DSI PhysioTel Digital Telemetry Platform Model: PhysioTel Digital Manual: MU00285 Revision: 1 Data Sciences International 119 14th Street NW, Suite 100 St. Paul, MN 55112 Phone: +1 (651) 481-7400 US: +1 (800) 262-9687 Email: support@datasci.com www.datasci.
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Contents PhysioTel Digital Telemetry Platform ........................................................................................................... 5 Theory of Operation...................................................................................................................................... 5 System Diagram......................................................................................................................... 6 Software ....................................................
PhysioTel Digital Telemetry Platform Theory of Operation There are four main components of the PhysioTel Digital telemetry system; the data acquisition computer, the Communication Link Controller (CLC), the transceivers (TRX), and the smart implants. The CLC and the implants are the components that are actively communicating with one another; the TRX is the transmitting\receiving link between them.
System Diagram Software Getting Started Hardware Selection The PhysioTel Digital Telemetry system is a specific Application Interface within the Ponemah software. Select the Application Configuration function from the Options menu. Select PhysioTel Digital Telemetry and click OK.
Hardware Configuration The PhysioTel Digital system automates the collection of physiologic data from freely moving research animals via wireless telemetry. The system consists of a sophisticated acquisition and analysis software platform and a family of advanced, state of the art implantable telemetry transmitters. The communications link between these two components consists of wired and wireless components collectively referred to as the PhysioTel Digital Hardware.
Accessing Hardware Configuration through Ponemah • From the menu bar click Hardware, and select Edit Configuration… • This opens the Hardware Configuration window. • If this is a new configuration, the red colored message text will inform you that you need to use Configure Sources… to define telemetry implant sources. • Click on the Configure Sources… button to open the Configuration Wizard and begin the study configuration process.
Page 1: Select CLCs for Study Page 1 of the Configuration Wizard is basic inventory. The wizard queries the network; it finds all of the active CLCs (Communication Link Controller) on the system and lists them in the right hand column titled CLCs Currently on Network. To configure a CLC for use in the system, select a CLC and move it from the right column, CLCs Currently on Network to the left column, CLCs Selected for Study.
• The newly added CLC will be added to the list with a circular status indicator. Green colored indicator: CLC enabled Red colored indicator : CLC disabled • If the colored status indicator does not change from red to green, an error message will be displayed in the lower left corner of the screen indicating the nature of the discrepancy • An error message may also appear even though the indicator is green. • At least one CLC must be selected and enabled (green indicator) before continuing.
• All of the “Selected” CLCs (left column) must be enabled (green indicator) before continuing. Enabled status means that the CLC is “powered up” and not in use by another system. • If everything is in order, you will be able to click the Next button to proceed to Page 2. • If the Next button is not available, consult the error messages mentioned above. NOTE: At any time a CLC information pop up is available by hovering your mouse cursor over any of the CLC labels on the page.
Assign Unique CLC Frequency Frequencies to Scan Assign Unique CLC Frequency • The CLCs that are enabled in the previous step are listed in the left hand column labeled Assign Unique CLC Frequency. • The left hand side of the page is arranged in a table.
o Select frequency: Drop-down with frequency options • The current operating frequency of each CLC is listed in the center column. • Use the drop-down menu to the right of the CLC to select an available communication frequency. • The frequencies are designated by four alpha-numeric characters XX – YZ (XX = region, Y = frequency, Z = group).
Guidelines for selecting frequencies The frequency Group designation (above) is used to allocate certain frequencies as Primary or Secondary. Group 1 (A1, B1, C1, D1) is the Primary frequency and Group 2 (A2, B2, C2, D2) is the Secondary frequency. When setting up a system all of the CLCs must be assigned to the same frequency Group. For instance, assign all of the Primary frequencies first before using any of the frequencies from Secondary Group.
• The frequency options that are available to assign to CLCs are listed in the right hand column labeled Frequencies to Scan. • The user must assign a unique frequency for each CLC before continuing to the next page. • To assign a frequency, left-click the down arrow listed. of the drop-down menu associated with each CLC Frequencies to Scan The PhysioTel Digital system consists of CLCs, TRXs, and telemetry implants.
• The factory default frequencies for new implants are: o F1-B1 for North America o F2-B1 for EU NOTE: If the frequency of a previously configured implant cannot be determined, the user may choose to scan all of the available frequencies. The scanning of all available frequencies will take extra time. • Click the Next button to progress to the next page – Find All Implants Within Range.
Page 3: Find All Implants Within Range In this step of the configuration process the CLCs incrementally scan the frequencies selected in the previous screen. The “operational” telemetry implants, detectable in the network environment, will be listed in the left dialog box labeled Found Implants. • The green progress bar tracks the status of the searching process and displays the frequencies currently being scanned. NOTE: It is normal for this process to take several minutes.
• The Configuration Wizard can detect a maximum of eight implants per cycle, if the system will ultimately have more than eight implants; it is a good idea to power up and configure implants in groups of less than eight devices. • Once the scanning process is complete and all of the implants are identified, the progress bar will be solid green and the message “Scanning Frequencies … Process Complete” will appear below the progress bar. • Click NEXT to proceed to the next step – Assign Implants to CLCs.
Page 5: Warning of Pending Changes Page 5 is a confirmation page that warns the user that the pending changes are about to be committed. The Pending Changes are listed in the dialog box on the left. There is no user interaction in this step of the Wizard, it merely warns the user that once the Next button is pressed, there is no “Undo” option. Ì WARNING: Do not unplug any connected hardware during the programming process. Click Next to progress to Page 6: Change Implant Frequencies.
Page 6: Change Implant Frequencies Page six is the re-assignment process. One by one, the CLCs instruct the implants to switch frequencies and the implants comply. Once an implant switches to a new frequency, it can no longer communicate with its previously assigned CLC. The implant must then wait until a CLC on its new frequency attempts to contact it. • The green progress bar shows the status of the re-assignment process and displays the pertinent information. NOTE: This process may take several minutes.
Page 7: Accept Configuration Page seven is the final step in the Configuration Wizard. The column on the left, Configuration, presents the newly configured tree structure of CLCs and implants. The column on the right, Summary of Changes, will indicate successes and failures in the configuration process. If the user wishes to alter or repair the final configuration listed in the Configuration dialog box, the wizard will have to be run again.
Hardware Configuration (Details) Once the Configuration Wizard closes, the configuration process is complete. The Hardware Configuration screen is updated with the new Study Configuration. There are multiple layers of information contained in this window: • • • • Study CLC Details CLC Details Implant Details Channel Details Study CLC Details The Study CLC Details screen shows the overall configuration from the “Study” level.
• • • • • • The Configuration column lists the entire configuration in an expandable tree structure. The CLCs are listed with the assigned transmitters listed underneath. Click on the Study Configuration line item in the left column labeled Configuration. The right hand column Study CLC Details, lists the CLCs in the new configuration. Hover the mouse cursor over any line item in the Configuration box to activate an information popup with that device’s key status condition.
CLC Details The CLC Details view can be accessed by left-clicking on any of the CLC line items in the Configuration column on the left.
Implant Details The Implant Details view can be accessed by left-clicking on any of the implant names in the Configuration column. There is a lot of information available in this screen as well as some important interactive features. Information: • Implant Name: User may rename the implant by editing the text in this box • About: Important information including model and serial numbers, activation and manufacture dates, as well as a battery level indicator.
• The Enabled mode allows the software system to record, store, and analyze data from the implant. Ì WARNING: If the implant is not “Enabled” the device will still be in communication with the system but no data from this implant will be visible to the analysis software. Current Mode: The Turn Implant Off button allows the user to remotely switch the implant to the OFF mode. Once in the OFF mode, the implant cannot be remotely returned to the ON mode.
3. Confirm your intentions by clicking the button labeled Turn Off. 4. The progress bar will indicate the status of the operation. The completed process will be indicated by the statement “Implant has been turned off successfully.” 5. Click the Close button to return to the Implant Details screen. CAUTION: Once you turn off an implant it can only be returned to the ON state by physically passing a strong magnet close to the implant device for a few seconds.
Active Channels: The Active Channels dialog allows the user to select which data collection channels are activated in the implant. Active implant channels collect physiologic data and transmit the data through the acquisition system to be stored in the data acquisition computer. Inactive channels do not collect physiologic data, those particular implant functions are turned off.
• To activate an inactive channel, click on the desired channel label in the Inactive Channels: dialog box, hold the mouse button, and drag the channel label to the Active Channels: dialog box. Release the mouse button. • To render a channel inactive, click and drag an active channel from the Active Channels: dialog to the Inactive Channels: dialog. Model Template: A Model Template can be created in order to identically configure a group of implants with the same channel arrangement.
4. You will be offered a confirmation message “Are you sure you want to replace the template …?” 5. Click Yes to confirm. Apply Templates: Once an implant configuration is saved as a Model Template, that identical channel configuration can be applied to any of the implants in the Study Configuration (provided that the implants are the same model number). To apply the saved template to other implants in the Configuration list: 1.
4. The Select All check box can be used to select/deselect all of the implants in the dialog box. 5. Click OK to apply the saved template configuration. 6. A Confirm Operation dialog is offered as a precaution, click OK to accept. Save and Exit This completes the Hardware Configuration. To save the configuration file and exit the configuration wizard, click the Save & Exit button.
Selecting Implants Once the implants are configured in the Hardware Configuration they will be available for data collection. If the user does not wish to use all of the implants that are configured, the Select Implants option may be used to select which implants will be available in the P3 Setup. The implants that are placed in the Selected Implants column (right) will be passed through into the P3 Setup and will be available for acquisition.
4. Once all of the desired implants are moved, Click OK. 5. This closes the Hardware configuration process and return to the main Ponemah program. Protocol Setup P3 Setup allows the user to define the various acquisition settings for the sampling protocol. A default Channel Input Setup is available for each of the PhysioTel Digital implants which automatically configures the input channels for the most common PhysioTel Digital applications.
The results of the Auto Configure Protocol option are shown in the insert frame on the right. To apply the automatic configuration option: 1. Select Setup\Auto Configure Protocol… 2. A cautionary message will be offered concerning overwriting of previous protocol files, to accept and continue click Yes. NOTE: For a more detailed description on the settings affected by the Auto Configure Protocol feature or the acquisition settings defined within P3 Setup, please see the P3Plus Manual.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. The data acquisition computer sends an implant Mode Change command to the CLC. Ponemah starts displaying a countdown in the Implant Status screen. The CLC configures the implants and sets the implant mode to Active. The computer updates the implant status to Acquiring. The implants start sending data packets to the CLC. The CLC starts sending data packets to the computer. The computer sends the data to Ponemah. Ponemah begins displaying waveform data in P3P graphs.
CLC Options The CLC Section of the Diagnostics webpage has the following sections: • Home • Network • Upload CLC Firmware • System Status • Settings • Reboot Each of these will be described in a separate section below.
• Name : • Model Number: • Serial Number: • Manufacturing Date: • Version: • Operating Frequency: User-selected name (Format = YYYY-MM-DD) (Format = XX-YZ) Region Frequency Group F1 = US A 1 F2 = EU B 2 C D The frequencies are designated by four alpha-numeric characters XX-YZ (XX = region, Y = freq., Z = group). NOTE: the Operating Frequency will read “Unknown” if CLC is powered up without a TRX connected.
Network (Settings) Obtain an IP address automatically This is the normal operating mode for the CLC. With this option selected the CLC is queried and the values that it reports back are displayed in the appropriate text boxes: • IP v4 Address: • Subnet Mask: • Default Gateway: NOTE: A new IP address can be generated by performing an “extended” reset: push and hold the reset button on the back of the CLC for 5-15 seconds.
Upload CLC Firmware This page allows the user to update the CLC firmware. From time to time it may be advantageous to upgrade the internal read-only program instructions through a firmware upgrade. This often results in improved performance. To update or change the firmware version in the CLC, follow this procedure: 1. 2. 3. 4. Click on the Browse button and use the file upload window to locate the firmware file.
System Status The System Status is a continuously updating “log” file of the CLC’s communication activity. It can be used to monitor communication issues in the event of discontinuities.
Settings The Settings page allows the user to monitor the RF Mode. • Enabled – Normal operating mode • Disabled – Halts communication between the TRXs and the implants • Assessment – Allows the user to sample individual frequencies to assess the level of background RF interference. The Assessment mode is used for the TRX RSSI History function Reboot This function allows the user to perform a complete reboot of the CLC.
TRX Status The TRX Status screen is a non-interactive snapshot of the current status of the TRXs that are connected to the CLC. Each CLC is capable of interfacing with eight TRXs. This arrangement follows the layout on the rear panel of the CLC unit. TRX Status screen indicating that two TRX units are connected and enabled.
Upload Firmware To update or change the firmware version in the TRX, follow these steps: 1. Click on the TRX No: drop-down menu and select the TRX number you wish to communicate with. 2. Click on the TRX Command: drop-down menu and select Upload Firmware. 3. Click on the Browse… button and use the file upload window to locate the firmware file. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Navigate to the specific filename and click Open Message 1: Uploaded. Message 2: Validating Message 3: Updating TRX Firmware...
Get RSSI Threshold RSSI stands for Received Signal Strength Indicator. It is a quantitative measure of the strength of the RF signal that the TRX is receiving from the implants. The Get RSSI Threshold command retrieves the current threshold value from the TRX. The default value = 12 1. Select Get RSSI Threshold from the TRX Command: drop-down menu. 2. Click Send. 3.
NOTE: Anytime the TRX is unplugged, or the CLC is rebooted, the RSSI threshold value will revert back to the hexadecimal default value of 0x12. 1. Select Set RSSI Threshold from the TRX Command: drop-down menu. 2. Select the TRX # from the TRX No: drop-down menu. 3. Enter a hexadecimal value in the small text box above the Send button. 4. Click the Send button. 5.
Reset The Reset function returns the TRX settings to the factory default values. 1. Select Reset from the TRX Command: drop-down menu. 2. Select the TRX # from the TRX No: drop-down menu. 3. Change the value in the dialog box below the letters TRX from “ff” to “02”. 4. Click the Send button. 5. A successful operation is indicated by a blue colored Command Completed banner at the top of the screen and a text string “OK” below the word Reply at the bottom of the screen.
5. This will open the RSSI graph screen. Warning! When you are finished with the TRX RSSI History function you MUST return the CLC to the “Enabled” mode! 6. Click on the Settings link under the CLC Options heading. 7. Return to the text box delete the word “Assessment” 8. Type the word “Enabled” in the text box and press click the Save button below. 9. Verify the CLC status by Home link under the under the CLC options heading. 10.
TRX CCA RSSI History CCA is an acronym for Clear Channel Assessment. According to certain RF regulation environments, it is necessary to invoke a “listen before you talk” policy. The Clear Channel Assessment operation determines whether the wireless medium is busy or idle. The CLC can then make a decision on whether to attempt communication. The CLC will display the RSSI value of what the TRX is receiving.
Implant Options In this document the term “implant” refers to a PhysioTel Digital Telemetry Transmitter. Implant Status Implant Status is a non-interactive table which reports the operational status of all of the implants that are communicating with a CLC. There will be one eight-row table for each implant.
• o Standby – not actively transmitting data o Active – actively transmitting data o Unused – configured but probably out of range Next Mode: (This feature is not yet implemented). Implant Commands There are three commands with which the user can communicate with individual implants. They are Ping; Get RSSI Threshold; and Set RSSI Threshold. • The Ping command allows the user to select an individual implant and request a confirmation message that the implant is operating within range.
• Click on the drop-down menu labeled Implant Command. • Left click the Ping command • Click the Send button If the Ping dialog is successful: • A blue colored banner with the word OK! will appear at the top of the screen. • The implant will report back with a Hexadecimal value which is displayed in the Reply table at the bottom of the screen. If the Ping dialog is unsuccessful: The Ping will be automatically repeated several times.
• The implant will not report with a Hex value at the bottom of the screen. NOTE: It may take several seconds for an unsuccessful Ping command to generate an error message Get RSSI Threshold The Get RSSI Threshold command retrieves the current threshold value from the implant. Get RSSI Threshold reads the signal strength value that allows the implant to hear commands from the CLC/TRX. 1. Click on the drop-down menu labeled Implant ID: 2. Select a device by left clicking on an implant serial number. 3.
4. Left click the Set RSSI Threshold command. 5. A small text-entry box will appear below the Implant Command: line. 6. Allowable values for RSSI Threshold (values must be entered in Hexadecimal format). Decimal Hexadecimal 12 0C 28 1C 7. Adjusting the RSSI Threshold value will affect the implant performance in the following manner. 8.
Common Error Codes The implant commands in this section are capable of generating an error code if the command cannot be successfully executed. Below is a list of the more common error codes.
• To Set the Auto refresh rate of the graph, click on the drop-down menu at the top of the screen and select a new value.
Glossary 1. CCA = Clear Channel Assessment: The clear channel assessment operation determines whether the wireless medium is busy or idle. The MAC layer can then make a decision on whether to send a frame. 2. CLC = Communication Link Controller: Processes telemetered data to/from the TRX for communications over the Ethernet connection. 3. Firmware: The combination of a hardware device and computer instructions and data that reside as readonly software on that device. 4.
Appendices PhysioTel Digital Configuration Manual Appendices • 57
Appendix A: Hexadecimal Conversion Hexadecimal is base 16. Base 16 is where the 'numbers' you can use are zero through to the letter F (0123456789ABCDEF). i.e. the decimal value for '1' is represented in hexadecimal as '1' but the hexadecimal value of '15' (decimal) is shown as 'F' (hexadecimal) and the value of '17' (decimal) is '11' in Hexadecimal.
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