User's Manual

pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual
5-5
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. To send and receive vital packets which the radio classifies as the highest priority.
With the UDP Command Interface a host computer can issue all the same text commands available
through the other interfaces and described in the radio Operator’s Manual. The command text, in
ASCII, must be encapsulated in an UDP/IP packet addressed to the radio. The radio replies to every
command with text also encapsulated in an UDP/IP packet. This reply packet can be addressed to a
pre-configured IP address or to the device that generated the command. See the udp-configuration
command in section 4 for the options to configure this udp interface.
5.3.2 UDP Command Packet formats
Table 5.1 below shows the structure of the UDP command and reply packets. The host computer
always initiates the command, and the radios reply to every command. The command sequence
number field, in the reply, “echoes” the contents of the sequence number field in the command.
If the socket-mode is set to 2, the radio issues an “unsolicited reply” message on power up to the
configured peer-address. This can be used to alert a host that the radio just rebooted. The command
sequence number in this power up unsolicited reply is always zero.
The command and reply text is in ASCII. Refer to section 4 for a complete list of all valid
commands. Prior to using the UDP interface you must initialize the radio IP and the UDP
configuration (using commands ip-configuration and udp-configuration) through either the RS-232
console or the Ethernet Econsole ports.