Technical Manual
Table Of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Hardware
- 3. The A431 Radio Module
- 3.1. About the A431 Radio Module
- 3.2. Functional description
- 3.3. Manufacturing Issues
- 3.3.1. Marking and labeling issues
- 3.3.2. Alignment Range and Switching Range
- 3.3.3. Tuning Procedure
- 3.3.4. Setting Up the Default Parameters
- 3.3.5. Definitions
- 3.3.6. Test Equipment Settings
- 3.3.7. Trimming Elements
- 3.3.8. Adjusting the Receiver Front End
- 3.3.9. Adjusting the VCOs
- 3.3.10. Adjusting the Crystal Reference
- 3.3.11. Checking the Receiver Parameters
- 3.3.12. Checking the Transmitter Parameters
- 3.3.13. Data Transfer Check
- 3.4. PCB Parts Placement
- 3.6. Frequency Reference Specifications
- 3.7. A431 Module’s Photographs
- 4. Software
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Serial Communication Protocol
4.3. Controlling the Unit
The unit under test can be controlled by means of the special serial cable supplied
by Adcon Telemetry that is connected to a PC (e.g. a laptop) on one side and to the
POWER connector on the other side. In order to switch the unit to various modes of
operations, a simple communications terminal program will suffice (e.g. Terminal or
Hyperterminal in Windows, or Kermit under other platforms). The terminal program
must be configured as follows:
• 19200 Baud
• 8 Data Bits
• No Parity
• 1 Stop Bit
• Force LF after CR
Note: The interface is TTL, not RS-232. The adapter cable provided by Adcon must
be used.
4.3.1. Serial Communication Protocol
This protocol is based on a master sending commands and a node answering; the
whole communication is conducted in plain ASCII, as strings. When exchanging
numbers, they are represented in decimal format. All commands are terminated with
a CR/LF combination. All responses (answers) are terminated with the # character.
4.3.2. General Format of a Command
The commands have the following format:
ID Command Param1 Param2 ... ParamN
• ID is the destination device. If you include an ID as part of a command, the
node checks whether ID=ownID. If it does, the node executes the command
on itself. If the ID is not the node’s ID, the node executes the command on a
remote device, if such an ID exists. If the ID is missing, this implies that the
command is addressed locally.
Note: Not all the commands can be relayed remotely.
• Command is the command proper, which can be composed of a variable string
of characters (for example, SLOT). Each node can implement a set of com-
mands depending on the functionality of the node itself. However, as a mini-
mum requirement, a node recognizes the CMDS command, which returns a list
with the commands recognized by the node.
• Param1 Param2 ... ParamN
represent the parameters, which are com-
mand dependent. If you type no parameters when you issue a command, it is
the equivalent of querying for information (the GET version of a command). If