---
title: "Software, explained | Nexus Observatory"
description: "Interactive explainer: software in 3D, chapter by chapter: no implicit trust. ten states, every node, its state, its evidence, waves, health gates…"
url: https://observatory.global/software/explainer/
publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc.
updated: 2026-10-28
---

**UNENROLLED** 

**DISCOVERED** 

**ATTESTING** 

**IDENTITY\_ISSUED** 

**POLICY\_BOUND** 

**PLAN\_STAGED** 

**LOCAL\_READY** 

**DEGRADED** 

**QUARANTINED** 

**REVOKED** 

**Plan v2** *· signed, immutable* 

**Instrument** *· observing* 

**Site** *· journal, lease* 

**Fleet controller** 

*10 km* 

*20 km* 

*30 km* 

*40 km* 

**Mast** 

Building the scene…

01

02

03

04

05

06

Software · Explainer

# The node agent, at work.

A node agent that enrols, attests and updates every node. A fleet view that shows each node with its state, its plan and its evidence. Signed plans that roll out in waves and roll back on their own. A journal that keeps observing when the link drops.

**Enrolment states**: 10
**Transitions**: 42
**Protocol flows**: 12
**Standards drawn on**: 48

**01** Enrolment

**02** Fleet

**03** Signed plans

**04** Store and forward

**05** the Nexus Observatory app

**06** Integrations

**01** · Enrolment

## No implicit trust. Ten states.

A node boots with nothing but its hardware. It is discovered, attests with measured boot evidence, receives an identity, binds a signed policy and stages a plan before it may run anything. Pick an outcome and run it; each move shows the guard that allowed it.

Outcome

Run

**State**: UNENROLLED
**Last guard**: –
**Transitions in the machine**: –

**02** · Fleet

## Every node, its state, its evidence.

The fleet view is a projection built from evidence, not from labels nodes report about themselves. Filter by state and watch nodes move as plans land and links come and go.

Show

**03** · Signed plans

## Waves, health gates, a way back.

A release is built from controlled source with an SBOM and provenance, signed, compiled into an immutable plan and rolled out in waves inside a blast-radius limit. Every node verifies the plan, applies it, checks health and keeps its last known-good state.

**Nodes on the new plan**: –
**Rolled back**: –
**Nodes exposed to the fault**: –

**04** · Store and forward

## The link drops. The site keeps observing.

When the central path is lost, the site keeps operating inside its authority lease, journaling events with their identities unchanged. On reconnect it sends a replay batch; dispositions come back per event and conflicts stay explicit.

**Connectivity state**: CONNECTED
**Events journaled**: –
**State at reconnect**: –

**05** · the Nexus Observatory app

## Plan the site before a bolt is turned.

the Nexus Observatory app models a site as a team: where the mast goes, what it can reach, which instruments fall inside the radio horizon. Over a smooth Earth with standard refraction the horizon is d = 3.57 (√(k·h₁) + √(k·h₂)) km, k = 4/3; over real terrain, line of sight decides.

**Radio horizon**: –
**Instruments inside it**: –

**06** · Integrations

## Typed contracts to the systems you run.

The runtime speaks the standards the observing world already uses, so SCADA, GIS and data platforms connect by contract, not by custom glue. Pick a standard to see the role the protocol gives it.

**Standard**: –
**Standards the protocol draws on**: –

[Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/)**Software** . One runtime. Every node. Every state.[Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/)

Software

- [Edge runtime](https://observatory.global/software/edge-runtime/)
- [Node agent](https://observatory.global/software/node-agent/)
- [Fleet](https://observatory.global/software/fleet/)
- [Field apps](https://observatory.global/software/field-apps/)
- [app workspace](https://observatory.global/software/studio-workspace/)
- [Integrations](https://observatory.global/software/integrations/)

Technologies

- [Edge tiers and multi-access edge computing](https://observatory.global/technologies/edge/edge-tiers-and-multi-access-edge-computing/)
- [Modular edge data centres and the AI tower in a box](https://observatory.global/technologies/edge/modular-edge-data-centres-and-the-ai-tower-in-a-box/)
- [Ingest and streaming](https://observatory.global/technologies/data/ingest-and-streaming/)
- [Storage and data lakes](https://observatory.global/technologies/data/storage-and-data-lakes/)

Industries

- [Government](https://observatory.global/industries/government/)
- [Civil resilience](https://observatory.global/industries/resilience/)
- [Industry](https://observatory.global/industries/industry/)

Service platforms

- [Observatory Protocol](https://observatory.global/protocol/)
- [Protocol & Grid](https://observatory.global/grid-services/)
- [Hardware & power](https://observatory.global/hardware/)
- [Sensors & instruments](https://observatory.global/sensors/)
- [Connectivity](https://observatory.global/connectivity/)
- [Edge compute & AI](https://observatory.global/edge-ai/)
- [Earth observation & GeoAI](https://observatory.global/earth-observation/)

© 2026 Nexus Observatory Inc.

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