The following table describes the data components that can be selected for graphing.
Custom Selections
Description
All TX & RX Frames
All WEIDMULLER transmissions sent and received by the radio being monitored. This option is the
same as the normal Channel Survey explained in
“5.5 Channel Survey” on page 74.
All TX Frames
All data frames transmitted by the radio being monitored. This is the default for chart one and will
help to segregate the overall channel utilization into transmissions from the radio being monitored or
transmissions from other radios. This option encompasses TX first attempt, TX retries and TX ACK
messages described in this table.
All RX Frames
All data frames received by the radio being monitored. This is the default for chart two and will
display only received WEIDMULLER data frames.
TX First Attempt
Messages
Amount of time spent transmitting first-attempt messages from the modem (all messages will be
retried if the first do not succeed). This option allows you to log the number of times messages
fail to get through on the first attempt, which can indicate some level of interference because the
message may have clashed with other radio messages. This option (along with TX Retries and TX
Acknowledge) is useful for breaking down the amount of time spent transmitting messages into
“normal transmissions,” “retries,” and “acknowledgments.”
TX Retries
Percentage of time spent transmitting retry messages from the modem. This is useful for determining
if the communications get through after the first retry or they continue to fail.
TX Acknowledge
Messages
Percentage of time spent transmitting acknowledgment messages from the modem and Broadcast
messages.
Radio Hold Off
Percentage of time that the radio has spent holding off from transmitting data, possibly because the
channel is busy.
RX to This Radio
Percentage of time receiving messages specifically for the radio being monitored. For example,
WEIDMULLER radio communication frames from other modems in the system that are
specifically addressed to this modem.
RX to Other Radios
Percentage of time receiving valid WEIDMULLER messages addressed to other radios within the
system. For example, radios may be communicating through a repeater and the host can hear the
message directly. This is useful for determining how much radio traffic the modem can hear that it
may not need to hear.
RX Acknowledgments
Percentage of time receiving acknowledge messages.
RX Errors
Percentage of time handling radio receive error messages, such as corrupted data, and data
collisions.
Example 1
A good test would be to configure chart one to show
“All Tx Frames,” which are all valid data frames transmitted
over the radio link, and configure chart two to show
“All Rx Frames,” which are all valid data frames received from
any source (WEIDMULLER WI-MOD-xxx-E-5W data frames). From the results shown Figure 82, you can see that
Chart 1 shows a large amount of data is being transmitted in the last part of the 60-second scan (the end of the
chart), and the receive data in Chart 2 also shows a slight increase in traffic. From this you can deduce that the
radio itself or a device on the Ethernet network of the radio is transmitting a large amount of data.
If the charts showed an increased number of RX Frames instead of TX frames, it would indicate one or all of the
remote radios are transmitting excessive data, and it would be advisable to perform the same TX/RX Custom
Survey on these remote site/sites to determine the cause for the excessive data.
