pulsAR Wireless Ethernet Bridge Operator’s Manual Models: AR-9010E AR-9027E AR-24010E AR-24027E AR-24110E January 2010 AFAR Communications Inc.
pulsAR Wireless Ethernet Bridge Operator’s Manual Models: AR-9010E AR-9027E AR-24010E AR24027E AR24110E January 2010 AFAR Communications Inc. 81 David Love Place Santa Barbara, CA 93117 Tel: +1 805 681 1993 Fax: +1 805 681 1994 $25.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Customer Service AFAR provides customer service during normal U.S. Pacific Coast business hours and may be reached by voice, fax, or email as follows: Tel: +1 805 681 1993 Fax: +1 805 681 1994 email: support@afar.net If you must return the equipment, please contact us for a Return Material Authorization (RMA) number. Equipment should be shipped to: AFAR Communications Inc. 81 David Love Place, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 U.S.A.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual STATEMENT OF WARRANTY Afar Communications Inc. products, except as otherwise stated in an applicable price list, are warranted against defects in workmanship and material for a period of one (1) year from date of delivery as evidenced by Afar Communications Inc.’s packing slip or other transportation receipt. Afar Communications Inc.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual FCC Notice This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual - iv -
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 PRODUCT DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................ 1-1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 2 RADIO OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................... 1-1 RADIO COMPONENTS........................................................................................................................... 1-2 RADIO CONNECTORS ..............
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5 INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP) MANAGEMENT COMMANDS ..................................................................... 4-11 INSTALLATION AND LINK MONITORING COMMANDS ........................................................................ 4-13 FILE UTILITIES................................................................................................................................... 4-18 EVENT LOGGING COMMANDS .............................................
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 1 PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 1.1 Radio Overview The family of pulsAR Wireless Ethernet Bridges consist of license free radios that can be used to bridge Ethernet LANs (Local Area Networks) across distances ranging from a few hundred feet to 50 miles (80 km) and beyond. You can deploy them in a variety of topologies from a simple point-topoint link to a general mesh “tree” topology where any subscriber node can also be used as an access point to nodes further downstream.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 5. Unique antenna alignment aid provides audio feedback proportional to the RSSI, freeing the installer’s hands to adjust and tighten the antenna without having to hold or look at other instrumentation. The radios implements a transparent bridge algorithm, where each unit automatically learns the addresses of all stations in the network and forwards over RF only the traffic that needs to be delivered to the remote units.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Table 1.2 – pulsAR acccessories Description Part No.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Figure 1.1. Pole Mounted Radio An eight-conductor CAT 5 cable must be connected between the pulsAR radio and either a Power Inserter Unit or an Ethernet port capable of providing Power over Ethernet (PoE) per IEEE 802.3af. The wiring for this cable is shown in Figure 1.3. Table 1.4 shows the pin assignment of the three pin auxiliary port connector. The unit is shipped with a cover in this connector.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 1.4 Radio Power The pulsAR radio complies with the IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard when power is applied over the data line pairs (pins 1-2 and 3-6). You typically can connect the radio directly to a PoE port of an Ethernet switch or router and it will provide power to the radio. Alternatively the radio may also be powered over the spare cat5 line pairs (pins 4-5 and 7-8).
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Table 1.5 – Power Inserter Units Connector/LED Type Function To LAN RJ-45 10/100 Base-T to be connected to the Local Area Network. You can connect this directly to the LAN port of a computer or to an Ethernet hub. The radio auto-detects and provides the cross-over function when required. See table 1.5 for pin assignments. RJ-45 Carries the DC power and Ethernet signals to the radio. See table 1.6 for pin assignments.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Table 1.7 – “To radio” (P+DATA OUT) Ethernet Connector Pin Assignments Pin Signal Name Abbr. 1 Ethernet Tx Tx (+) Radio to Ethernet 2 Ethernet Tx Tx (-) Radio to Ethernet 3 Ethernet Rx Rx (+) Ethernet to Radio 4 VDC DCV (+) Power Inserter to Radio 5 VDC DCV(+) Power Inserter to Radio 6 Ethernet Rx 7 ground GND(-) Power Inserter to Radio 8 ground GND(-) Power Inserter to Radio Rx (-) Direction Ethernet to Radio 1.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Table 1.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 2 NETWORK TOPOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS 2.1 Network Topologies You can deploy the pulsAR radios in a variety of topologies from a simple point-to-point link to complex networks with multiple hops, redundant nodes, and mobile nodes. In all applications the radios will act as bridges connecting the LANs from all sites together. From any LAN you will be able to access stations at all other sites, even when they are several hops away.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 2.1.1 Point to point In a point-to-point topology, when the two sites are fixed we recommend using directional antennas at both ends, pointing at each other. This increases the signal strength in the desired direction and shields the radios against unwanted interference from other sources. When you use directional antennas make sure you install both antennas with the same polarization (vertical or horizontal).
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 2.1.3 Tree topology In a tree topology you have three node types: one root node and multiple branch and leaf nodes (use the node command to configure the node type). The root node performs a similar function to the hub in a point-to-multipoint topology and can have up to 32 direct links to remote sites. The radios at the remote sites can be configured as either leaf or branch nodes. A leaf node is similar to the remote in a point-multipoint topology.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual parent in that same channel (see commands rf-1-setup and rf-2-setup). Once enough distance separates cells you can start re-using overlapping channels. The tree topology has the following features: • There is no limit in the number of levels on the tree.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 1 LAN 2 LAN 3 LAN 4 LAN 5 LAN Figure 2.2 - Linear Network Topology You can easily implement a Linear Network as a subset of the Tree topology: configure the leftmost radio as a root and all the radios in the network as a branch. Install each radio with two directional antennas pointing at their two neighbors. 2.2 Roaming With the roaming option, a remote or leaf radio can be configured with up to six different receive channels (see command rf-1-setup).
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual f2 branch f1 f3 root-1 branch . Control center Figure 2.3– Roaming vehicles attaching to any of three access points Each roaming radio decides on its own when to switch to another access point. If the signal strength from the current parent drops down to a point where the link performance becomes compromised, and there is a stronger signal from an alternate access point, then the mobile radio drops its current link and reattaches to a stronger parent.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual A cycle period of 20 ms (default) results in lower latencies throughout the network. However there will be more transitions between transmit and receive resulting in somewhat lower throughput capacity for the network. A cycle period of 40 ms has the opposite effect. For small networks a cycle period of 20 ms is usually preferred. If you have a network with many nodes that are simultaneously active the 40 ms cycle will give you better performance.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 2.4 Radio co-location and interference 2.4.1 Radio co-location As a network grows it often becomes necessary to deploy multiple radios at the same site. The reasons to co-locate radios include the following: 1. In a Point-to-Multipoint or Tree network you want to achieve 360-degree coverage around a central site, but would like to use sector antennas rather than one omni.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual f1 Radio A (undesired coupling) f2 RF Filter Radio B LNA RF Filter IF IF Filter Local Osc. f1 f2 IF freq freq Figure 2.4– Co-located radio interference The traditional approaches to reduce this self-interference include: • Separate the antennas of the two radios further apart. • Use different antenna polarization. • Lower the transmit power of the interfering radio. These approaches are limited and, at most, may allow you to co-locate three of four radios.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Figure 2.5 shows an example of a mixed network with multiple topologies. When the whole network is synchronized each radio runs its TDD in one of two timings, A or B, as shown in the figure. All radios at a single site run on the same cycle. The following are guidelines you need to follow to achieve a successful synchronization in a complex network: 1. At any site with multiple radios ensure that all radios are connected to the same LAN.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual B B B A B A B A A LAN B B A A A B A B (A) Tx Rx Tx Rx Tx (B) Rx Tx Rx Tx Rx Time Figure 2.5– Multiple Topology Network 2.4.4 Heartbeat suppression There are situations when the multicast of heartbeat packets may not be necessary, and would put an unnecessary burden on the Ethernet. The radios detect these situations automatically and suppress the multicast of the heartbeat packets when there is no co-located device to receive them.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 2.4.5 Synchronization with NetCrossing Gateways The Afar NetCrossing Gateway devices convert between a synchronous serial data stream and Ethernet packets. They can be paired with the PulsAR to establish wireless point to point serial synchronous links. When you have multiple such links and need to co-locate radios, the gateways can participate in the heartbeat negotiation and site synchronization.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual You must configure the three left radios as the “hub” for their RF links. Each of these three radios detects the presence of the respective gateway, which becomes the source of its heartbeat over the Ethernet. In this way, all three radios run their cycle times synchronized and following timeline A in the figure. The middle site in the figure illustrates another way in which the gateways participate in the cycle synchronization.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual >show ethernet 2.5.2 Packet priorities As packets arrive into a radio from any port, the bridging algorithm determines if the packets need to be transmitted over RF. If so the radio queues the packets into one of several priority queues. Starting with the highest priority the packets are classified as follows: • Vital packets: These are UDP packets with a specific destination UDP port number.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 3 INSTALLATION AND SETUP NOTE Appendix F contains a quick set up diagrams showing the minimum configuration and commands necessary to put up a point-to-point link and a point to multipoint network. 3.1 Bench Check Out It is recommended that an initial check be performed on the bench before a field installation. For this bench check out you need two PulsAR units. Radio 1 will be configured as the hub and radio 2 will be configured as a remote.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 6. Set radio 2 to its factory default configuration by typing the commands: > load factory > save-configuration 7. Move the Ethernet cable from the radio 2 power inserter to the power inserter connected to radio 1. At the DOS window invoke once again the Econsole program. Configure radio 1 by typing the commands: > load factory > node type=hub > save-configuration 8. Once radio 1 is configured as the hub it will establish a RF communication with radio 2.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 6. Set radio 2 to its factory default configuration by typing the command: > load factory > save-configuration 7. Configure radio 1 by typing the commands: > load factory > node type=hub > save-configuration 8. Once radio 1 is configured as the hub it will establish a RF communication with radio 2. To verify this connection type: > show Check that the radio status shows “MASTER IN SYNC”, and that the number of remotes is 1.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 3.2.2 Earth Grounding For an outdoor installation you must provide a solid ground connection between the PulsAR metal enclosure and the Earth ground. This will minimize possible damage due to static buildup or nearby lightning. If you install a lightning arrestor (Afar part no SUR-0205) on the antenna connector follow these same directions but connect the grounding cable to the appropriate lug of the arrestor rather than the radio.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Cautions When using the anti oxidizing paste read and follow the instructions and warnings for the selected product. In addition you should note the following general guidelines: • The paste will act as a lubricant, therefore always use lock washers. • DO NOT apply the paste to RF and data cable connections: the anti-oxidizing paste is conductive and may degrade the performance or damage the equipment.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 3.2.4 Antenna Installation NOTICE The antennas for the pulsAR radios must be professionally installed on permanent structures for outdoor operations. The installer is responsible for ensuring that the limits imposed by the applicable regulatory agency (Federal Communications Commission, FCC, or CE) with regard to Maximum Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) and Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) are not violated. These limits are described in the following sections.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 3.2.5 Antenna Alignment When mounting the high gain antenna (24 dBi), the proper antenna alignment is extremely important since the beam-width of the antenna is very narrow. Once you perform a rough alignment and the link is in operation, you can use the “monitor-link” and “antenna-alignment-aid” commands. Type: > monitor-link in order to update, every half second, the link statistics including the RSSI level. The antenna can then be aligned so that the RSSI is maximized.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual In most installations you may want to change several other parameters. The table below shows the most common ones and the associated commands to change them. Refer to section 4 for a complete description of each command. Parameter Description Command RF channel You may need to change the RF channels if there is interference rf-1-setup on the default channel (12). You can configure the RF transmit rf-2-setup channel independently from the RF receive channel.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual instructs the radio to dwell on the specified channel for the specified amount of time. After taking several samples the radio displays the signal level detected in that channel over time. 3.2.8 Output Power Limits (FCC) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations limit the maximum Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) for spread spectrum systems operating in the 900 MHz or the 2.4 GHz band.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Antenna installations must be engineered so that MPE is limited to f/1500 mW/ cm2 (at 900 MHz) or 1 mW/cm2 , (2.4 GHz) the more stringent limit for "uncontrolled environments". The table below specifies the minimum distance that must be maintained between the antenna and any areas where persons may have access, including rooftop walkways, sidewalks, as well as through windows and other RF-transparent areas behind which persons may be located.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual File Utility command summary Command Description directory Lists all files stored in Flash PROM delete-file filename Deletes the specified file from the directory download-file path/filename Downloads the specified file from the PC path/filename into the Flash PROM set-default-program filename Sets the indicated filename as the default program to run after power up run-file filename loads the indicated program into RAM and executes it.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 3. Start the econsole utility by typing “econ” from a DOS window. Econ will send a “discovery” message and display all the radios that can be seen. Verify that all radios in the network are listed. Then select one of the radios in the list that you wish to upgrade. 4. Issue the command: >directory to view a list of files stored in Flash PROM as well as the available free space. Verify that the free space in flash PROM is larger than the size of the pmp0x_xx.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual If the new firmware is incompatible with the old one, the links to the remotes will not be reestablished. In this case, after 60 seconds, the remote radio will reboot. They will then load the new firmware and be able to reestablish the links with the hub. 12. Wait at least ten seconds from the moment you entered the reboot command, then press . Econsole automatically attempts to reconnect to the same radio.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual (when the configuration is unlocked, the radio prompt ends with the characters ‘#>. In locked mode the prompt does not include the ‘#’ character). 4. Issue the command: >directory to view a list of files stored in Flash PROM as well as the available free space. Verify that there is enough free space in flash PROM for the new file. The space required will be the size of the pmp0x_xx.dwn file divided by 2.5.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 1. Connect the PulsAR Auxiliary Port (3 pin circular connector) to a terminal, or a PC running a terminal emulation program. A special adapter cable is supplied by AFAR. Configure the terminal settings as follows: Baud rate: 9600 Word length: 8 bits Parity: none Stop bits: 1 2. Verify that the new software is available in the PC. The download software for the serial upgrade must have a “.dwn” extension, e.g., pmp03_25.dwn. 3.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 10. Issue the command: >set-default-program pmp0x_xx where 0x_xx file is new version of software being installed. 11. Issue the command: >reboot to restart the radio with the new software. Remember to change the PC HyperTerminal settings back to 9600 baud and disconnect/re-connect the session. 12. Issue the command: >version to insure the radio is running the latest version. 3.3.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 4 COMMANDS 4.1 Configuration techniques You can establish a command session with an Afar radio in any of four different interfaces: 1. Serial Console through a 3-pin RS-232 port. 2. With the Afar EConsole program running on a PC connected to the radio Ethernet port. 3. Using Telnet from anywhere that can reach the radio IP address. 4. Using a UDP/IP interface for programming using a host computer.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual where nnnnn are the last five digits of the radio serial number. The first three characters are an abbreviation of the node type in the network, which may be: hub, rmt, rt1, rt2, bra, lf. If a node “name” has been assigned to the node, the prompt will be that name. The “help” command provides a list of all the commands available. To get more detailed help for a specific command, type “help command-name”. The radio keeps a history of several of the previously issued commands.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual can be entered as (using abbreviation rules as well): >spa a t • Using the preceding rule, for commands that have a single argument, the “parameter name” part of the argument is always optional, i.e., you can enter: >command value For example the command: >save-configuration destination=main can be shortened to any of the following: >save-configuration main >save main >save • Not all parameters associated with a command need to be specified.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual unit and need to start from a known configuration. If you were to issue the load factory command you might lose contact with the remote unit if, for example, it changes the antenna of the remote radio. The access to change the radio configuration can be password protected. This password is set by the user with the change-password command. Once a password is set, issue the lock command to prevent any unauthorized changes to the configuration.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual TDD sync-mode: cycle: split: auto 20 ms auto ETHERNET speed: auto station-timeout: 30 multi-cast-timeout: 30 sec sec Time-zone: GMT Single-node-timeout: 900 Distance-max: 80 sec km IP and SNMP: IP Address: No SNMP managers defined Netmask: Gateway: Examples: > display-configuration factory > disco load-configuration source=main or alternate or basic or factory Loads the specified configuration into the current set of parameters controlling the radio operation.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual unlock debug-mode=”ASCII string” enable-configuration=”ASCII string” This command unlocks the access to various commands. The enable-configuration password (set with the change-password command) unlocks the various commands listed in this manual that alter the radio configuration. The debug-mode is a factory mode used for troubleshooting by customer support. Examples: > unlock enable-configuration=bh7g8 4.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual half vs full duplex setting. The auto setting negotiates both the speed and duplex to the fastest configuration supported by the other device on the Ethernet. With this setting the radio also detects and crosses over the Tx and Rx signal pairs, if necessary. You can also turn off the ethernet port, but only if your command session is over the console port, or remotely over an RF link.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual unauthorized radio to join the network. parameter to 1. In a point-to-point link make sure you set this name=”ASCII string” Gives the node a meaningful name for further reference. This name will be used as the command prompt. It is also used to identify the node in a variety of commands and displays. The name field can be up to 23 characters with no spaces. If spaces are desired, you may include the whole name in quotation marks.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Topology Point-toMultipoint Tree Node type rf-1 rf-2 hub Link with children Not used remote Link with parent Not used root-1 Link with children Not used root-2 Link with children Link with children branch Link with parent Link with children leaf Link with parent Not used Antenna: In most topologies use antenna A for the RF configuration 1, and antenna B for the RF configuration 2.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual single-node-reboot timeout-sec=15..20000 After power up, a radio attempts to get an RF link up with one or more radios. If a radio fails to get a link up (or drops all existing links), it will perform a complete reset after the timeout specified in this command. This feature is useful if you issue a command to a distant radio (over an existing RF link) and the link drops as a consequence of the command.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual inbound. In all other cases select the auto mode. See section 2.3.1 for a more detailed explanation of fixed versus auto splits. At very low RF speeds (0.25 and 0.5 Mbps) the radio will not allow you to select some of the more asymmetric splits as they would result in packets that have too few bytes. Example: > tdd sync=off cycle=40 split=70 4.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual specified by the “count” parameter (default to 4). indefinitely until stopped by the user. A count of zero leaves ping running Example: > ping 207.154.90.81 count=10 size=100 snmp The radio runs an SNMP agent which allows up to four IP addresses to be specified as valid SNMP managers. This command configures those IP addresses and the type of access allowed. You can issue the command up to four times to specify each separate IP address manager.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual udp-configuration console=on or off vital-port-1=1..0xFFFF vital-port-2=1..0xFFFF command-port=1..0xFFFF max-response-bytes=500..1466 socket-mode=1 or 2 peer-address= peer-command-port=1..0xFFFF The console parameter turns on or off the radio UDP interface. The factory default is off. You may turn it on for either of the following purposes: 1. To send and receive vital packets which the radio classifies as the highest priority (see section 2.5.2). 2.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual antenna-alignment-aid mode=off or a-antenna or b-antenna With the mode other than off, the radio outputs, through the auxiliary port, an audio signal with a pitch proportional to the Receive Signal Strength (RSS) level of packets received on the specified antenna. AFAR provides a special cable adapter that converts the three-pin auxiliary port connector into a standard female audio jack.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual show-table table=status or ethernet or econsole or links or tree or radios or ip-stack format=counts or times This command displays various tables in different formats as described below: status table This contains miscellaneous information including system start and run times, unit temperature, input DC voltage, and RF link status. The “format” parameter is not applicable for this table.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual the Ethernet port in promiscuous mode and therefore look at all the packets in the Local Area Network. The radios discard the packets that are known to be local, but forward all other packets to remote radios. These are accounted separately in the report. The “times” format indicates whether that entry is for a “multicast” (MC) address, shows the time when the station was added to the table, and how long since that address has been seen.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual econsole table The unit broadcasts an e-console discovery packet on both its ports: Ethernet and RF, and then reports all the replies. These include both gateways and radios that can be reached on either port. spectrum-analysis antenna=a or b display=graph or table dwell-time-ms=1..1000 This command switches the receiver to the specified antenna (defaults to A) and then performs a scan of all the channels from 2.400 to 2.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 4.7 File Utilities The PulsAR radio maintains a file system that allows multiple programs to be stored in either nonvolatile flash PROM or volatile RAM. New programs can be downloaded into the PulsAR radio memory through the auxiliary port, through the Ethernet port, or to a remote radio across the RF link. One of the programs in flash PROM is designated as the default program to run after reboot.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual >delete pmp03_25 directory format=short or full Lists all the files currently stored in flash PROM and RAM, their size, the sectors occupied and the MD5 checksum (full version). It also indicates which of the files is the default program. Files stored in flash PROM have the flash/ prefix. Files stored in RAM have the tmp/ prefix. Examples: >dir download-file source=path/filename destination=filename method=inline or binary Downloads a program file from a PC to the Radio.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual defined as the default program. If the memory location is not defined (flash or tmp), the command assumes the flash directory. Examples: >run pmp03_04 set-default-program filename=filename Sets the specified file as the default program to be loaded upon reboot or power cycle. Since the default program must reside in flash memory, the “flash/” prefix is assumed and is not required for the command. Examples: >sdp pmp03_04 4.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual The reboot-reasons region of the event log consist of the last four events that that caused the gateway to reboot. These events are stored in non-volatile memory. The time tag in these events is the time the gateway was up since it was rebooted, not the time of day. Examples: >display-log region=all >display-log region=all length=300 min-level=2 max-level=6 max-event Sets the event severity level that should be saved or displayed.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual zone=zone-code or offset Sets the time zone to be used by the radio to translate the NTP time to local time. It can be specified by an offset from GMT (-0800 or +0200 for example), or as a “zone-code”.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual logout Closes the current Econsole session. reboot Resets the radio causing the software to perform a complete start up sequence. equivalent to power cycling the radio off and on. This is time time=hh:mm:ss date=day-month-year zone=zone-code or offset This command is identical to the “date” command explained above except for the order of the parameters.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 5 NETWORK MANAGEMENT The radios operate as part of a network environment with many devices. Whether operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the Information Technology (IT) department of a business, there is often a need to supervise and manage the network from a central Network Operations Center (NOC). This chapter describes the features of the PulsAR radio that are useful for this purpose. 5.1 Telnet 5.1.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual If after entering the public login name, the terminal displays the message “Login Failed”, this may be due to the radio being configured to be managed from only some specific IP addresses. This is explained in the following section. 5.1.3 Telnet Security The remote management capability through Telnet opens the possibility for an unauthorized user to login to any radio accessible through the Internet.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual transaction-based (command/response) protocol, which allows a variety of third-party software products to query network devices and collect data for these purposes. For a generic introduction to the SNMP protocol, we recommend the book "The Simple Book - An Introduction to Internet Management" by Marshall T Rose (P T R Prentice-Hall, 1994). 5.2.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 5.2.4 Examples of Network Management Systems Some of the most common network management systems are listed below. All of them provide many similar features, including network status displays showing key devices on a map, where the devices change color if they have alarms, and with provisions for activating a remote paging device if there is a problem. WhatsUp Gold (Ipswitch Inc) http://www.ipswitch.com/ USD 800 (approx) SNMPc (Castle Rock Computing, Inc) http://www.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 5.3 UDP Command and Data Interface 5.3.1 Purpose The PulsAR radio firmware includes an optional command/data interface based on the UDP/IP protocol. This interface can be used for two purposes: 1. As a command interface allowing radio text commands and replies to be encapsulated in UDP/IP packets. This is useful when you want to configure the radio from a program running on an external computer 2.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Table 5.1.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 6 RF LINK DESIGN 6.1 Antenna Selection The pulsAR radio comes equipped with two antenna ports to connect to external antennas. It is very important to select the correct antennas based on the application. This section provides an overview of the major antenna parameters to help you select the correct antenna. 6.1.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual In practice, even omni-directional antennas take advantage of directionality by focusing their sensitivity and power in the horizontal plane. Rather than waste performance by sending signals into space or into the ground, the omni-directional antenna redirects its power and sensitivity from these directions, increasing performance in the horizontal plane.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Designs such as the semi parabolic offer a choice of polarization. Mounting a semi parabolic antenna with the radiating element horizontal provides horizontal polarization, while mounting the antenna with the radiating elements vertical provides vertical polarization. In setting up a pulsAR radio system, either vertical or horizontal polarization can be used, as long as polarization is the same at both ends of each link.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Fresnel Zone h1 sea level Earth Figure 6.1 – Earth curvature, Fresnel Zone and antenna heights Figure 6.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 6.2.2 Earth curvature With long links the earth curvature can prevent the two antennas from seeing each other. This is illustrated in tables 6.2 and 6.3, which show the minimum antenna heights required, at both ends of the link, to simply clear the earth surface at various distances. As the distance grows the effect worsens requiring you to have access to high elevation points to deploy such links.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Table 6.3 – Antenna heights (feet) to clear the earth and 60% of the Fresnel Zone (2.4 GHz) 6.2.4 Distance (miles) 5 10 20 30 40 50 Antenna height to clear earth (ft) 3 12 50 113 200 313 60% Fresnel Zone radius at mid-point (ft) 31 44 62 76 87 98 Total antenna height required (ft) 34 56 112 189 287 412 Atmospheric Refraction Under normal atmospheric conditions radio waves do not propagate in a straight line, they actually bend slightly downward.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 6.3 RF Link Budget Calculations If you have radio-line-of-sight for your link (as explained in the previous section), then it is easy to compute the receive-signal-strength at the receiving radio and from there determine if you have an adequate “fade margin”. You can use our free “RF Link Budget Calculator”, shown in figure 6.4, to make all the required computations and evaluate the trade-off between antenna gains, cable losses etc.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual The RF link budget calculations are made a lot easier by using “deciBel” units (dB). The deciBel is a logarithmic scale that compares a parameter value against a specific reference. The advantage of working in dB is that you can simply add all the parameters that boost your signal and subtract the ones that attenuate it.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Receive Signal Strength The signal is much weakened when it reaches the receiving antenna. That antenna will give it a boost, measured by the antenna gain in dBi. The signal is then attenuated as it propagates down the RF coaxial cable that connects that antenna to the radio. The Receive Signal Strength (RSS) parameter refers to the strength of the signal that finally arrives at the RF connector of the receiving radio at site 2.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual APPENDIX A – Command Summary This appendix lists all commands organized in the respective functional groups. Parameters that are part of the radio configuration are identified by having an entry under the “Factory Configuration” heading. When entering a command, if a parameter that is part of the radio configuration is omitted, the value for that parameter is not modified.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Major Configuration Parameters Command Parameters Values Factory Configuration distance-max maximum 10..160 80 units km or miles km speed auto-10, 10hdx, 10fdx 100hdx, 100fdx, auto, off auto timeout-sec 5..10000 30 multi-cast-timeout-sec 5..10000 30 type hub, remote, root-1, root-2, branch, leaf remote max-remotes 1..32 32 name (23 character string) rmt-nnnnn network-id 0..
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Internet Protocol (IP) Management Commands Command Parameters Values ip-configuration address ip address netmask ip address gateway ip address dhcp-client on, off destination ip address count 0..500 (def 4) size-bytes 32..1400 manager ip address community ASCII string (9 max) access g, gs, gt, gst authentication-traps 0, 1 delete 1..4 console on, off off vital-port-1 1..0xFFFF 0 vital-port-2 1..0xFFFF 0 command-port 1..
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Installation and Link Monitoring Commands Command Parameters Values Factory Configuration antenna-alignment-aid mode off, a-antenna, b-antenna off node 1,4,5,6… clear 0, 1 table status, ethernet, econsole, links, tree, radios, ip-stack format count times antenna a, b display graph table dwell-time-ms 1…1000 (def: 20) channel 0..
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual File Utilities Command Parameters Values console-speed-bps baud-rate-bps 9600, 19200, 38400 57600, 115200 copy-file source filename destination filename delete-file filename filename directory format short full download-file source path/filename destination path/filename method binary inline run-file filename filename set-default-program filename filename Event Logging Commands Command Parameters Values clear-log region all-events reboot-rea
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Miscellaneous Commands Command Parameters Values date date dd-mmm-yyyy time hh:mm:ss zone offset or code help Factory Configuration GMT command history license key <35 character string> time hh:mm:ss date dd-mmm-yyyy zone offset or code logout reboot time version A-6 GMT
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual APPENDIX B – Specifications RF Specifications AR-9010E AR-9027E AR-24010E AR-24027E AR-240110E RF Frequency Band (MHz) 902 to 928 902 to 928 2400 to 2483 2400 to 2483 2400 to 2483 Signal Bandwidth (-20 dBc) 1.6 MHz 4.6 MHz 1.6 MHz 4.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual B-2
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual APPENDIX C – Channel Frequencies 900 MHz Models: The center frequency of each channel can be determined by the following expression: Freq(MHz) = 900 + Channel_number The table below shows the frequencies for all channels that fall in the ISM band.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual 2.4 GHz Models: The center frequency of each channel can be determined by the following expression: Freq(MHz) = 2400 + 2 x Channel_number The table below shows the frequencies for all channels that fall in the ISM band. Freq Freq Freq Freq Chan (GHz) Chan (GHz) Chan (GHz) Chan (GHz) 1 2.402 11 2.422 21 2.442 31 2.462 2 2.404 12 2.424 22 2.444 32 2.464 3 2.406 13 2.426 23 2.446 33 2.466 4 2.408 14 2.428 24 2.448 34 2.468 5 2.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual APPENDIX D – Ethernet Console Program Short description The ethernet console program was developed in order to accommodate the remote configuration of a radio, i.e. the configuration in cases where the physical access to the radio is not feasible, or it is cumbersome. The software consists of two parts: the client and the server. The client runs on the administrator's PC, while the server runs on the radio. The communication is done via a TCP-like protocol.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Input file There are two sources for the input commands: the keyboard, or a text file. The second option is useful when you are running the same set of commands periodically, so you want to avoid retyping them every time you want to execute them. If there is an input file in the command line, then the keyboard will be deactivated and only the function keys will be available. If the specified file cannot be found, the application will be terminated.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual The same functionality as above (see Radio MAC address) can be achieved by providing the radio serial number, instead of the radio physical address. Note that you should not include the initial UC characters of the serial number (i.e. type 11078 instead of UC11078) example: >econ -r 11787 Local Physical Address Even though econsole identifies the PC local physical address automatically, there are some cases in which the user wants to specify the local address on his/her own.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual If you are reading from the keyboard, and you are simply interested in capturing the output of the session, use the following syntax: >econ -o out.txt Since no input file was specified, it is assumed that the keyboard will be used for input, and ALL radios will participate in the discovery process. Function Keys Currently there are 6 different function keys.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual Another reason might be a unreliable RF link causing a high packet loss. Since during the discovery phase there isn't any retransmission mechanism, it is quite possible that you managed to "see" the radio, but you weren't able to connect to it, because the connection request packet was lost. In such case, try to connect again. 4. High drop rate - screen freezes momentarily - connection times out There are two possible causes. 1.
pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual APPENDIX E – Cable Diagrams The next two pages show the assembly drawings for the cables used to connect the Radio to a Power Inserter Unit (CAT5), and a Console cable for connection to a standard computer terminal used for Radio configuration and monitoring.
APPLICATIO NOTES: 1. Use proper crimp tool for Item #2 connection 2. Remove cable filler gel from conductors before inserting into Item #2. 3. Insure that all eight conductors reach to end of interior channel before crimping Item #2. 4.
APPLICATIO NEXT USED REVISION RE DESCRIPTIO A ITEM #1 DB-9 Initial Release DAT APPROVA 09/16/03 J.B ITEM #2 RS232_RX 2 1 RS232_TX 3 2 GND 5 3 1 4 6 7 Contact arrangements shown from face of DB9 connector 8 9 Contact arrangements shown from rear of 0321 03 connector 2 1 3 ITEM #1 DB-9 ITEM #2 MATERIAL ITEM 1 2 MANUFACTURER PART NO. F3B20706 Belkin 0321 03 or 0322 03 (fig. A) Lumberg USA DESCRIPTION Serial Direct Cable Db9, F/F 6’.** 3 Pin Field Connector, Female Fig.
pulsAR Wireless Point to Point Bridge Quick Setup Example Coax Coax AC Power LAN AC Power CAT5 CAT5 Minimal Configuration >load factory >load factory >node hub >save >node max-children=1 >save Changing RF Channels (optional) >rf1 rec=18 tr=18 >rf1rec=18 Changing Tx Power (optional) >rf1 power=23 >rf1 power=23 Checking Link Operation >show radios >monitor-link >show radios >monitor-link LAN
pulsAR Wireless Point to Multi-Point Bridge Quick Setup Example Omni Coax HUB REMOTES AC Power LAN AC Power CAT5 CAT5 Minimal Configuration >load factory >load factory >node hub >save >save Changing RF Channels (optional) >rf1 rec=18 tr=18 >rf1 rec=18 Changing Tx Power (optional) >rf1 power=23 >rf1 power=23 Verifying Network Operation >show radios LAN
