Actisense USG-1-B-422, User Manual

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Page 4 © 2009 Active Research Limited
Important Notices
Actisense and the Actisense logo are registered trademarks
of Active Research Limited. All rights are reserved. The
contents of this manual may not be transferred or copied
without the expressed written permission of Active
Research Limited. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
The Actisense USB to Serial Gateway (USG-1) is intended
for use in a marine environment, but only below decks.
If the unit is to be used in a more severe environment,
such use may be considered misuse under the seller’s
warranty.
The Actisense USG-1 has been certified to comply with
the European directive for Electro-Magnetic Compatibility
(EN60945), and is appropriately CE marked. Operation
of the unit should be in conjunction with appropriate
CE approved shielded connectors and cabling used in
accordance with the CE directive EN60945. Any EMC
related issues should be reported to Active Research
immediately to allow the company to rectify or resolve
EMC related problems in accordance with its obligations
under EN60945.
If the unit is connected such that compliance failure occurs
beyond the company’s control, the company shall not be
held responsible for compliance failure until suitable EMC
guidelines for connection are seen to have been taken.
Notices
When using this document, keep the following in mind:
The products described in this manual and the specifications
thereof may be changed without prior notice. To obtain up-
to-date information and/or specifications, contact Active
Research Limited or visit the Actisense website (www.
actisense.com) .
Active Research Limited will not be liable for infringement
of copyright, industrial property right, or other rights of a
third party caused by the use of information or drawings
described in this manual.
Active Research Limited will not be held responsible for
any damage to the user that may result from accidents
or any other reasons during operation of the user’s unit
according to this document.
When used on an NMEA 0183 system the USG-1 does not
validate the NMEA data it receives in any way. Neither the
NMEA sentence checksum, nor the data contained within
the NMEA sentence is validated. Therefore, the electronic
device(s) supplying the USG-1 with NMEA data retain(s)
the sole responsibility for the NMEA data’s validity.
Foreword
Actisense recognises that instructions are often skipped,
so we have aimed to write this document in an informative,
yet direct manner that will aid the user. We have tried
to cover all the points a typical user may need to know.
Please read all sections before installing and using the
Actisense USB to Serial Gateway product.
Introduction
The Actisense USB to Serial Gateway (USG-1) product
developed out of the requirement to solve three fundamental
problems with interfacing the marine industry NMEA 0183
communications standard to a PC.
These are:
1.
Ground loops
. When the PC and the NMEA 0183
system have different ground potentials (or are
totally different ground altogether), data can become
corrupted and permanent damage can occur.
2. Different standards . When you buy a standard USB
to serial converter, they normally provide PC standard
RS232 port, whereas NMEA 0183 uses a standard
called RS422. This results in Incompatible voltage
levels and electrical driver types.
3. PC has no serial port. Most modern PCs do not
come with serial ports any more as these are being
replaced by the new standard of USB.
Full information on the complete Actisense product range
can be found on the Actisense website .