Adcon Telemetry A840 Users Manual

ADCON

TELEMETRY

Base Station

Telemetry Gateway A840 and
Wireless Modem A440

User Guide

SMART WIRELESS SOLUTIONS

ADCON

TELEMETRY

ADCON TELEMETRY AG
INKUSTRASSE 24
A-3400 KLOSTERNEUBURG
AUSTRIA

TEL: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
http://www.adcon.at

ADCON TELEMETRY INC
1001 YAMATO ROAD
SUITE #305, BOCA RATON
FL 33431 USA

TEL: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
http://www.adcon.com

ADCON TELEMETRY SRL
BD. ION IONESCU DELABRAD 8
R-71592 BUCHAREST
ROMANIA

TEL: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
http://www.adcon.ro

Proprietary Notice:

The Adcon logo, the A720 and A730 series, addIT™, addWAVE™, the A840 series and Teleme­try Gateway, addVANTAGE®, and addVANTAGE Lite are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Adcon Telemetry. All other registered names used throughout this publication are trademarks of
their respective owners.

Neither the whole nor any part of the information contained in this publication may be repro­duced in any material form except with the prior written permission of Adcon Telemetry.

This publication is intended only to assist the reader in the use of the product. Adcon Telemetry
shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of any information in this publica­tion, or any error or omission in such information, or any incorrect use of the product.

Document Release 1.2, September 2001
Copyright ©2001 by Adcon Telemetry.
All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

3

Chapter 1. Introduction _________________________________7

Chapter 2. System Setup ________________________________9

Package Contents _______________________________________9

Installation _____________________________________________9

Installing the Outdoor Unit __________________________ 12
Installing the Indoor Unit ____________________________ 13
Initializing the Base Station __________________________ 14

LED Indicators ________________________________________ 15

Linux Mode________________________________________ 15

LAN and ACT ___________________________________ 15
USR and RUN ___________________________________ 15
PWR ___________________________________________ 16

Hermit Mode ______________________________________ 16

Chapter 3. Advanced Functions________________________ 17

Administrative Tasks at the System Level _________________ 17

Stopping and Starting the telemetry gateway __________ 18

4

Changing Passwords ________________________________ 19
Losing a Password __________________________________ 20
Software Upgrades__________________________________ 21

Upgrading the bootloader ________________________ 21
To upgrade the system ___________________________ 22

Operations at the Application Level______________________ 23

Commands Accepted by the emu3ap Emulator_________ 23
Configuration Commands____________________________ 24

INSERT _________________________________________ 24
REPLACE _______________________________________ 24
DELETE_________________________________________ 24
ROUTE _________________________________________ 25
MASTER ________________________________________ 26
EXTEND ________________________________________ 26
SET Commands__________________________________ 26
SET TIME _______________________________________ 27
SET FREQ_______________________________________ 27
SET OWNID_____________________________________ 28
SET SLOT _______________________________________ 28
SET DELAY______________________________________ 28
SET ECHO/NOECHO ____________________________ 29

Data Commands____________________________________ 29

GETBLOCK _____________________________________ 29

Administrative Commands ___________________________ 31

VER ____________________________________________ 31
TYPE ___________________________________________ 31
INSPECT________________________________________ 31
UPTIME_________________________________________ 32
NOP ___________________________________________ 32
HELP ___________________________________________ 32
QUIT ___________________________________________ 32

Direct Radio Commands _____________________________ 32

PING ___________________________________________ 33
REQUEST _______________________________________ 34
RSETIO _________________________________________ 35
PORT___________________________________________ 36
ANALOG _______________________________________ 36

B ______________________________________________ 36
RB _____________________________________________ 37
RBLIST _________________________________________ 37

RSET ___________________________________________ 38
Error Messages_____________________________________ 38
Frame Types _______________________________________ 39

The A730MD frames _____________________________ 39

Type 9__________________________________________ 39

The A720 (addIT) Frames _________________________ 42

Type 38 ________________________________________ 42

The A723 (addIT series 3) Frames__________________ 43

Type 39 ________________________________________ 44

The A733 (addWAVE) Frames _____________________ 45

Type 37 ________________________________________ 46
Frame Parsing Example _____________________________ 48

5

6

Chapter 1. Introduction

7

This manual describes the use of the A840 Telemetry Gateway and
A440 Wireless Modem combination. Due to their general nature,
either unit can also be used independently, but such uses are
beyond the scope of this manual. The manual teaches you how to
use the telemetry gateway and the wireless modem as a base sta­tion for an Adcon wireless network.

To build a network, you need one or more A730MD, A733, A720,
or A723 remote telemetry units (RTUs), an A840/A440 base sta­tion, and the addVANTAGE software. For additional information
concerning the RTUs and the addVANTAGE software, consult the
respective user manuals.

The A840 Telemetry Gateway is a low-power, battery-backed
device that acts as an interface between an Adcon wireless net­work and one or more hosts running addVANTAGE or similar data
acquisition software. The gateway is based on a powerful 32-bit
processor running the Linux operating system. It has 16-MB Flash
EPROM acting as a hard disk and 16 MB RAM. The software can
be upgraded in the field.

Several interfaces are available: ethernet, V34 modem, RS-232
serial, and RS-485 multidrop serial. A built-in rechargeable battery

CHAPTER 1

8

Introduction

provides the telemetry gateway with at least 24 hours of operation
without mains power.

The A440 Wireless Modem is a low-power, narrow-band data trans­ceiver operating in the 70-cm band. It implements Adcon’s low­speed radio protocol and is therefore compatible with all Adcon
RTUs. In addition the A440 modem supports a high-speed wireless
protocol that will be used by future Adcon devices.

The A440 has an 8-bit Flash-based microcontroller that can also be
upgraded in the field.

NOTE FOR USA: THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE
FCC RULES. OPERATION IS SUBJECT TO THE CONDITION THAT
THIS DEVICE DOES NOT CAUSE HARMFUL INTERFERENCE.

Chapter 2. System Setup

9

Package Contents

Before proceeding to the installation of your base station, first ver­ify that you received all of the following components:

• The A840 Telemetry Gateway

• The A440 Wireless Modem

• The 30 m (100 ft) connection cable between the A840 and the

• A power cord

• A twisted-pair ethernet cable (not used at this time, but

• A serial null modem cable

• A whip antenna

If any of the above items is missing, contact your dealer.

Installation

The base station has two main components: an indoor unit (the
A840) and an outdoor unit (the A440).

A440 devices

included in the package)

CHAPTER 2

10

System Setup

Before proceeding with the installation, take a moment to plan
your network. First, it is essential to realize the importance of
selecting a good location for the base station. You must consider
several factors, some of them quite contradictory, when you select
this location:

• From a radio perspective, the height of the receiving antenna
is essential: the higher the antenna, the greater the range of
communication.

• The base station should be situated in the same building
where the personnel managing the base station work, or at
least spend some of their time.

• Places like cellars, near heat sources, or damp locations are
not suitable.

• Geographically, it is better to have the base station in the
center of the area where the RTUs will be installed.

• If you plan to use the base station as a server to allow other
people to log in and get data, you have to make certain that a
telephone line is available exclusively for this use.

• A telephone connection next to the PC is also very important
for when you need technical support.

The communication distance you can achieve is directly propor­tional to the height of the receiving antenna. The propagation
mode of the waves the Adcon system uses is basically the line of
sight. Due to the curvature of the earth, on flat terrain, the maxi­mum distance reached depends on the height of the receiver and
of the measuring stations’ antennas. You can’t do much on the
remote station side, but you have more options with the base sta-

CHAPTER 2

Installation

tion. Some typical examples of the achieved distances, under vari­ous conditions, are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Communication Between Base Station and
A730MD/A733

11

Receiving antenna

height

6 m (18 ft) 5 km (3 miles)

10 m (31 ft) 8 km (5 miles)

20 m (62 ft) 16 km (10 miles)

30 m (92 ft) 24 km (15 miles)

Typical distances

achieved

The addIT RTU, however, uses low-power technology and was not
designed to communicate over large distances. The typical “line­of sight” distance an addIT can communicate is 800 m (approxi­mately half a mile). This is valid if the partner device is mounted on
a 3 m mast (9 ft) and the addIT is mounted on a 30 cm mast (1 ft).

The above figures are estimates based on a great deal of experi­ence with installing this kind of equipment and assume a typical
height of 3 m (9 ft) for the antennas of the remote measuring sta­tions. Similarly, ideal physical conditions are assumed for the ter­rain including a flat, open, nonurban environment.

What conclusions can be drawn from Table 1? Primarily, you can
see the importance of having the base station antenna as high as
possible. To gain antenna height, you have several options:

• Build a mast directly on the ground; however, a 30 m (100 ft)
mast may not be a practical option.

• Set up a mast on a tall building (of course, it has to be the
building where you want to have the base station).

• Install the base station in a building that is situated on a hill.

Note that the cable for the outdoor unit delivered with the system
is 30 m long (about 100 ft). This means you must locate your
indoor unit no more than 30 m from the outdoor unit. Lengthening
the cable is not recommended, because the signal strength loss is
significant.

CHAPTER 2

12

System Setup

To use the telemetry gateway and wireless modem, you need to do
the following:

• Install the outdoor unit.

• Install the indoor unit.

• Initialize the base station.

Installing the Outdoor Unit

Install the outdoor unit on the rooftop of the house where the base
station will be located or on top of a nearby mast.

After unpacking the components of the base station, identify the
device marked “Wireless Modem A440.” This unit has two connec­tors: one for a whip antenna (also supplied in the package) and a
second that accommodates the 30 m (100 ft) connection cable to
the indoor unit.

Note: This operation should be performed by a certified electri-

cian. Make sure that the mast on which the A440 Wireless
Modem will be installed is properly grounded.

Complete the following steps to install the outdoor unit:

1. Fasten the wireless modem to the aluminum mast (provided
by Adcon) using the supplied ring clamp.

2. Fasten the antenna to the wireless modem.

3. Plug the proper end of the communication cable into the
lower connector of the wireless modem.

4. Secure the mast in its place on the roof.

5. Run the cable to the indoor unit.

Figure 1 illustrates these steps.

CHAPTER 2

Installation

13

Note: The cable supplied to connect the outdoor unit to the A840

Telemetry Gateway is 30 m long and cannot be extended.
Extending the cable will make your wireless modem inoper­able due to the voltage loss on the additional cable length.
You can, however, install an outdoor antenna and use a
coaxial cable (max. 30 m) between the A440 unit and the
antenna, giving you a total of 60 m distance between the
indoor unit and the outdoor antenna.

Installing the Indoor Unit

First identify the device marked “Telemetry Gateway A840,” which
is the indoor unit. Then connect the cables to the gateway as
shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1. Outdoor Unit Installation

CHAPTER 2

14

System Setup

Figure 2. Indoor Unit Installation

If you plan to use the base station as a standalone unit (that is,
without a computer), you need a telephone line that must be con­nected to the modem jack of the A840 gateway.

Note: Before you operate the base station, Adcon recommends

that you let the internal battery charge to a level where it can
sustain the operation of the gateway. You can do this by
plugging the power cable into the A840 device, but leaving
the serial cable to the A440 outdoor unit disconnected for at
least six hours.

Initializing the Base Station

For the base station to operate properly, you must start the
addVANTAGE software. Make sure that the software is properly
configured (the serial port, and so forth); for additional configura­tion details, refer to the respective software manual. If your base
station operates standalone (as dumb server), initiate a call through
addVANTAGE to configure the gateway.

If you are installing the base station as replacement for an A730SD
receiver, just upgrade your addVANTAGE installation to version

3.45 or higher (earlier versions don’t support the A840 Telemetry

Gateway). After starting addVANTAGE, your new base station will
be configured automatically.

LED Indicators

Linux Mode

CHAPTER 2

LED Indicators

If this is a new installation, you need to install the RTUs in the field
and configure them in addVANTAGE. Refer to the addVANTAGE
software and respective RTU user manuals for additional details.

The A840 Telemetry Gateway has five LED indicators on its panel.
The indicators have a different significance based on whether the
device is operating in the usual Linux mode or in hermit mode (for
upgrading software and in other unusual circumstances).
“Advanced Functions” on page 17 provides more details about
the operating modes.

LAN and ACT

These two LEDs are active only if you have a network cable
attached to the gateway and the network section is enabled. In
addition, the mains (110/220 volt) must be present, that is, the
gateway must not run on its internal batteries. The LAN LED is lit
while the ethernet line is operational, and the ACT LED shows
activity on the ethernet line.

15

Note: Although most of the network functionality is already built

into your gateway, it is not enabled by default. You must
contact Adcon or your distributor if you want to enable net­working in your gateway.

USR and RUN

The USR LED lights when communication takes place over the RS­485 line, that is, to or from the A440 Wireless Modem unit. The
RUN LED is currently not used in Linux mode.