RF Neulink NL6000, User Manual

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Page 2: ...riting no one may copy disassemble or distribute in any form any computer readable information contained within this product and in particular information contained within the EEPROM EPROM or ROM memory circuits All rights title and copyrights to the software or firmware in this product are owned by RF Neulink NL6000 is a registered trademark of RF Neulink a division of RF Industries RF Neulink re...

Page 3: ...ns 22 5 6 1 Transmission Mode 22 5 6 2 Maximum Packet Size 25 5 6 3 Over the Air Data Rates 25 5 6 4 Acknowledgements 25 5 6 5 Carrier Sense Multiple Access 25 5 7 Serial Connection to an I O Device 25 5 7 1 Basic Serial Parameters 25 5 7 2 Flow Control 26 5 7 3 DCD Mode 26 5 7 4 Pre and Post Data DCD Time 26 5 8 Planning the RF Channel 27 5 9 Factory Default Parameters 27 6 Procedures 28 6 1 Gene...

Page 4: ... Setting the Contention Option 34 6 5 Repeater Setup 35 Selecting the Repeater Entry to Edit 35 Setting the Repeater Trigger 35 Setting the Repeater Trigger ID 36 Setting the Repeater Transmit Channel 36 Setting the Repeater Transmit Delay 36 6 6 File Management 36 Downloading a Software Upgrade 36 Saving Parameters to Disk 37 Restoring Parameters from Disk 37 Restoring Default Parameters 38 7 Men...

Page 5: ...ster Baud Rate 45 8 2 7 Unit Does Not Enter Programming Mode 45 Appendix A Diagnosing and Correcting Performance Problems 46 Setting the Power Value 46 Setting the Frequency Trim includes setting Power 46 Setting the Deviation and Balance 47 Setting the Receive Gain 48 Appendix B Factory Default Parameters 50 Index 51 ...

Page 6: ...figured default parameters make the unit ready to use after just setting two address IDs Figure 1 shows a simple system to transmit data between two terminals Figure 1 Use the NL6000 in a Simple Configuration In a more sophisticated configuration the NL6000 provides wireless communication between multiple units in a network A unit configured as a base station can transmit instructions to multiple ...

Page 7: ... Reliability The NL6000 makes extensive use of Digital Signal Processing DSP technology resulting in outstanding performance under adverse environmental conditions Data Reliability Advanced signaling end error control technologies provide exceptional performance under poor channel conditions RF Data Rate The NL6000 can transmit or receive at over the air rates of 12 000 bps or 22 050 bps Protocol ...

Page 8: ...nowledgement The NL6000 can be configured to request an acknowledgement ACK from the destination modem with each transmission If it does not receive an ACK the unit will retransmit Auto Transmit Two events will automatically trigger transmission of data over the RF link a pause between bytes equal to a user defined number of milliseconds or the buffer reaching a user defined number of bytes Config...

Page 9: ... type accepted for operation by the FCC in accordance with Part 101 of the FCC rules 47CFR Part 101 See the label on the unit for the specific FDD ID and any other certification designations 406 0 to 406 1 MHz Operation The frequency band from 406 0 to 406 1 MHz is reserved for use by distress beacons As such the NL6000 should not be programmed to transmit on any frequency within this band Caution...

Page 10: ...RF Neulink 10 NL6000 User Guide DO NOT operate the radio unless it has been installed and inspected by a qualified radio technician DO NOT let children operate transmitter equipment ...

Page 11: ...ex or Half Duplex Frequency control PLL synthesizer Error control 3 data transmission modes provide progressively increasing error correction strength UHF RADIO SPECIFICATIONS Model Numbers NL6000 tbd Transmission frequencies 400 420 MHz 450 470 MHz Current Drain at 12 V IDLE radio channel Tbd Receive Tbd Transmit Tbd Transmitter RF power 1 to 6 watts Modulation 4 FSK with spectral precoder Freque...

Page 12: ...Tbd Transmit Tbd Transmitter RF power 1 to 6 watts Modulation 4 FSK with spectral precoder Frequency stability 1 5 ppm Channel spacing 12 5 kHz narrow 25 kHz wide Channel step size 2 5 kHz VHF Duty cycle 5 to 10 depending upon voltage power level and ambient temperature RF load impedance 50 ohms Receiver Sensitivity 95 reliability 500 byte payload Basic Telemetry Mode xxx dBm Enhanced Telemetry Mo...

Page 13: ...nector 5 Pwr USB LED 6 Serial Port DB9 Connector 7 not shown Mounting holes on bottom 4 2 Power Connections Connect a 12 VDC power supply to the power connector to provide power to the NL6000 Note If you want to use an external power amplifier contact the RF Neulink sales department 4 3 Mounting Instructions You can mount the NL6000 on any surface or enclosure using the mounting holes provided Use...

Page 14: ... The serial port on the NL6000 is a 9 pin female connector The NL6000 is a Data Communications Equipment DCE device Other equipment that can connect to the NL6000 via the serial port fall into one of the following categories DTE Data Terminal Equipment computers mainframes terminals DCE Data Communications Equipment modems printers other peripherals Connect a DTE device to the DB9 connector with a...

Page 15: ... an antenna 4 6 LEDs Table 1 interprets the two LEDs on the NL6000 LED Color Meaning Red Transmitting Green Receiving a signal on the active channel Tx Rx None Not receiving or transmitting Amber Blinking Powered on Green Powered on and connected to USB Pwr USB None Powered off Table 1 NL6000 LEDs Note If the Rx LED is continuously red this means an open squelch or interference problem exists that...

Page 16: ...tomatically after you properly install the physical units and configure the software parameters In most networks with more than two units you must set the MYID and TOID parameters before operation Sections 5 and 6 discuss the available software parameters and the procedures for setting them 4 8 Technical Support Telephone support is available Monday through Friday 7 00 am to 4 00 pm Pacific Time a...

Page 17: ...r additional detail on the data requirements for a base station Assign each NL6000 with a unique address MYID If the unit is a remote you also assign a destination address TOID The destination address can be specific to a single unit or can include wildcards for transmitting to a group of units If the unit is a base station the software determines the TOID from the received data string See Section...

Page 18: ...entification number for each NL6000 unit in the network plan This number the MYID references the source of the data packet The TOID is the destination address for the packet so the TOID is the MYID of the unit for which the data is intended Both the MYID and TOID are a hexadecimal value from 0000 to FFFF Figure 7 illustrates point to point addressing Figure 7 Point to Point Addressing Use the FF c...

Page 19: ...a base station to a remote is the value in the packet s TOID field The trigger for repeating a packet from a remote to a base station is the value in the packet s MYID field You can establish up to eight triggers for each repeater unit Consider the following example of a repeater MYID3000 configured to repeat packets transmitted from a base station MYID2000 to a hidden remote MYID4203 Unit MYID300...

Page 20: ...r packets that have a source address of MYID4201 If the repeater receives a packet matching the criteria it immediately repeats the packet Figure 11 illustrates this scenario Figure 11 Repeat from a Remote to a Base Station Because MYID and TOID values may use wildcards it is possible to set up a single repeater entry that will repeat all packets destined to a group of hidden remotes In Figure 12 ...

Page 21: ...e frequency It is important that all units transmitting data to a repeater transmit on the repeater s receive frequency FA as shown in Figure 14 Figure 14 Sample Frequency Plan for a Repeater In Figure 14 the repeater unit listens on FA for transmissions from both the base station and the remote The example shows a half duplex channel between the repeater and base station FA and FB and a simplex c...

Page 22: ...RC Yes Yes Yes FEC No Yes Yes Interveaving No No Yes Table 2 Transmission Mode Characteristics To select the best transmission mode for a unit consider the following factors Signal strength between the unit and its destination unit s Reliability of the path between the unit and its destination unit s Noise RF interference and fading expected on the radio channel Movement of the unit or movement of...

Page 23: ...emetry mode provides the highest throughput on a clean channel However if there is a transmission error you will lose the entire packet Therefore when using Basic Telemetry mode use a smaller Maximum Packet Size so that you lose very little user data if an error does occur In this situation smaller packets have a better chance of getting through Why not use Enhanced Telemetry Mode or Mobile Data M...

Page 24: ...F interference or signal fading to corrupt the radio data link The remote unit is moving or it is located in an area where the surroundings are moving such as a busy street Best Choice Mobile Data Mode Because you expect a corrupt channel use the mode that has the greatest amount of error control Mobile Data mode includes three types of error control Reed Solomon forward error correction error det...

Page 25: ... does not receive an ACK after the fifth transmission the unit will transmit the next packet Note When acting as a repeater the unit never generates an ACK ACKs are end to end and do not affect the repeater unit 5 6 5 Carrier Sense Multiple Access If a unit s transmit and receive frequencies are the same it may be helpful to enable Carrier Sense Multiple Access CSMA This option does not allow tran...

Page 26: ...f special characters to identify when it is OK to send receive data to from the serial device 5 7 3 DCD Mode The DCD Mode parameter identifies how the I O device interprets the current state of the modem using the DCD line between the device and the modem If the mode is set to Enable the modem asserts the DCD line when it is receiving data over the air If the mode is set to Disable the modem asser...

Page 27: ...t of your network plan Each NL6000 unit arrives from the factory tuned and tested on the default frequency appropriate for that unit Retuning requires that a qualified radio technician use the procedures in Appendix A Diagnosing and Correcting Performance Problems 5 9 Factory Default Parameters Appendix B provides a list of the default parameters set for each NL6000 unit at the factory It also pro...

Page 28: ...u enter programming mode using the terminal emulator a Main Menu appears The procedures in this section assume you always begin at the Main Menu The Main Menu appears as in Figure 17 Figure 17 NL6000 Main Menu In most procedures you must enter at least one submenu to perform a task The following text is an example of a step that leads you to the correct submenu option Select Network Unit Type This...

Page 29: ...ns to prevent accidental resetting of parameters 2 Enabled Enter programming mode whenever you type the key sequence There must be a pause before and after the sequence Select this option during factory configuration or during initial configuration of a unit Saving Configuration Changes to Flash Memory Select E Exit from the Main Menu to save the updated parameter settings to the unit s flash memo...

Page 30: ...ime to return to the previous menu The changes you made up to that point are saved until you leave the Main Menu using Exit Continue or Restart Displaying the Configuration Summary Window Select 1 Summary from the Main Menu The summary window appears as in Figure 18 Figure 18 Summary Window ...

Page 31: ...his parameter if the Unit Type is Remote The system ignores this parameter if the Unit Type is Base 1 Select Network TOID 2 Enter the destination address for packets from this unit The destination address is the MYID of the unit for which the data is intended The value must be a hexadecimal value in the range 0000 FFFF For more information about addressing and wildcards refer to Section 5 4 Settin...

Page 32: ...f bits used to designate the end of a byte The options are 1 or 2 bits Setting the Transmit Character Timeout 1 Select Serial Transmit Character Timeout 2 Enter the expected pause between data strings through the serial port The value must be in the range 1 9999 milliseconds Setting the Flow Control Option 1 Select Serial Flow Control 3 Select from the following options 1 Normal Do not use flow co...

Page 33: ...the number of milliseconds it takes for the device to turn off after the modem negates the line Setting the Post Data DCD Time 1 Select Serial DCD Mode Post Data DCD Time 2 Enter the number of milliseconds it takes for the device to turn off after the modem negates the line The value must be a 3 digit number 6 4 Data Setup Setting the Maximum Packet Size 1 Select Network Max Packet Size 2 Enter th...

Page 34: ...0 bps and 22 050 bps Setting the Request ACKs Option 1 Select Network Request ACKs 2 Select from the following options 1 Enable When the modem sends data it requests an ACK from the destination modem If it does not receive an ACK the modem will retransmit up to five times 2 Disable When the modem sends data it does not request an ACK from the destination modem Setting the Contention Option 1 Selec...

Page 35: ... using a wildcard Table 3 Setup of Repeater Trigger Fields Selecting the Repeater Entry to Edit 1 Select Network Repeater Select Repeater Entry 2 Enter the number assigned to the repeater entry you want to set or edit Repeater entries are assigned a number in the range 1 8 After you select an entry number the system displays the current parameter settings for that repeater entry 3 Press ESC to ret...

Page 36: ...in the Radio menu Setting the Repeater Transmit Delay 1 Select Network Repeater Transmit Delay 2 Enter the number of milliseconds you want the repeater to wait before repeating the transmission The value must be in the range 0000 9999 milliseconds Normally this value is set to 0000 6 6 File Management Downloading a Software Upgrade The software that runs the NL6000 is stored in flash memory There ...

Page 37: ... to reset the modem This causes the modem to use the new software build 6 Press ESC to continue using the Main Menu Saving Parameters to Disk If you want to duplicate parameter values on several NL6000 units you can save the settings to disk and restore them to multiple units Use the following procedure to save parameter values from the unit currently attached to the serial port 1 Select Save Rest...

Page 38: ...mplete 5 When the download is complete cycle power to let the modem start using the new parameter settings 6 Press ESC to continue using the Save Restore Parameters menu Restoring Default Parameters Use the following procedure to restore factory delivered default parameter settings to the unit currently attached to the serial port 1 Select Save Restore Parameters Restore Default Parameters The sys...

Page 39: ...RF Neulink 39 NL6000 User Guide 7 Menu Quick Reference 7 1 Main Menu 7 2 Summary Window ...

Page 40: ...RF Neulink 40 NL6000 User Guide 7 3 Serial Menu 7 4 DCD232 SubMenu ...

Page 41: ...RF Neulink 41 NL6000 User Guide 7 5 Network Menu 7 6 Repeater SubMenu ...

Page 42: ...RF Neulink 42 NL6000 User Guide 7 7 Radio Menu 7 8 Diagnostics Menu ...

Page 43: ...RF Neulink 43 NL6000 User Guide 7 9 Save Restore Parameters Menu ...

Page 44: ...antenna is the most important but often ignored part of the communication system A good antenna system will increase range increase throughput and increase reliability You can use directional gain antennas when operating in a point to point configuration 8 2 2 Three wire Interface When using a three wire RS232 interface TX TX GND you must disable RTS CTS flow control You may enable the XON XOFF pr...

Page 45: ...ng strings of data are going into the serial port and flow control is not used the NL6000 buffers may fill up and lose data Lower the NL6000 s baud rate and the host device baud rate to as slow as practical 8 2 6 Use a Faster Baud Rate If system time outs caused by a remote site not responding fast enough are a problem you may consider increasing the serial baud rate at both ends of the radio link...

Page 46: ...z bandwidth Jumper cable to connect the modem PCB to the radio PCB while performing the alignment Setting the Power Value 1 Set the IFR to receive at the radio s transmit frequency 2 From the terminal emulator enter programming mode 3 Select the active channel for the radio as follows Select Radio Select Active Channel Enter the active channel assignment for the radio The value must be a number in...

Page 47: ... the IFR change the frequency trim value on the Frequency Trim window until the needle on the gauge is centered 7 Select None from the Diagnostics menu to stop the data transmission Setting the Deviation and Balance To properly set the deviation and balance you must perform the following procedure twice once near each edge of the transmit frequency band In this procedure an edge is defined as appr...

Page 48: ...r a high data rate Press Ctrl A or Ctrl B to save the deviation value as the first or second reference point Press ESC to return to the Diagnostics menu 9 Select None from the Diagnostics menu to stop the data transmission 10 Repeat Steps 1 7 for the opposite edge Setting the Receive Gain Use this procedure to set the receive packets at the best level for this modem 1 From the terminal emulator en...

Page 49: ...ct Exit to save the Receive Gain value and enter operating mode 6 Repeat steps 3 5 to ensure the receive level remains near zero 0 5 dB after your correction 7 Disable the Receive Diagnostic Mode as follows Select Diagnostics Receive Diagnostic Mode Select 2 Disable Press ESC twice to return to the Main Menu Select Exit to save the Receive Diagnostic Mode setting and enter operating mode ...

Page 50: ...1 Rx Frequency on Active Channel 464 5500 MHz Radio Tx Frequency on Active Channel 464 5500 MHz Baud Rate 9600 Data Bits 8 Stop Bits 1 Transmit Character Timeout 500 msec Flow Control None DCD Mode Disabled Pre Data DCD Time 500 msec Post Data DCD Time 500 msec Serial Diagnostic Programming Mode Disabled Maximum Packet Size 300 Packet Mode Enhanced Telem Data Rate 12000 bps ACKs Disabled Data Cont...

Page 51: ...s Menu 42 displaying the configuration summary window 30 Download New Software 37 downloading a software upgrade 36 duty cycle 44 E entering programming mode 29 Esc key 30 Exit 29 F factory default parameters 27 50 file management procedures 36 Flow Control 26 32 Frequency Trim 46 H hardware installation 13 I ID 36 L LEDs 15 M Main Menu 39 Max Packet Size 25 33 menu windows 39 mounting instruction...

Page 52: ... 29 parameters to disk 37 Select Repeater Entry 35 selecting the repeater entry to edit 35 Serial Menu 40 serial parameters basic 25 serial port connector 14 setting the active channel 31 the baud rate 32 the contention option 34 the data bits 32 the data rate 34 the DCD mode 32 the flow control option 32 the maximum packet size 33 the packet mode 33 the post data DCD time 33 the pre data DCD time...