Connecting devices to a channel

Who can do it: Service provider
Where: Wialon Platform Studio

This guide shows how to connect your tracking devices to Wialon Platform. The process has two main steps: creating a channel and directing devices to that channel.

You can create channels directly in the device creation wizard. Select the Autocreate devices method, and the platform creates the channels for the selected brands with automatic device creation turned on, or reuses the channels you already have. See Creating devices.

A channel is a configuration that serves as a data entry point for receiving information from your telematics devices. A single channel is typically created to support multiple devices from the same manufacturer. You may need separate channels for one manufacturer if you require distinct settings, such as one channel with TLS encryption and another for specialized devices like tachographs.

In this guide, we will connect Teltonika devices to Wialon Platform manually using the corresponding channel. To create a Teltonika channel:

1. In Wialon Platform Studio, expand the Connectivity section in the navigation menu.

2. Open the Channels page.

   If you haven’t created any channels yet, click Add first channel on the empty page.

3. Click New channel to create a new channel.

4. In the configuration window, enter the following information:

   • Protocol. Select the required protocol from the dropdown list (for example, teltonika). See the list of supported protocols.

   • Name. The system automatically fills in a name based on the selected protocol. You can edit this name if necessary (for example, Teltonika devices).

     

   • Messages Ttl. Enter the number of seconds that defines how long the messages must be stored in the queue before their expiration. For example, 3600 (1 hour). After 1 hour, the messages will disappear if they haven’t been processed.

   • IP blacklist. Specify a list of IP addresses that are not allowed to connect to the channel or service on the device. For example, 127.0.0.1,192.168.56.11. You can use special characters, such as an asterisk (*) or a question mark (?) to block entire ranges of IP addresses instead of just one. For example, 10.100.*.* blocks all connections from the 10.100 network, or 192.168.56.1? blocks 192.168.56.10 through 192.168.56.19.

   • Post-processing channels: Select the channels for secondary processing. When your GPS tracker acts as a hub for external sensors (temperature probes, BLE beacons, tire pressure monitors, passenger counters), the base protocol often stores this data in generic parameters like payload.hex or custom.param.XXXXX. Post-processing channels extract meaningful information from these generic containers and transform them into specific, usable parameters. Example: A Teltonika device with a connected freezer unit might send custom.param.11131 with raw bytes. A post-processing channel can parse this into freezer.comp1.mode, freezer.comp1.temperature, and so on.
     The comma-separated channels are applied sequentially in the order you specify. For example, 2, 3.

   • TLS. Select how you want to encrypt the channel: Encrypt with flespi TLS certificate or Encrypt with custom TLS certificate. The Encrypt with custom TLS certificate option requires filling in the Server certificates chain and Server private key fields. Both values must be in the text PEM format and contain at least 64 characters

   • IP whitelist field: specify a list of IP addresses that are allowed to connect to the channel or service on the device. All the other IP addresses will be blocked. Use the same format as for the IP blacklist field.

5. If you want this channel to be used by auxiliary device modules, such as tachographs or cameras, enable the Secondary URI toggle. For example, in the Teltonika protocol, secondary URI is used for tachograph functionality.

6. Turn on the Enabled toggle to enable the channel.

7. To create the devices in Wialon Platform Studio automatically, turn on the Autocreate toggle and select the telemetry setup for the new devices in the Telemetry section. The new devices that connect to this channel will automatically have the selected set of sensors.

8. Click Save.

Once the channel is saved, the system assigns a unique URI to it. You must configure your physical tracker to send data to this URI. The host and port are also shown in the Point the tracker here section of the channel settings after you save them.

To delete the channel, click the button in its row in the list.

The Telemetry section is shown in the channel settings when the Autocreate toggle is on. It defines how sensors are configured for the devices that the platform creates in this channel. The same options are available in the device creation wizard.

Select one of the following options:

The selected telemetry setup is saved for the channel even if you turn off the Autocreate toggle later. When you turn the toggle on again, your previous choice is restored.

The Point the tracker here section shows the address that the trackers of this channel must send their data to. It is shown for a saved channel with a selected protocol.

The section contains the Host and port line with the channel address. To copy the address, click the icon . Use these values in the configurator of your device manufacturer, where the domain and the port are usually separate fields.

If an enabled channel has devices bound to it but none of them has ever connected, Wialon Platform shows the message “This channel has never received any messages.” In this case, check that the trackers are configured to send data to the host shown in the Point the tracker here section. If the channel has an IP whitelist, also make sure that the tracker IP addresses are allowed in it.

To direct the device data to the created channel, use the configuration method supported by the device manufacturers. This can be a manufacturer configuration tool or SMS commands.

Below you will find the steps to direct Teltonika devices using Teltonika Configurator:

1. Click the icon . to copy the URI of the created channel.

   

2. In Teltonika Configurator, on the GPRS tab, locate the Server settings section.

3. In the Domain field, paste the channel number from the copied URI.

   

4. In the Port field, enter the port number indicated in the right part of the URI.

If you created the channels in the device creation wizard, take the connection address from the Point the trackers here section on the last step of the wizard. See Creating devices.

Now, finish the configuration using the device documentation.