What is a Symptom?

A symptom is a detected condition that may require attention or action from an operator.

Definition

Symptoms are the operational intelligence layer of ModularIoT. They represent:

• Detected conditions - Not raw data, but interpreted situations
• Actionable items - Things operators can respond to
• Stateful entities - With lifecycle from detection to resolution

Symptom Anatomy

Every symptom includes:

• Type - What kind of condition (e.g., “HighTemperature”, “Speeding”)
• Severity - How urgent (info, warning, critical)
• State - Current status (detected, acknowledged, resolved)
• Subject - Which asset is affected
• Context - Supporting data and circumstances

Real-World Analogy

Think of symptoms like medical symptoms:

• A fever (symptom) is detected from temperature (metric)
• The fever has severity (mild, high, dangerous)
• It persists until treated (resolved)
• Multiple symptoms together may indicate a condition

Why “Symptom”?

We chose “symptom” over “alert” or “alarm” because:

• Symptoms have state and lifecycle
• They represent conditions, not just notifications
• They can be tracked, investigated, and resolved