Campbell RTMS SYSTEMS Instruction Manual - page 11
SECTION 2. ASSEMBLING THE RADIOTELEMETRY NETWORK
2-4
1. RF modem's ID matches ID in the RF Path.
2. Field station's radio and datalogger have
sufficient power.
3. Radio is connected to RF modem.
4. RF modem is the only thing connected to
datalogger's 9-pin connector.
2.6 ADDING STATIONS TO THE NET
DESCRIPTION
It is possible to deploy the entire RF datalogger
network, testing the RF links as they are
installed, without adding any of the remote site
to the Net Description. Some users find this
technique desirable. On many other networks it
may be desirable to start data collection from
sites as soon as possible and the sites should
be added to the Net Description after their links
have been tested. The testing of RF links can
continue concurrently with data collection and
other RTMS functions. Some functions may be
delayed slightly due to a RF test or the RF test
may have to wait on other operations. These
delays are usually not significant.
Experience has shown that it is desirable to
verify an RF link with the RF TEST LINK before
adding stations to the Net Description that utilize
that link.
Before adding remote stations to the
description, return to the parameter for the RF
base and ensure that they are set correctly.
The Polling Interval needs to be set for correct
operation as it determines the rate at which the
remote dataloggers are checked for data. Add
the remote field sites as children of the RF
base. Repeater only sites are not added as
nodes. To utilize a repeater (either a repeater
only site or another field site) simply precede
the remote’s ID with the repeater's ID in the VIA
RF MODEM box in the remote’s station
parameters. Separate the IDs with a comma.
Section 5.1 of the RTMS manual gives
additional information on creating Net
Descriptions. Be sure to make the current
description active if any changes are made.
2.6.1 NETWORK HEALTH DISPLAY AND
ERROR, WARNING, AND STATUS
MESSAGES
As remote sites are added to the network
description, they also appear on the network
health display (NetAdmin main screen). The
color of the site indicates the type of the last
message about that station. Red indicates a
fault message, blue indicates a warning
message, green indicates a status message
(usually successful communication), and black
indicates no communication has been
attempted. Selecting STATUS/WARNING/
FAULT under VIEW on the main menu will
display a box displaying these messages. See
Section 5.5 of the RTMS manual. Messages
regarding remote RF sites are:
•
Broadcast failure
−
A remote did not
respond to a broadcast message.
•
Poll failure
−
A remote did not respond to a
broadcast message or retries.
•
Bad link
−
A remote did not respond to a
direct attempt to communicate with it. Link
will be marked bad.
•
Communication restored
−
A link that was
previously marked bad has been restored.
See Section 3.1.5 for more information on how
RF communication takes place.
2.7 RADIO TEST RESULTS
Completed link test results are shown in the "Test
Status/Results" box. If successful, test results
show the PROM signature of the RF modem
whose switch setting is last in the RF path, and a
communication "Quality Report" with a record for
each hop specified in the path. The number of
"Quality Records" reported in the test response
depends on the number of RF modems listed in
the RF path. If one remote node is listed in the
command then there will be two quality records.
The first record shows how well the remote node
was able to receive from the base, the second
shows how well the base was able to receive from
the remote. With two or more modems listed in
the path, the first quality record will indicate how
well the most remote modem received. The rest
of the quality records show how well data was
received with each hop going from the most
remote node back to the base. So, if two RF
modems were listed in the test path, there would
be three quality records in the response. The