User's Manual

UtiliNet® Endpoint User Guide 11-1-2006

Page 30 of 30

Bit 1: L3_MOOD_RELIABLE

Bit 0: L3_MOOD_SCRAM (not supported)

Multipoint Radios Multipoint radios are radios that may initiate data to multiple destination addresses.

Packet Parameters The parameters in a packet that control the routing, processing, and limitations of its

transmittal. The four packet parameters are mood, priority, luck, and time-to-live.

Passive Multipoint Radios Passive multipoint radios are radios that may respond with data to multiple

destination addresses, but only after being sent a request for data from that address.

Persistent A mood packet parameter that specifies to use only battery backed radios for routing (source

and destination need NOT be battery backed).

Point Radios Point radios are radios that always transmit data to the same destination address.

Priority A packet parameter that controls the processing of a packet. A higher priority packet is processed

before a lower priority packet. A user packet can have a priority from 0 through 7 (0 being the lowest

priority and 7 being the highest priority). It is not recommended that users regularly use high priorities. A

few higher prioritylevels should always be reserved and unused for diagnostics. A non-user priority 8 is

used for maintenance packets. Radios with version 413 of the firmware limit the priority of transparent

packets to a maximum of 5.

Protocol Protocol is the language used between the MTU and RTUs to communicate. Historically, each

SCADA vendor produced his own protocol to prevent competition after the initial purchase decision was

made.

Quick A mood packet parameter that specifies to factor in both tickle and data success percentage when

creating and ordering the scan lists.

Reliable A mood packet parameter that specifies to limit “hop” distance to that specified by Short Hop

Length [916BH] when creating scan lists. Radios farther than this configured distance will not be

considered for passing off a packet with this mood setting.

RTU Remote Terminal Unit, the RTU, is the slave or remote device that interfaces with field devices. The

RTU is intelligent in that it contains a microprocessor but typically performs few tasks unless instructed to

do so by the MTU.

Scan List The list of radios that qualify to route a particular packet to.

Status In the SCADA world, status refers to a digital input point to an RTU. The digital input point is in

one of two possible states at any point in time. The point is a one or zero depending on the state of a

physical contact that is directly connected to the RTU. For instance, a circuit breaker is either open or

closed, a backwater gate is either up or down, or a lift pump is on or off.

Time-To-Live A packet parameter than controls the maximum number of seconds that a packet can exist.

The time-tolive counts down and if it reaches 0 before the packet reaches its destination, the packet is

discarded.

UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter, UART, is an acronym given to an integrated circuit

(IC) that relieves a microprocessor from some of the communications overhead involved in receiving and

transmitting asynchronous, serial, byte oriented data. Typically UARTs are programmable for multiple

baud rates, 7 or 8 data bits, 1 or 2 stop bits, and odd, even or no parity.

WAN Address The 6-byte geographic address of the radio used for routing packets through the radio

network. During the configuration process, a radio’s latitude, longitude, and color are converted into the 6-

byte address that is actually used for routing.