User's Manual

FIRMWARE COMPATIBILITY

©©

234839, Revision 2.2

Firmware Compatibility

The version numbering scheme

The RFI-9256 products contain a firmware version string. This version information provides some

information regarding compatibility with other firmware versions.

Product Name: Identifies the modem hardware type such as RFI-419, RFI-9256 or RFI-156.

Major and Minor Number: The major number generally reflects the hardware compatibility of the

firmware but may be incremented if the firmware has had a major overhaul. The minor number is

incremented as new suites of functionality have been added or when changes have been made which

render the firmware incompatible with previous versions. Combined they are the version number.

Revision: The revisions reflect bug fixes or minor changes that don’t render the system incompatible.

Country: Firmware with versions

with different country identifiers,

are always incompatible with their

air interface. This is due to the

frequencies and hopping

sequences that they use. Each

country has its own spectrum

allocation and laws governing

radio spectrum usage.

Compatibility Types

There are several different aspects of compatibility:

Hardware compatibility.

Hardware compatibility is the compatibility of the firmware with the radio’s hardware, such as

processor, transceiver and revisions of the PCB. This is usually indicated by the ‘Major version number’ or

by the product name.

Figure A-1 Firmware version