Campbell RF401A Series, Instruction Manual

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RF401A-Series Spread Spectrum Radio
18
11.1 Main
11.1.1 Active Interface
The radio provides three physical ports for interfacing to a computer,
datalogger, or other device. They are USB, RS-232, and CS I/O. The CS I/O
port has two operational modes, SDC and ME Master. Additionally, there is
PakBus Router which is a software defined interface that disables normal
operation of all of the physical ports. Only one interface can be selected as
active at any given time. Note that despite the value of this setting, the USB
port will always be available for configuration.
Interface Description
CS I/O SDC
Use this setting when the CS I/O port is connected to a
Campbell Scientific datalogger CS I/O port. The
devices will use the concurrent synchronous device for
communication protocol. Also, see the setting SDC
Address and make sure that multiple SDC devices
connected to a single CS I/O port use unique SDC
addresses.
RS-232
Use this setting when the RS-232 port is connected to
the RS-232 port of a datalogger, computer, or another
RS-232 device. This setting is most commonly used
when connecting the radio to a device without a CS I/O
port or when linking two communication peripherals,
for example directly connecting the radio to an Ethernet
serial server. Also, see RS-232 Baud Rate and the
advanced settings RS-232 Parity, Stop Bits, Character
Length, and Auto Power Down.
USB
Use this setting when connecting the radio to a
computer. This setting is the most common when the
device is used as a “base radio” for a network. A
computer’s USB port can simultaneously be used for
powering and communicating with the device.
PakBus Router
Use this setting when a stand-alone PakBus® router is
required to repeat messages through a network. In this
mode, the CS I/O, RS-232, and USB ports are NOT
available for connecting other devices for normal
network operations. Note that despite the value of this
setting, the USB port will always be available for
configuration. The Protocol setting must be set as
PakBus Node. Also ensure that PakBus Address is
unique within the PakBus network.
CS I/O ME
Master
Use this setting only under special circumstances where
the CSI/O port is connected to another Campbell
Scientific peripheral configured for Modem Enable
(ME) through an A100 Null Modem Adapter. The
A100 will swap TX / RX and ME / RING and supply
power to the devices. The ME Baud Rate of both
devices must match. An example includes connecting
this device to a COM2xx phone modem. Also see ME
Baud Rate.