Appendix H – COMP1 Interface Specifications - 26
Appendix H – COMP1 Interface Specifications
This appendix is included for those who want to attach the
WaveWare Paging System
to existing systems that
output raw data or simple data strings that are normally used in printing status logs on serial printers. The COMP1
protocol is designed to emulate one of the operational modes of the Motorola People Finder™ paging system.
A simple definition of the COMP1 protocol is that the COMP1 protocol allows raw ASCII data to be sent to all
pagers in the Group one list of the
WaveWare Paging System
's group database. The group lists must be defined in
TAP mode using the WaveWare Paging Encoder Setup. The COMP1 interface supports paging messages up to 255
characters in length, contact monitoring, and timed messaging.
To configure your
WaveWare Paging System
to use the COMP1 paging protocol, you may be required to
configure the DIP switch bank in the paging encoder. Please refer to Appendix B – DIP Switch Settings, for details
on configuring communication protocols. As a quick reference, the DIP switch setting for the COMP1 interface is
switch 7 in the OFF position and all other switches in the ON position. This tells the system to operate in COMP1
interface mode, with communication parameters of 9600N81, with hardware flow control.
Your
WaveWare Paging System
typically communicates with a PC or other host device via RS-232 at 9600 Baud,
8 data bits and 1 stop bit. The eighth data bit is ignored (no parity). You can configure the paging system for other
serial communication parameters. Please refer to Appendix B – DIP Switch Settings, for details on serial
communication parameters.
The paging system maintains an input buffer, which can receive commands from the PC while paging messages are
being transmitted. The paging encoder encodes paging messages into POCSAG paging format and transmits the
encoded paging message through the internal radio transmitter. If the Carrier Detect function is enabled,
transmissions will be delayed while interfering signals are detected.
Control characters recognized by the paging encoder in COMP1 protocol mode include:
CARRIAGE
RETURN
<CR>
$0D
LINEFEED
<LF>
$0A
Control characters generated by the
WaveWare Paging System
in COMP1 protocol mode when software flow
control mode is active include:
XON
<XON>
$13
XOFF
<XOFF> $11
In COMP1 interface protocol, the
WaveWare Paging System
does not provide feedback response signals on the
serial port, other than flow control signals. COMP1 is a one way (simplex) protocol.
The COMP1 operation is as follows: When incoming data is detected on the serial port, one of three things will
happen: 1) A carriage return character is detected in the datastream, 2) a time period of approximately 10 seconds
elapses after receipt of the last character on the serial port, or 3) 256 characters or more accumulate in the serial port
input buffer. If any of these three events occur, the paging system will strip any carriage return and linefeed
characters and transmit the remainder of the datastream to all pagers defined in the encoder's pager database.
If the serial port input buffer becomes filled with greater than 1000 characters, the paging system will output either a
hardware or software flow control response, depending upon how DIP switch 1 is configured. Once the serial port
input buffer drops below 450 characters, the paging system will use flow control signals to indicate that it is no
longer busy and that additional data can be delivered to the serial port.
NOTE:
When using COMP1 mode, please note that all data is transmitted to the pagers listed in group one of the
WaveWare Paging System
pager database. When setting up for COMP1 operation, you should limit the pager
quantity in the pager database to no more than a few pagers, in order to avoid excessive paging transmissions.
