Network commissioning and diagnostics
XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Modem User Guide
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Network commissioning and diagnostics
Network commissioning is the process whereby devices in a network are discovered and configured for operation.
The XLR PRO includes several features to support device discovery and configuration. To accommodate these
requirements, the XLR PRO includes various features to aid in device placement, configuration, and network
diagnostics.
Device configuration
The XLR PRO can be configured locally through serial commands (AT or API), or remotely through remote API
commands. API devices can send configuration commands to set or read the configuration settings of any device in
the network.
Device placement
For a repeater network installation to be successful, the installer must be able to determine where to place individual
XLR PRO devices to establish reliable RF links throughout the network.
Loopback testing
A good way to measure the performance of a network is to send unicast data through the network from one device to
another to determine the success rate of many transmissions. To simplify link testing, the XLR PROs support a
loopback cluster ID (0x12) on the data endpoint (0xE8). Any data sent to this cluster ID on the data endpoint will be
transmitted back to the sender. This is how a range test is accomplished in XCTU.
The configuration steps to send data to the loopback cluster ID depend on the AP setting:
AT Configuration (AP=0)
To send data to the loopback cluster ID on the data endpoint of a remote device, set the CI command value to 0x12.
The SE and DE commands should be set to 0xE8 (default value). The DH and DL commands should be set to the
address of the remote (the 64-bit address of the remote). After exiting command mode, any received serial characters
will be transmitted to the remote device, and returned to the sender.
API Configuration (AP=1 or AP=2)
Send an Explicit Addressing Command API frame (0x11) using 0x12 as the cluster ID and 0xE8 as the source and
destination endpoint. Data packets received by the remote will be echoed back to the sender.
RSSI Indicators
It is possible to measure the received signal strength on a device using the DB command. DB returns the RSSI value
(measured in -dBm) of the last received packet. However, this number can be misleading in a repeater network. The
DB value only indicates the received signal strength of the last hop if using repeater mode. If a transmission spans
multiple hops, the DB value provides no indication of the overall transmission path, or the quality of the worst link - it
only indicates the quality of the last link and should be used accordingly.
Device discovery
Network discovery
The network discovery command can be used to discover all XLR PROs that have joined a network. Issuing the ND
command sends a broadcast network discovery command throughout the network. All devices that receive the
command will send a response that includes the device’s addressing information, node identifier string (see NI