A Sierra Monitor Company Driver Manual (Supplement to the FieldServer Instruction Manual) FS-8700-115 General Purpose ASCII APPLICABILITY & EFFECTIVITY Effective for all systems manufactured after May 1, 2001 Driver Version: 1.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. 2. GPA (GENERAL PURPOSE ASCII) DRIVER DESCRIPTION .........................................3 DRIVER SCOPE OF SUPPLY...........................................................................................4 2.1. Supplied by FieldServer Technologies for this driver ...................................................4 2.2. Provided by the Supplier of 3rd Party Equipment ....................................................
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual 1. Page 3 of 15 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Driver Description The serial GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Driver allows the FieldServer to accept data from remote devices which produce an ASCII byte stream. A typical example of such a device is an electronic scale producing an output similar to the one below. :weight 0.57 Kg Tare 44.3 Kg 1 2 3 4 -5 -6.7 The driver waits passively for messages.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual 2. Page 4 of 15 Driver Scope of Supply 2.1. Supplied by FieldServer Technologies for this driver FieldServer Technologies PART # FS-8915-10 FS-8915-10 FS-8917-02 FS-8917-01 FS-8705-96 Description UTP cable (7 foot) for Ethernet connection UTP cable (7 foot) for RS-232 use RJ45 to DB9F connector adapter RJ45 to DB25M connection adapter Driver Manual. Provided by the Supplier of 3rd Party Equipment 2.2. 2.2.1. Part # 2.2.2.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual 3. Page 5 of 15 Hardware Connections The FieldServer is connected to the vendor device as shown in connection drawing. Configure the ASCII Passive Client according to manufacturer’s instructions Ethernet Network Connection via std networking interfaces such as hubs, switches, routers. ASCII Data Source Eg. Scale Use 8917-02 or a 3 wire cable where you connect the remote device Xmit to RJ45-01, the remote Receive to RJ45-08 and, the gound wire to RJ45-04.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual 4. Page 6 of 15 Configuring the FieldServer as an GPA Driver Client For a detailed discussion on FieldServer configuration, please refer to the FieldServer Configuration Manual. The information that follows describes how to expand upon the factory defaults provided in the configuration files included with the FieldServer (See “.csv” sample files provided with the FieldServer).
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual 4.2.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual 4.3. Page 8 of 15 Client Side Node Descriptors Section Title Nodes Column Title Node_Name Node_ID Protocol Connection Function Legal Values Provide name for node Up to 32 alphanumeric characters This commonly used node descriptor parameter has no special meaning for this driver. Incoming messages could come from any node. A Node_ID may be allocated and any value may be used Specify protocol used ASCII.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual 4.4. Page 9 of 15 Client Side Map Descriptors 4.4.1.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual 4.5. Page 10 of 15 Map Descriptor Example. In this example, we provide a map descriptor to capture data from a scale and store it in a Data Array called ‘DA_Scale’. The 1st element converted from the ASCII steam will be store at offset zero in the Data Array. The driver will convert and store floating point numbers because the data_type is a floating point type. A maximum of 10 number fields can be processed and stored.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual 5. Page 11 of 15 Configuring the FieldServer as a GPA Driver Server Driver cannot be used to serve data. Contact the Sales group at FST if you are interested in this functionality. FieldServer Technologies 1991 Tarob Court Milpitas, California 95035 USA Web:www.fieldserver.com Tel: (408) 262-2299 Fax: (408) 262-9042 Toll_Free: 888-509-1970 email: support@fieldserver.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual Page 12 of 15 Appendix A. Advanced Topics Appendix A.1. Separating Data Streams. The driver processes the ASCII stream and stores the converted data when the stream ends. By default the driver closes the stream when it receives the CR character (Hex code = 0x0d Decimal code = 13). The default end of stream character can be changed using the registry. The example below is an extract from registry.ini. The Registry group is for port P1.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual Page 13 of 15 Appendix B. Troubleshooting tips Appendix B.1. Timeouts If the end of stream character has not been received in the default timeout period of 0.5 seconds the driver clears the incoming buffer and waits for the beginning of the next stream. FieldServer Technologies 1991 Tarob Court Milpitas, California 95035 USA Web:www.fieldserver.com Tel: (408) 262-2299 Fax: (408) 262-9042 Toll_Free: 888-509-1970 email: support@fieldserver.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual Page 14 of 15 Appendix C. Driver Error Messages Error Description and Corrective Action ASCII:#1 FYI. Port \"%s\" Connection You can safely ignore this message. It is designed to make you Parameters Can Be aware of the capability of the driver. Refer to Appendix A.2 Changed Remotely You can safely ignore this message if the setting reported match ASCII:#2a/b FYI. Port your expectations.
FS-8705-06 GPA (General Purpose ASCII) Manual Page 15 of 15 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK FieldServer Technologies 1991 Tarob Court Milpitas, California 95035 USA Web:www.fieldserver.com Tel: (408) 262-2299 Fax: (408) 262-9042 Toll_Free: 888-509-1970 email: support@fieldserver.
