Glossary
Sensor Intelligence Glossary.
Field-accurate definitions for the vocabulary of sensor intelligence — anomaly detection methods, integration protocols, the engine's reasoning techniques, and the operational terms operators actually use.
Foundations
What is Sensor Intelligence?
Sensor intelligence is AI that turns raw building, industrial, or environmental sensor data into prioritised, explainable operational decisions.
Read entryWhat is Grounded Inference?
Grounded inference means AI answers are traceable to underlying data — never hallucinated, always citable, deterministic by design.
Read entryWhat is Causal AI?
Causal AI distinguishes correlation from causation in building sensor data — answering not just what changed, but why.
Read entryDetection
What is a Virtual Sensor?
A virtual sensor is a calculated metric derived from existing physical sensors — filling data gaps without installing new hardware.
Read entryAnomaly Detection: Six Methods, One Queue
Anomaly detection in buildings is the practice of finding the signals that don't behave as expected — and ranking them by how much they should worry you.
Read entryWhat is a Drift Signature?
A drift signature is the gradual change pattern in a sensor's behaviour that signals equipment degradation or calibration loss before outright failure.
Read entryThe Prioritised Anomaly Queue
A prioritised anomaly queue is the inverse of a traditional BMS alarm list — every detected issue is scored, classified, and ranked so the operator knows what to act on first, and why.
Read entryForecasting
Integrations
What is a BMS?
A BMS — Building Management System — is the control system that runs a building's HVAC, lighting, and energy infrastructure. It's also the largest underused source of operational data in modern facilities.
Read entryWhat is BACnet?
BACnet (Building Automation and Control Network) is the dominant open protocol for building automation. Most modern BMS speak it natively.
Read entryWhat is Modbus?
Modbus is one of the oldest still-deployed industrial communication protocols. In buildings, it's most common on energy meters, sub-meters, and legacy equipment.
Read entryWhat is OPC UA?
OPC UA (Unified Architecture) is the modern open standard for industrial data exchange. It replaces the older OPC Classic and is increasingly used in smart buildings as well as manufacturing.
Read entryWant to see these in product?
20-minute Sensor Intelligence demo. Senior engineer on the call.