Company Confidential
26
Raveon Technologies Corp.
The RF-7800W will only transmit GPS position if it has GPS lock. If the GPS
antenna is broken or obscured [[[???]]], the unit will not report position or status.
When it is locked to GPS, it will transmit its position and status at the interval
programmed into the
TXRATE
parameter.
In GPS mode 1 (Transponder), the unit will power-down the radio receiver because
it does not receive any over-the-air messages. It will also power-down the GPS if
the
TXRATE
setting is long enough for it to turn the GPS off, and back-on before
the next time it needs to report position. For example, if the TXRATE is set to 120
(2 minutes), the RF-7800W will power the GPS off for most all of this time, only
turning on the GPS long enough before it needs to transmit so that it can get a
position fix. In GPS modes 2-4, the radio receiver is always on. GPS mode 1 is
the lowest power-consumption mode.
9. TFTP Bootloader
9.1. Introduction
The RF7800W comes equipped with a TFTP bootloader for firmware updates over
the Ethernet connection. It is initiated from the main modem software so the user
must input both IP address of the TFTP server and the filename of the firmware
image with which to update. From there, the bootloader runs autonomously and
only require
s user input if there is an error during the transfer (i.e. can’t find IP
address of server or can’t find filename specified on server). The three LEDs on
the front of the RF7800W are used to indicate status during the TFTP transfer.
The first light comes on when a TFTP transfer is initiated, the second when the unit
successfully connects to a server and the last when the process completes. If
there is an error, the LEDs will light according to figure 1 below, and a Telnet
session will start in order to service this discrepancy. The user can then interact
with the bootloader through a Telnet session explained below. If this also fails,
there is a button inside the case to manually initiate a transfer.
9.2. LEDs
The three front panel LEDs are used for status during a TFTP transfer (download).
Since most of the green/red combinations of these LEDs are used in the main
RF7800W firmware, orange (use of red and green together) is the main color for
the TFTP bootloader status. The top (GPS) LED comes on when a TFTP transfer
is initiated. Next, when the device successfully connects to a TFTP server, the
second LED down (STAT) lights up. Finally, when the TFTP transfer completes,
the last LED (PWR) lights up. After a successful transfer, there is a 3 second delay
so the user can see that all three LEDs are lit and the transfer was a success. If
there is a problem with the transfer, all three lights will light different colors as
shown in figure 1, below (Red, Orange and Green). In this case, a Telnet session
is initiated as described below in order to troubleshoot the issue.
