Technical data

www.asti-usa.com ASTi DACS: Operation & Maintenance Manual (Version 4, Rev. B.1)

systems and spare cards also need to be properly keyed by ASTi. See the network card Remove

and Replace procedures in chapter 5 for more information.

Network interface cards are PCI based 10/100MBs ethernet cards supporting 100baseT

(Unshielded Twisted Pair) connection.

Ethernet operation conforms to IEEE 802.3. UDP level protocol with IP addressing is supported

along with some multicast capabilities.

The following sections discuss the individual network interface features in more detail.

Host Simulation Interface:

Simulation state and sound model control parameters generated by a

simulation application on another network computer can be transmitted to the DACS via one of

the DACS network interface cards.

Parameters include state data such as engine RPM, radio frequency, communications panel switch

settings, radio position, exercise number, etc. These parameters are brought into the local audio

models using special input control objects found in the modeling environment.

In addition to reception, model information and equipment health status can be also passed from

the DACS back to another computer through the same link.

The DACS can receive information from up to eight individual computers on the network by spec-

ifying different UDP port numbers for data originating from the different machines.

Status and monitor screens are provided in the Model Builder runtime environment enabling the

user to monitor network activity and examine data received or transmitted by the DACS.

Network conﬁguration parameters such as port numbers, source and destination IP addresses, etc.

are set by the user via command lines in the start up conﬁguration ﬁle. Consult the Model Builder

Reference Guide for more information.

DIS: When conﬁgured for DIS operation the DACS connects directly to the DIS network. Signal

and Transmitter PDUs are transmitted and received directly, off-loading the host or other network

interface device from dealing with these processor intensive PDUs.

Status and monitor screens are provided in the Model Builder runtime environment enabling the

user to monitor network activity and DIS radio trafﬁc.

DIS options, and network parameters are set via conﬁguration commands in the start up conﬁgu-

ration (default.cfg) ﬁle. Consult the Model Builder Reference Guide for more information.

Terrain Database/Application Interface

Systems with the Terrain software package enabled and Model Builder version 3.11 or higher

have the ability to interrogate a terrain database server or other terrain application on another net-

work computer for additional path loss information. For systems with two network cards, path

loss requests and path loss information packets are transferred to and from the DACS via the Host

Interface network card.

See the Model Builder Reference Guide or the Terrain Database Interface Application Note for

further information.