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Runbook — sensor false positive and alert triage

Prerequisites: Field telemetry reference architecture — homestead + 120-acre farm; Farm spatial model and asset registry standard (which sensor is where). See backlog P2 #19 for future observability depth.

Purpose

When alerts fire but reality is unclear—stuck sensor, RF noise, bad calibration—avoid alert fatigue and wrong manual actions.

Triage order

  1. Severity: animal welfare / water / escape first—override nuisance channels per policy.
  2. Corroborate: second independent sensor or camera (if policy allows) or human eyes.
  3. Time series: spike vs stuck flatline—different root causes.
  4. Disable automation acting on bad input—Automation degraded modes and manual fallback SOP.

Record-keeping

  • Incident log: device ID, firmware, last calibration, weather—feeds firmware lifecycle policy later.

“Mute alert” is never step one without physical verification on Tier A risks.