Nexus Observatory

Protocol & Grid

Your grid, on the open protocol.

Private and federated observing grids for networks, agencies and OEMs: providers admitted for a stated scope, devices qualified against the specification, software moved by signed plan and data exchanged across trust domains. Every step leaves evidence.

Plan with usReference architectureThe open protocol

At a glance

Your grid, on the open protocol

Protocol & Grid builds private and federated observing grids. Providers are admitted for a stated scope, devices are qualified against the specification, software moves by signed plan and data crosses trust domains with its evidence attached. The grid can be private to one owner or shared among many; the rules are the same, so a private grid can federate later without being rebuilt.

The problem

Networks that cannot trust each other’s data

Agencies, operators and equipment makers each run their own observing networks. Joining them usually means a bespoke integration per pair, months of legal work and no way to check the data that crosses the boundary. Each owner ends up trusting only its own data, and the shared picture everyone needs never exists.

Key facts

Protocol functions: Join · Admit · Describe · Time · Observe · Qualify · Federate · Orchestrate

Components

Pole-mounted edge gateway node
Seismometer vault station (broadband, solar powered, GNSS-timed)
Automatic weather station (AWS) to WMO siting practice
Compact X-band weather radar / ISAC sensing node on a lattice tower top
Private-5G site
“AI tower in a box”
PTP grandmaster clock with GNSS antenna
Hardware security module, 1U, in an edge rack

Interfaces

Instruments: SDI-12 · RS-485 / Modbus RTU · 4–20 mA
Radio: Ethernet · LTE-M / NB-IoT · LoRaWAN
Time and position: GNSS 1PPS
Security: TPM 2.0
Publishing: MQTT

Where it works

Signed exchange across trust domains

In the story below

The system, part by part
Assembly
Installation
Deployment
Connections
Operation
Failure and recovery
Scale and federation
What you get

Scenes · 18

Next steps

Plan a deployment Read the specification Talk to the protocol team Talk to sales

The problem
Networks that cannot trust each other’s data
Agencies, operators and equipment makers each run their own observing networks. Joining them usually means a bespoke integration per pair, months of legal work and no way to check the data that crosses the boundary. Each owner ends up trusting only its own data, and the shared picture everyone needs never exists.
What it does
Your grid, on the open protocol
Protocol & Grid builds private and federated observing grids. Providers are admitted for a stated scope, devices are qualified against the specification, software moves by signed plan and data crosses trust domains with its evidence attached. The grid can be private to one owner or shared among many; the rules are the same, so a private grid can federate later without being rebuilt.
Read the specification
The system
One station, part by part
Before anything is installed, the station is laid out as its parts: instrument, logger and edge compute, secure element, GNSS timing, radio, power, enclosure, wiring, earthing, mast and foundation.
Assembly
Built and tested before it ships
Each part is fitted to the pole and the enclosure, wired through surge protection to one earth, powered and bench-tested until it signs its first reading.
Installation
Installed on site
The crew arrives with the tested kit: foundation, mast raised and guyed, instruments mounted, cables run in conduit, the enclosure fitted out and the site commissioned.
Deployment
Site after site, one design
The same station goes in at every site on the plan, each commissioned against the same checklist, until the field is covered.
Wiring
Signal, power and time, wired
Inside one site the instrument’s signal pair runs to the logger, solar charges the battery that feeds the load, GNSS time reaches the clock and the logger hands its records to the radio.
Federation
Signed exchange across trust domains
A federation agreement names what crosses, in which direction and under which licence. Records travel signed; the receiving grid verifies them against the sender’s published keys, and either side can audit the exchange afterwards. Federation is the network effect of the grid: each new peer adds observations everyone in the agreement can use.
Connections
Backhaul, time and power
The relay carries every site to the edge over a point-to-point link, the grandmaster’s time reaches every clock, and each site keeps its power through the night.
Time
One clock across every owner
Every grid shares a traceable time base from GNSS and PTP grandmasters, so records from different owners line up without negotiation. Holdover is declared in the record, never hidden. Clock offsets and holdover periods are carried with each record, so the receiving side knows how far it can compare readings from another owner.
How it works
Join, describe, time, observe
A node joins with its identity, describes itself with standard metadata, takes disciplined time and starts observing. Each record is signed at source and verified at the edge before anything downstream sees it. A node that fails any step is held in its current state, and the reason is written into its record for the owner and the auditor.
Protocol functions
Join · Admit · Describe · Time · Observe · Qualify · Federate · Orchestrate
Admission
Admitted for scope, not for everything
A provider submits a manifest of devices, rights and contacts. A security review checks it, the hardware root of trust answers an attestation challenge, and the grid admits the provider for exactly the functions and data it declared. Scope can be widened later on new evidence, and narrowed or revoked at once if a provider breaks it.
Qualification
Devices and releases, tested and on record
Every device class and software release is run against the protocol’s conformance suite before it joins. The result is published as signed evidence, so a buyer can check it without taking anyone’s word. Conformance results are versioned, so a buyer can see exactly which release and which device class were tested, and when.
Operations
State on record, for every node
Each node’s state machine is visible: joined, admitted, qualified, observing or suspended. Transitions are recorded with who and why, and a suspended node stops sharing until it is requalified. The owner and the auditor see the same state, so there is never a dispute about which nodes were sharing data, and when.
Orchestration
Configuration by signed plan, with rollback
Software and configuration move as signed plans that name their targets, their order and their health gates. A plan stops on the first failed gate and returns each node to its last known-good state. Every plan is recorded with who approved it, what it changed and what each node reported afterwards.
How it scales
From one private grid to a federation
Start with your own nodes under your own authority. Add sites to the same grid, then federate with peers one agreement at a time. The specification stays the same at every step, so nothing is rebuilt to grow; each step adds owners and data, not new rules.
What you get
Open specification, contracted operation
The specification, state machines, node roles, conformance tool and device class catalogue are open. Private grid design and operation, federation agreements, provider qualification testing and the works-with programme are delivered under contract. Works-with testing lets equipment makers show that their devices join any grid built on the specification.
Talk to sales
Next step
Design your grid with us
Tell us who owns the nodes, who needs the data and what must stay private. We draft the grid design and the first federation agreement with you. We start from your authority model and your data policy, not from a product list, and the design document stays yours.
Plan a deployment Read the specification Talk to the protocol team

See it from every side.

Each opens as a full-screen presentation: deeper pages on the same subject, explainers, stories, guided tours of the places, network scenes and the observatories that came before.

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