AW900R4 USER’S MANUAL 900 MHz Outdoor Wireless RS-485 Radio Industrial-grade, long-range wireless Ethernet systems AvaLAN W I R E L E S S
AW900R4 User’s Manual Thank you for your purchase of the AW900R4 Outdoor Wireless RS-485 Radio. If you have any questions when configuring your AvaLAN system, the best place to get answers is to visit www.avalanwireless.com. You will also find the latest updates there. If more assistance is needed, send email to support@avalanwireless.com. To speak to a live technician, please call technical support at the number below during normal business hours.
User’s Manual AW900R4 Operational summary The AW900R4 Outdoor Wireless RS-485 Radio is designed for indoor or outdoor use, packaged in a weatherproof die-cast aluminum enclosure with gasketed cover and connectors that meets the IP66 Standard for water and dust resistance. It may be used with all of AvaLAN’s 900 MHz antennas and other accessories such as lightning arrestors and pole-mount brackets.
User’s Manual AW900R4 Electrical Connections The AW900R4 900 MHz Outdoor Wireless RS-485 Radio includes the following items: • • • • • • AW900R4 Radio AW2-900 Omnidirectional Antenna RJ-45 to Screw Terminal 30 foot cable DB-9 Female to Screw Terminal breakout adapter 20” USB to Mini-USB Adapter Cable 120VAC to 12 VDC Wall Hanger Power Supply To power up a radio, make connections to it as shown in this diagram: Inverting line “A” Non-Inverting line “B” Common Terminal Block RS-485 Data Source(s) 485-
User’s Manual AW900R4 Configuration Setting or changing the configuration (Baud rate, etc.) of the AW900R4 is done via the USB interface on its internal module. Follow these steps for each radio: 1. Remove the four screws holding the radio’s cover. The screws have a 1/8” Allen hex head. Be careful not to damage the rubber sealing gasket or the lip on the box. A labeled picture of the internal module may be found on page 10. 2. The PC that you will connect via USB to the module must have a USB 2.
AW900R4 User’s Manual 5. Run EvkUtilityLite.exe and you should see a window like this: 6. Use the dropdown menu labeled “Boot Config Serial Port” to select the virtual COM port connected to your AW900R4 radio. Note that the list is populated only when EvkUtilityLite first starts. If you change your cable connection or plug in another radio, restart the utility to see the changes. Next click the “Get” button to fetch the current configuration from the radio. 7.
User’s Manual AW900R4 Serial Port Settings These settings must match the RS-485 device wired to the module Baud Rate Drop down menu providing 6 choices from 9600 Baud to 115,200 Baud (serial data rate).
AW900R4 User’s Manual • Dumping a large volume of data at a fixed high Baud rate runs the risk of data corruption if anything (tuning, noise retries, channel switching, etc.) causes the 4 KB buffer in the sending radio to be overwritten. 9. The AW900R4’s chosen configuration can be saved to a local data file for future use by clicking the “Save” button. You might want to do this when configuring both ends of a link since many of the parameters will be the same.
User’s Manual AW900R4 13. A snapshot of the module’s status can be retrieved by clicking the “Get Stats” button. Here is an explanation of the values returned: Name Meaning RSSI Received Signal Strength Indication in dBm. This is useful when aligning antennas or evaluating path attenuation. Radio Block Error Rate Percentage of radio data blocks that are incorrectly received. Radio Failed Packets Count of failed data packets since the last reboot.
AW900R4 User’s Manual Reset Switch: Press momentarily to cycle power and reboot the module.
User’s Manual AW900R4 Technical specifications Characteristic Specification/Description Serial Baud Rate 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 76800, 115200 RS-485 Signal Characteristics See data sheet for Maxim 3079E chip (www.maxim-ic.com) RF transmission rate 1.536 Mbps RF Output Power +21 dBm (4 Watts EIRP with 15 dBi antenna) Receiver Sensitivity -97 dBm at 10-4 Bit Error Rate Range Up to 40 miles line-of-sight with 15 dBi antennas RF channels/bandwidth 12 non-overlapping with 2.
AW900R4 User’s Manual FCC Certification The AW900mTR OEM RF Module complies with Part 15 of the FCC rules and regulations. Compliance with labeling requirements, FCC notices and antenna regulations is required. IMPORTANT: The AW900mTR OEM RF Modules have been certified by the FCC for use with other products without any further certification (as per FCC section 2.1091). Changes or modifications not expressly approved by AvaLAN could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.
