Barrett Communication PRC2090HF User Manual

ALE Configuration Menus
ALE State

This feature enables or disables the ALE system

Use the Scroll keys to select the setting required (example “ALE
Enabled”):-

When the setting required is selected press the key

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ALE Autofill

This feature enables or disables the ALE Autofill option. The Autofill option allows
the 2050 transceiver to automatically add unknown stations to the ALE network.
This means that whenever a new station is added to the network the network
administrator does not have to individually re-configure each station in the network
with the new stations ID. The Autofill queue is a first in first out queue where up to
eleven new stations can be added, after this the next received unknown station will
overwrite the first ID in the Autofill queue. To avoid this happening the operator
must reassign the Autofill station ID alias.

Use the Scroll keys to select the setting required (example
“Autofill Enabled”):-

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When the setting required is selected press the

key

ALE Scan List

Note:- you can also enter this scan list select section by holding

down the key for more than two seconds

To select the ALE scan list required

press the key

Use the Scroll keys or press the first letter of the scan list you
want to use (example shown – “s”) to select the scan table
required:-

then press the key

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Auto Transmit

When Auto Transmit is set to “Disable” the ALE system will not respond to any calls
made to this station.

Use the Scroll keys to select the setting required (example
“Enable”):-

When the setting required is selected press the key

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Transmit Control

When Transmit Control is set to “Disabled” the ALE system will not be able to
transmit any ALE calls, including automatic soundings and responses to incoming
ALE calls.

Use the Scroll keys to select the setting required (example
“Enabled”):-

When the setting required is selected press the key

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Sounding Control

ALE operates normally both transmitting and receiving sounds when Sounding
Control is set to "Enable”. In some circumstances however it is desirable not to
transmit soundings under any circumstances, in this case Sounding Control is set to
“Disable”. Sounding is limited to certain channels (pre-programmed by the ALE fill
program). The ALE system will however, continue to make and respond to calls
(depending on the Response Control settings).

Use the Scroll keys to select the setting required (example
“Enable”):-

When the setting required is selected press the key

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Sounding Address

Configures the self address used during an automatic sounding (Sounding Control
must be set to Global On). If sounding control = individual preset basis, the address
used is dependant on the active channel.

Use the Scroll keys to select the setting required (example
“FIELDBASE2”):-

When the setting required is selected press the key

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Link Quality Analysis (LQA) Exchange

This option enables or disables the exchange of LQA information with other stations

Use the Scroll keys to select the setting required (example
“Enabled”):-

When the setting required is selected press the key

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Link Quality Analysis (LQA) Exchange Mode

This option sets the source of the LQA reading sent to the other station, it can be
set to “Current LQA” which is a reading taken during the ALE burst just received or
it can be set to “Averaged LQA” which uses the long term averaged value taken
from memory.

Use the Scroll keys to select the decay time or disable (example
“Averaged LQA”):-

When the setting required is selected press the key

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Link Quality Analysis (LQA) Averaging

This option sets the method used to update an existing link quality value stored in
ALE processor memory when the new link quality value is worse than the stored
value.

The option can be set to either replace the old values with the new values or
replace the old values with different weighted averages of the old values and new
readings.

Averaging reduces the effect that one bad reading might otherwise have on a
perfect channel. If a new reading is better than an old value, the old value is
replaced by the reading. There are 4 different averaging formulas available:-

No averaging, replace the old values with new values

(old+new)/2
((3*old)+new)/4
((7*old)+new)/8

Use the Scroll keys to select the LQA averaging value required
(example “((7*old)+new)/8”:-

When the setting required is selected press the key

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Link Quality Analysis (LQA) Decay Rate

This option sets the artificial decay rate for the link quality information that is stored
in the link quality table within the ALE processor.

Switching the sounding off and setting a decay rate of two hours would result in the
recording of a perfect channel (100% channel quality) decaying to an unusable
channel (0% channel quality) over a period of two hours.

The decay rate can be disabled, set to 1,2,4,8,24 and 48 hours.

Use the Scroll keys to select the decay time or disable (example
“8 hours”):-

When the setting required is selected press the key

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Threshold Test

Used to select which type of threshold test is used to determine what quality ALE
channel is acceptable for communication. Either “Sinad”, “BER”, “Both” or “None”
can be selected.

Use the Scroll keys to select the test required (example “BER”):-

press the key

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SINAD Threshold

This option sets the SINAD threshold at which an ALE channel is considered
usable.

This can be set to between 0 and 30dB.

press the key

using the numeric keys enter the SINAD threshold required
(example “12dB”):-

then press the key

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BER Threshold

This option selects the BER threshold at which an ALE channel is considered
usable. If the required BER is not reached in the reply from the remote station the
link establishment process is rejected. Depending on the retry setting the link
establishment would continue on another link.

It can be set between 0-30, selecting 30 effectively means that all links are allowed

press the key

using the numeric keys enter the BER threshold required
(example “7”):-

then press the key

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ALE Fill Mode

The ALE is configured with its entire network data using the Barrett PC based ALE
fill program. Refer to the Barrett 2050 PC based programming software that
contains the ALE fill program for details.

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