Canary MLBase, User Manual

Page 1: ...MLBase User s Guide Revision A December 2021 ...

Page 2: ...s manufactured by Canary Systems excepting software products to be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service for twelve 12 months from date of shipment unless specified otherwise This warranty does not apply to any Canary Systems products which have been subjected to conditions beyond the definition of normal use conditions including misuse modification neglect ac...

Page 3: ...ppliers specifically disclaim any express or implied warranty of fitness for High Risk Activities Documentation and Release Notes To obtain the most recent version of all Canary Systems technical documentation visit the User Guide section of our website at https canarysystems com support users guides Additionally Canary Systems provides additional information beyond the scope of the technical docu...

Page 4: ...mentation Visit the User s Guide page on the Canary Systems website to view and download the most current versions of our technical documentation and user s guides at https canarysystems com support users guides The following documents contain information that may be useful throughout the course of this manual MLWebHardware User s Guide for additional information on data collection and import MLWe...

Page 5: ...ntenna 18 2 5 Battery Installation 20 Section 3 xPico Configuration 21 3 1 Overview 21 3 2 Connecting the xPico 22 3 3 Configuring the xPico 23 XML Programming 23 CLI Configuration 27 Common CLI Commands 29 Section 4 MLWebHardware Configuration 31 4 1 MLBase Configuration 31 Information 31 Connection 32 Physical MLBase Connection Configuration 33 Virtual Base Connection Configuration 33 4 2 Collec...

Page 6: ...LBase ships with a 32GB SD card already inserted into the MLBase module The SD card allows the MLBase to collect and store raw data from all MLRemotes on the network as well as to store program updates prior to being sent to the MLRemote stations This is ideal for units in remote locations with unreliable Wi Fi connectivity improving data collection with virtually no gaps The 32GB SD card can hold...

Page 7: ... MLSuite is installed Note In areas where a 2 4GHz signal is not available an MLBase can be shipped with a cellular daughter board Contact Canary Systems for more information on these models Power A 50AHr lead acid battery provides power Recharging is provided through a solar panel or AC power connection LED Status Lights Several status LEDs are used for reporting basic system operation All LEDs a...

Page 8: ...itialize the SD card This means the SD card is not inserted or it is corrupted BLUE This blinking of this light means the Bootloader is working properly If the blue LED is blinking along with any other LED this indicates the retry logic see note below when initializing the SD card mounting the File System and opening the Firmware file to update the NVM memory If only the blue LED is blinking each ...

Page 9: ...ity blue Activity on radio link from XBee LAN Link yellow Network link status from Wi Fi LAN Active yellow Network activity from Wi Fi System Measurements Internal Temperature Measurement Range 40 to 60 C 40 to 140 F Internal Temperature Measurement Accuracy 0 5 C 1 F Temperature Output Degrees C or F Internal Humidity Measurements Range 0 100 RH Internal Humidity Measurements Accuracy 4 5 Interna...

Page 10: ...ion Antennas server communication Antennas communication with MLRemote Network MLBase W 50S 50Ah 40W Wi Fi 2 4GHz to 5 8GHz Wideband Directional Antenna 800 900MHz dBi Omnidirectional Antenna MLBase M 50S 50Ah 40W Cellular 900MHz dBi Omnidirectional DAS Antenna 800 900MHz dBi Omnidirectional Antenna ...

Page 11: ...Section 1 Introduction MLBase User s Guide 11 1 3 Connections Connections to the MLBase are provided at the bottom of the enclosure ...

Page 12: ...lar Panel with 9 Integrated Power Cable Included 1 Solar Panel Mounting Kit Bracket and U Bolts Included 1 1 5 Pole Mounting Kit 2 Unistrut 4 Screws 2 U bolts Included 1 2 4GHz to 5 8GHz Ultra Wideband Directional Antenna Included 1 900MHz Omnidirectional DAS Antenna with Mounting Brackets Optional 1 800 900MHz Omnidirectional Antenna with Mounting Brackets Included 2 Antenna Cables 10 Included 1 ...

Page 13: ...lar panel See Section 2 2 Install the AC adaptor See Section 2 3 Install and orient antennas See Section 2 4 Install battery See Section 2 5 2 1 Enclosure Installation Proper site selection and installation of the MLBase station is important for best radio communication results The enclosure can be mounted to a pole or the side of a building Typical pole mount deployment is shown below ...

Page 14: ... the bucket and fill with mixed concrete Follow the directions on the bag for concrete mixing Use a level to adjust the position of the pipe before it sets Use lumber or other suitable props to hold the pipe in position overnight See the manufacturer s instructions for the precise curing time Drive the ground stake as close as possible to the bucket Attach the unistrut to the enclosure Be sure to ...

Page 15: ...sphere this means aligning the panel with a southward exposure In the Southern hemisphere align the panel in a northward direction Use a compass to derive the correct angle Remember to correct compass headings for declination Once installed route the supplied cable down the pole and secure with tie wraps where it can be plugged in to the bottom of the enclosure Note The solar panel should be plugg...

Page 16: ...atitudes The chart depicts northern hemisphere solar energy reverse the months for the southern hemisphere As can be seen solar energy varies considerably over the course of the year so the tilt angle should be adjusted to capture the maximum radiation during the worst month of the year In the Northern Hemisphere this is December In the Southern Hemisphere this is June Northern Hemisphere December...

Page 17: ...tallation An AC adaptor may be used in place of the solar panel for AC powered applications Installation is simple The adaptor includes a robust connector to connect to the bottom of the enclosure Use the appropriate AC power cord for connecting to a standard AC receptacle ...

Page 18: ...icated networks are available This section outlines installation instructions for both antennas Omnidirectional Antenna The L com 900 MHz 6 dBi Omnidirectional Antenna includes a right angle bracket for side of pole mounting The antenna kit includes cables to connect the antenna to the bottom of the MLBase enclosure The connector on the antenna is Type N female The antenna s attached mount bracket...

Page 19: ...sure The connector on the antenna is Type N female The antenna mounts to the side of pole using the included pipe clamps for 1 5 50 8mm The following illustration depicts assembly of the bracket and pipe clamps The mounting bracket allows the antenna to adjust the angle of elevation In most cases horizontal orientation is best Connect one end of the provided cable to the antenna and the other to t...

Page 20: ...f the enclosure Move the battery terminal leads away from the back of the bracket 3 Position the battery with the terminals facing forward and lift the battery over the bracket to be placed into the back of the panel as shown below Bring the terminal leads up over the battery 4 Attach the leads using the hardware supplied The red positive lead is installed on the right terminal the black negative ...

Page 21: ...e SD card 3 1 Overview There are two primary ways to configure the xPico for use with the MLBase Serial connection with the supplied 9 pin to 9 pin Null Modem serial cable Wireless network connection using the integrated Wi Fi adaptor Serial connection is the recommended method as the networking connections either via Ethernet or Wi Fi adaptor are pre configured at the factory for testing and may ...

Page 22: ...om putty org 3 Update the PuTTY Configuration as follows Set the Serial line to the correct COM port This can be found using Device Manager Set the Baud Rate Speed to 115200 Note If xPico factory defaults are applied it is important to note that the default baud rate will have changed to 9600 Note Make sure the MLBase is powered on before continuing to the next step 4 Click Open to connect to the ...

Page 23: ...ied These should be removed when pasted in to the command terminal xml version 1 0 standalone yes Automatically generated XML DOCTYPE configrecord ELEMENT configrecord configgroup ELEMENT configgroup configitem ELEMENT configitem value ELEMENT value PCDATA ATTLIST configrecord version CDATA IMPLIED ATTLIST configgroup name CDATA IMPLIED ATTLIST configgroup instance CDATA IMPLIED ATTLIST configitem...

Page 24: ...nfigitem name Default Gateway value 192 168 0 1 value configitem configitem name Hostname value value configitem configitem name Priority value 2 value configitem configitem name Primary DNS value 192 168 0 1 value configitem configitem name Secondary DNS value lt None gt value configitem configitem name MSS value 1460 bytes value configitem configgroup configgroup name CPM configitem name Role in...

Page 25: ...name WEP TX Key Index 1 value value name WEP Key 1 Key value value name WEP Key 2 Key value value name WEP Key 3 Key value value name WEP Key 4 Key value value name WPAx Authentication PSK value value name WPAx Key Type Passphrase value value name WPAx Passphrase YOUR PASSWORD value value name WPAx Key value value name WPAx IEEE 8021X PEAP value value name WPAx Username value value name WPAx Passw...

Page 26: ...nstance 1 configitem name DTR value Continuously asserted value configitem configgroup configgroup name Tunnel Connect instance 1 configitem name Mode value Always value configitem configitem name Local Port value 10002 value configitem configgroup configgroup name USB Host configitem name State value Enabled value configitem configgroup configrecord ...

Page 27: ...on This section outlines how to program the xPico radio using CLI commands Enable your terminal window and press ENTER The following prompt should display If the prompt does not display check the serial port settings connection COM setting and cabling 1 Configure Wi Fi ...

Page 28: ...Section 3 xPico Configuration 28 MLBase User s Guide ...

Page 29: ...t should start blinking If the LAN does NOT start blinking either the SSID or passphrase were entered incorrectly OR there is another WLAN profile which is active Other WLAN profiles should be deleted To discover the names of WLAN profiles which require deleting use the WLAN connect command 3 Configure IP ...

Page 30: ...s To check any setting command space tab Show options for current level Check wireless status config interface wlan0 show Check network status status wlan show Check available networks wlan scan from base menu Security Suite Options None WEIP WPA WPA2 Key Type Options WPAX ...

Page 31: ...ase in MLWebHardware vary depending on the deployment Each of these variations are outlined in the following sections Note This section outlines the process for configuring an MLBase with one or more MLRemotes on a single network MLBase configuration See Section 4 1 MLRemote configuration and programming See Section 3 2 and Section 3 3 of the MLRemote Users Guide Verifying and updating the program...

Page 32: ...omething meaningful to help distinguish it from other MLBase devices configured on the server Until the program has been configured leave the Active box unchecked Click the Save button to save the device configuration in MLWebHardware For more information about the details configured on the Information card refer to Device Configuration in Section 5 of the MLWebHardware Users Guide ...

Page 33: ...on to retrieve the Network ID and RF Level of the XBee radio Note If for any reason the XBee Network ID or RF Level need to be updated this can be done from the Connection card See Appendix B for steps to update the XBee Network ID and RF Level 5 Set the Time Zone offset if needed Enter a positive or negative value to reflect the difference between the MLRemote clock Server clock Hint The clock on...

Page 34: ...al configuration it is assumed that the server has a serial connection to a base radio or a device server with serial connection to a radio 1 From the Type drop down selected Virtual 2 Follow steps 2 through 7 outlined in Connection Configuration for a Physical MLBase See the Canary Systems MLRemote Users Guide for instructions on configuring the MLRemote units in MLWebHardware ...

Page 35: ...ect the MLWeb Database name from the drop down 4 Specify the collection Interval and Offsets this determines the frequency and time which data is imported into MLWeb See the MLWeb Users Guide for information on data configuration in MLWeb 5 Check Import Data to begin importing it into the specified MLWeb database 6 Checking Resume resumes collection after a failed attempt 7 Save the MLBase configu...

Page 36: ...yed in the MLBase list From here the Last Collection Battery voltage Temperature Charge Volts Charge Current and Humidity are visible Manual collections can be initiated from this location by clicking the Collect button The status of the MLBase is easily determined by an icon to the left of the Collect button ...

Page 37: ...ntronix supports the latest version of Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox Safari and Chrome a Enter the IP address or hostname of the xPico Wi Fi device in the address bar The IP address may have been assigned manually or automatically by Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol DHCP The default IP address of the xPico Wi Fi device server is 192 168 0 1 b Enter the username and password The factory defa...

Page 38: ... User s Guide 2 Once connecting using the browser interface click QuickConnect at the top left of the window to display a list of all networks visible to the xPico module 3 From the list provided select the designated network to open its WLAN profile ...

Page 39: ... s Guide 39 4 Enter the correct WPA password and click Apply IT departments on site will provide Desired Network IP address for assignment Network Default Gateway WPA Passphrase 5 Click Yes on the message box that opens after clicking Apply to continue ...

Page 40: ...de 6 Review the additional network settings and make any necessary updates When everything is correctly configured for the desired network click Submit WARNING After submitting your results it is important to NOT reboot the device or the connection will be lost ...

Page 41: ...Appendix A xPico Connection Via Browser MLBase User s Guide 41 7 Check that the Network Configurations are correct by navigating to the Network tab and selecting wlan0 and Configuration ...

Page 42: ...a Browser 42 MLBase User s Guide 8 Network Connections should be as follows State Enabled DHCP Client Disabled IP Address Insert given IP from IT department Default Gateway Insert given Gateway from IT department IPv6 State Disable ...

Page 43: ... can be rebooted to put these changes into effect This can be done through the web interface a On the web interface select the Device button on the side panel and choose Reboot b After clicking Reboot click OK at the top of the page to finish the reboot Hint The MLBase unit can also be rebooted physically on the device ...

Page 44: ...rks the Network ID must be unique for each network Follow these steps to update the Network ID or RF Level of the XBee 1 Check the existing XBee settings a With the Active box on the Information card unchecked and the proper IP and Port entered click Test Connection This returns the current XBee settings 2 Update the Network ID and or RF Level to the desired values Hint The suggested RF Level is 2...