector/cable type = RJ-45 (Cat 5e cable or better); Power rating: conforms with 802.3af Class 2
  • Power consumption = 4W

Info

Only Shielded LAN cable should be used

image-20231128-133521.png

Network Requirements

General network requirements for Pointgrab devices

On the network, all devices must have HTTPS & MQTT/TLS access via different ports. Please find below the current “List of IP addresses for outgoing traffic” to know which ports to open.

A Dynamic IP is required.

IP Addresses needed for Outgoing traffic

We sync all our hubs to the same open NTP (network time protocol) servers so we have consistent timings in our data warehouse.

Note

We recommend not to use specific IP addresses or DNS destinations in the firewall as they can and probably will change in the future!

→ The ports will remain the same, so we recommend to communicate / open the ports outbound.

Destination

Port

Server Name Indication

Protocol

Direction

AL description

upgrade.pointgrab.com

443

TCP

Outbound

Upgrade sensors firmware version

debug.pointgrab.com

443

TCP

Outbound

Sensor should be able to push logs to this endpoint so debug the issues with the sensor

pki.pointgrab.com

443

TCP

Outbound

Automatic Sensor certificate updates

iot.pointgrab.com
iot2.pointgrab.com

8883

iot2.pointgrab.com

TCP

Outbound

Telemetry data push

(*) Network should support local NTP Server (DHCP option 42) or provides access to one of the
following external NTP servers:
• 0.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org
• 1.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org
• 2.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org
• ntp2.aliyun.com
• ntp4.aliyun.com
• ntp6.aliyun.com
• time2.google.com
• time3.google.com
• time4.google.com

Specific network requirements for Pointgrab devices connected to the network using WiFi

  • Supported WIFI gigahertz frequency differs depending on the Pointgrab version used:

    • Pointgrab v1 (shipped in white package): supports 2.4 GHz WIFI 802.11n.

    • Pointgrab v2 (new package design is colored red; serial number that starts from 3000040): both 2.4GHz and 5GHz WIFI are supported.
  • PointGrab v1+v2 can handle hidden networks
  • PointGrab v2 sensors can handle Open WIFI also
WIFI tips & tricks

If you have PointGrabs using WiFi, make sure to set up the WiFi Access Points so that they don't drop the relevant GHz bands when there is lots of traffic on the specific WiFi AP.

It might look like the WiFi is up and running, but the PointGrab sensors go offline and might come back online, or they will just stay offline with the blue LED on and will require a restart (power cycle) to come online again.

Warning

Remember: Connecting CogniPoint™ sensor is not possible using 4G

FAQ

Is it possible to use a sensor with POE (power + connectivity) after it has been previously used with WiFi?

Yes, a sensor that was used on wifi can be relocated and work on POE in the new location.

Also good to know: there is then no reconfiguration needed.

Can POE be a fall back option for WiFi?

Pointgrab does NOT recommend using wifi and POE connectivity together, because the 2 connectivity types could interfere with each other.

So POE cannot be a “fall back” for wifi.

The PointGrab team suggests using different subnets for WiFi and Ethernet connections:

  • If subnets are different, the PointGrab sensors can easily switch the network between ethernet/Wi-Fi.
  • If subnets are the same, then there can be issues with switching mechanism of the PG sensors.

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