Composite Device Tracker

This platform creates a composite device tracker from one or more other device trackers and/or binary sensors. It will update whenever one of the watched entities updates, taking the last_seen/last_updated (and possibly GPS and battery) data from the changing entity. The result can be a more accurate and up-to-date device tracker if the "input" device tracker's update irregularly.

Currently device_tracker's with a source_type of bluetooth, bluetooth_le, gps or router are supported, as well as binary_sensor's.

Installation

Follow either the HACS or manual installation instructions below. Then add the desired configuration. Here is an example of a typical configuration:

device_tracker:
  - platform: composite
    name: me
    time_as: device_or_local
    entity_id:
      - device_tracker.platform1_me
      - device_tracker.platform2_me

HACS

See HACS.

Manual

Alternatively, place a copy of:

__init__.py at <config>/custom_components/composite/__init__.py
device_tracker.py at <config>/custom_components/composite/device_tracker.py
manifest.json at <config>/custom_components/composite/manifest.json

where <config> is your Home Assistant configuration directory.

NOTE: Do not download the file by using the link above directly. Rather, click on it, then on the page that comes up use the Raw button.

numpy on Raspberry Pi

To determine time zone from GPS coordinates (see time_as configuration variable below) the package timezonefinderL is used. That package requires the package numpy. These will both be installed automatically by HA. Note, however, that numpy on Pi usually requires libatlas to be installed. (See this web page for more details.) It can be installed using this command:

sudo apt install libatlas3-base

Note: This is the same step that would be required if using a standard HA component that uses numpy (such as the Trend Binary Sensor), and is only required if you use device_or_utc or device_or_local for time_as.

Configuration variables

• entity_id: Entity IDs of watched device tracker devices. Can be a single entity ID, a list of entity IDs, or a string containing multiple entity IDs separated by commas.
• name: Object ID (i.e., part of entity ID after the dot) of composite device. For example, NAME would result in an entity ID of device_tracker.NAME.
• require_movement (Optional): true or false. Default is false. If true, will skip update from a GPS-based tracker if it has not moved. Specifically, if circle defined by new GPS coordinates and accuracy overlaps circle defined by previous GPS coordinates and accuracy then update will be ignored.
• time_as (Optional): One of utc, local, device_or_utc or device_or_local. Default is utc which shows time attributes in UTC. local shows time attributes per HA's time_zone configuration. device_or_utc and device_or_local attempt to determine the time zone in which the device is located based on its GPS coordinates. The name of the time zone (or unknown) will be shown in a new attribute named time_zone. If the time zone can be determined, then time attributes will be shown in that time zone. If the time zone cannot be determined, then time attributes will be shown in UTC if device_or_utc is selected, or in HA's local time zone if device_or_local is selected.

Watched device notes

Watched GPS-based devices must have, at a minimum, the following attributes: latitude, longitude and gps_accuracy. If they don't they will not be used.

For watched non-GPS-based devices, which states are used and whether any GPS data (if present) is used depends on several factors. E.g., if GPS-based devices are in use then the 'not_home'/'off' state of non-GPS-based devices will be ignored. If only non-GPS-based devices are in use, then the composite device will be 'home' if any of the watched devices are 'home'/'on', and will be 'not_home' only when all the watched devices are 'not_home'/'off'.

If a watched device has a last_seen attribute, that will be used in the composite device. If not, then last_updated from the entity's state will be used instead.

If a watched device has a battery or battery_level attribute, that will be used to update the composite device's battery attribute. If it has a battery_charging or charging attribute, that will be used to udpate the composite device's battery_charging attribute.

known_devices.yaml

The watched devices, and the composite device, should all have track set to true.

It's recommended, as well, to set hide_if_away to true for the watched devices (but leave it set to false for the composite device.) This way the map will only show the composite device (of course when it is out of the home zone.) NOTE: The downside to hiding the watched devices, though, is that their history (other than when they're home) will not get recorded and hence will not be available in history views. (In history views they will appear to always be home.) Also they are hidden everywhere in the UI when not home (not just the map.)

Lastly, it is also recommended to not use the native merge feature of the device tracker component (i.e., do not add the MAC address from network-based trackers to a GPS-based tracker. See more details in the Device Tracker doc page.)

Attributes

Attribute	Description
battery	Battery level (in percent, if available.)
battery_charging	Battery charging status (True/False, if available.)
entity_id	IDs of entities that have contributed to the state of the composite device.
gps_accuracy	GPS accuracy radius (in meters, if available.)
last_entity_id	ID of the last entity to update the composite device.
last_seen	Date and time when current location information was last updated.
latitude	Latitude of current location (if available.)
longitude	Longitude of current location (if available.)
source_type	Source of current location information: binary_sensor, bluetooth, bluetooth_le, gps or router.
time_zone	The name of the time zone in which the device is located, or unknown if it cannot be determined. Only exists if device_or_utc or device_or_local is chosen for time_as.

Examples

Time zone examples

This example assumes time_as is set to device_or_utc or device_or_local. It determines the difference between the time zone in which the device is located and the time_zone in HA's configuration. A positive value means the device's time zone is ahead of (or later than, or east of) the local time zone.

sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      my_tz_offset:
        friendly_name: My time zone offset
        unit_of_measurement: hr
        value_template: >
          {% set state = states.device_tracker.me %}
          {% if state.attributes is defined and
                state.attributes.time_zone is defined and
                state.attributes.time_zone != 'unknown' %}
            {% set n = now() %}
            {{ (n.astimezone(state.attributes.last_seen.tzinfo).utcoffset() -
                n.utcoffset()).total_seconds()/3600 }}
          {% else %}
            unknown
          {% endif %}

This example converts a time attribute to the local time zone. It works no matter which time zone the attribute is in.

sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      my_last_seen_local:
        friendly_name: My last_seen time in local time zone
        value_template: >
          {{ state_attr('device_tracker.me', last_seen').astimezone(now().tzinfo) }}