Intuicom Communicator II User manual

Intuicom, Inc.
1880 S Flatiron Court
Boulder, CO 80301
[phone]
www.intuicom.com
Intuicom®
Communicator IITM
Spread Spectrum Wireless Data Transceiver
User Guide

Communicator II User Guide
This manual is for use by purchasers and other authorized users of the IntuicomProducts. No
part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, or for any purpose without the express written permission of Intuicom Inc.
© 2000 - 2003 Intuicom Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Intuicom reserves the right to make changes to this manual without notice. Unless otherwise
agreed to in writing, Intuicom assumes no responsibility or liability for the use of this manual or
for the infringement of any copyright or other proprietary right and Intuicom shall deem nothing
contained in this manual a warranty or guarantee.
Intuicom, WiGate, Nav-Link, TargeTracker, Intuicom Communicator, Intuicom SmartGPS
Tracker/Surveyor, Intuicom SmartGPS Navigator, Intuicom Navigator II and Intuicom
Communicator II are trade names of Intuicom, Inc.
Other product names mentioned in this manual may be copyrights, trademarks, or registered
trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.
Revision 1.0c i © 2003 Intuicom Inc.

Communicator II User Guide
This product is licensed by The United States.
Diversion contrary to U.S. law is prohibited.
Shipment or re-export of this product outside of The
United States may require authorization by the U.S.
Bureau of Export Administration. Please contact
Intuicom, Inc. for assistance and further information.
Revision 1.0c ii © 2003 Intuicom Inc.

Communicator II User Guide
Table of Contents
1Product Overview ................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Communicator II roles in Intuicom Wireless Data Networks......................................... 1
2Quick Start ............................................................................................................................ 2
3Quick Start on a Multipoint System ................................................................................... 3
3.1 0) Set Operation Mode.................................................................................................... 3
3.2 1) Set Baud Rate.............................................................................................................. 3
3.3 3) Edit Radio Transmission Characteristics................................................................... 3
3.4 4) Edit Multipoint Parameters........................................................................................ 3
4Tuning Transceiver Performance ....................................................................................... 4
5Operation Mode Selections (Main Menu Option 0)........................................................... 6
5.1 (0) Point-to-Point Master ............................................................................................... 6
5.2 (1) Point-to-Point Slave .................................................................................................. 7
5.3 (2) Point-to-Multipoint Master ....................................................................................... 7
5.4 (3) Point-to-Multipoint Slave.......................................................................................... 7
5.5 (4) Point-to-Point Slave/Repeater................................................................................... 7
5.6 (5) Point-to-Point Repeater ............................................................................................ 8
5.7 (6) Point-to-Point Slave/Master Switchable ................................................................... 8
5.8 (7) Point-to-Multipoint Repeater .................................................................................. 11
5.9 TDMA (If TDMA firmware option installed)................................................................ 11
5.10 (F) Ethernet options...................................................................................................... 11
6Multipoint Operation.......................................................................................................... 12
6.1 Theory of Operation...................................................................................................... 12
6.2 Installing Multipoint Systems........................................................................................ 12
6.3 Overlapping Multipoint Systems................................................................................... 13
6.4 Setting Multipoint Parameters (Main Menu Option 5)................................................. 13
6.4.1 (0) Number Repeaters........................................................................................... 13
6.4.2 (1) Master Packet Repeat...................................................................................... 13
6.4.3 Master Packet Repeat in Multipoint Systems with Repeaters .............................. 14
6.4.4 (2) Max Slave Retry and (3) Retry Odds.............................................................. 15
6.4.5 (4) DTR Connect................................................................................................... 16
6.4.6 (5) Repeater Frequency......................................................................................... 16
6.4.7 (6) NetWork ID..................................................................................................... 16
6.4.8 (8) MultiMaster Synch.......................................................................................... 16
6.4.9 (9) 1 PPS Enable/Delay ........................................................................................ 16
6.4.10 (A) Slave/Repeater................................................................................................ 17
6.4.11 (B) Diagnostics ..................................................................................................... 17
6.4.12 (C) Subnet ID........................................................................................................ 18
6.4.13 (D) Radio ID ......................................................................................................... 20
7Baud Rate (Main Menu Option 1)..................................................................................... 21
7.1 (0-9) Set Baud Rate...................................................................................................... 21
7.2 (A) Data Word Length and Parity ................................................................................ 22
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Communicator II User Guide
7.3 (B) ModBus RTU........................................................................................................... 22
7.4 (C) RS232/485............................................................................................................... 22
7.5 (D) Setup Port............................................................................................................... 23
7.6 (E) Turn on/off delay..................................................................................................... 23
7.7 (F) Flow Control........................................................................................................... 24
8Call Book (Main Menu Option 2)...................................................................................... 25
8.1 Entering or Modifying numbers in the Call Book......................................................... 26
8.2 Programming the Call Book to Use 3 or 4 Repeaters .................................................. 26
8.3 Programming The Call Book in Multipoint Systems .................................................... 28
9Radio Parameters (Main Menu Option 3)........................................................................ 29
9.1 (0) FreqKey................................................................................................................... 29
9.2 (0) Hop Table Version .................................................................................................. 31
9.2.1 (1) Hop Table Size................................................................................................ 31
9.2.2 (2) Hop Freq Offset............................................................................................... 31
9.2.3 Additional Frequency information for 2.4GHz transceivers ................................ 31
9.3 (1,2) Max Packet Size and Min Packet Size.................................................................. 33
9.4 (3) Xmit Rate................................................................................................................. 35
9.5 (4) RF Data Rate........................................................................................................... 35
9.6 (6) Slave Security .......................................................................................................... 36
9.7 (7) RTS to CTS .............................................................................................................. 36
9.8 (8) Retry Time Out ........................................................................................................ 37
9.9 (9) Lowpower Mode...................................................................................................... 37
9.10 (A) High Noise .............................................................................................................. 38
9.11 (B) MCU speed ............................................................................................................. 38
10 Radio Statistics (Main Menu Option 4) ........................................................................ 39
10.1 Average Noise Level ..................................................................................................... 39
10.2 Average Signal Level .................................................................................................... 40
10.3 Overall Rcv Rate (%).................................................................................................... 40
10.4 Number of Disconnects................................................................................................. 40
10.5 Radio Temperature ....................................................................................................... 41
11 TDMA Menu (Main Menu Option 6) ........................................................................... 42
12 Password (Main Menu Option 8) .................................................................................. 43
12.1 Setting a Password........................................................................................................ 43
12.2 Changing a Password................................................................................................... 43
12.3 Disabling a Password................................................................................................... 43
13 Transceiver Location...................................................................................................... 44
14 Front Panel LEDs ........................................................................................................... 45
15 RS232 Pin Assignments .................................................................................................. 46
16 Establishing Data Communication Links..................................................................... 48
17 RS422 and RS485 Operation ......................................................................................... 52
18 Other Settings..................................................................................................................54
18.1 Baud Rate...................................................................................................................... 54
18.2 Setup Timeout................................................................................................................ 54
19 Technical Specifications ................................................................................................. 55
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Communicator II User Guide
19.1 900 Mhz Band Communicator II................................................................................... 55
19.2 2.4 Ghz Band Communicator II.................................................................................... 57
20 Enclosure Mechanical Drawing..................................................................................... 59
21 FCC Notification ............................................................................................................. 60
22 Warranty ......................................................................................................................... 61
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Communicator II User Guide
List of Tables
Table 4-1: Serial Settings to access Setup Menu............................................................................ 4
Table 5-1: Mode 6 Commands ....................................................................................................... 9
Table 6-1: Subnet ID Settings for example Multipoint Subnet Diagram ..................................... 19
Table 7-1: Data word length and parity selections ....................................................................... 22
Table 7-2: Data port protocol selections....................................................................................... 23
Table 7-3: Setup port selections.................................................................................................... 23
Table 7-4:Flow control selections................................................................................................. 24
Table 9-1: Frequency Bands 900 Mhz.......................................................................................... 31
Table 9-2: Frequency Band Selection 2.4 Ghz ............................................................................. 32
Table 9-3: Min Packet Size Settings (Bytes) ................................................................................ 34
Table 9-4: Max Packet Size Settings (Bytes) RF Data Rate 2...................................................... 34
Table 9-5: Max Packet Size Settings (Bytes) RF Data Rate 3...................................................... 35
Table 9-6: Low Power Settings..................................................................................................... 38
Table 9-7: MCU Speed Settings ................................................................................................... 38
Table 14-1: LED Status in Point-to-Point Mode .......................................................................... 45
Table 14-2: LED Status in Point-to-Multipoint Mode.................................................................. 45
Table 14-3: LED Status Legend ................................................................................................... 45
Table 15-1: Main RS232 Port Pinout............................................................................................ 46
Table 15-2: Diagnostics RS232 Port............................................................................................. 46
Table 15-3: Signal Definitions...................................................................................................... 47
Table 17-1: RS422 and RS485 Full Duplex Pinouts .................................................................... 53
Table 17-2: RS485 Half Duplex Pinout........................................................................................ 53
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Communicator II User Guide
Table of Figures
Figure 1-1: Intuicom Communicator II Front Panel....................................................................... 1
Figure 4-1: Setup Main Menu......................................................................................................... 5
Figure 5-1: Operation Mode Menu.................................................................................................6
Figure 5-2: Call Book Menu......................................................................................................... 10
Figure 6-1: Multipoint Parameters................................................................................................ 15
Figure 6-2: Multipoint Subnet Diagram ....................................................................................... 19
Figure 7-1: Baud Rate and other items related to the data port .................................................... 21
Figure 8-1: Call Book Menu......................................................................................................... 26
Figure 8-2: Calling a Slave Through 4 Repeaters......................................................................... 27
Figure 9-1: Radio Transmission Parameters Menu ...................................................................... 29
Figure 9-2: Hop Table Parameters................................................................................................ 30
Figure 9-3: Frequency Key and Hop Table Options 2.4 Ghz ....................................................... 33
Figure 10-1: Radio Statistics Menu .............................................................................................. 39
Figure 15-1: Communicator II Front Panel .................................................................................. 46
Figure 16-1: Point-to-Point no Repeater....................................................................................... 48
Figure 16-2: Point-to-Point with Repeater.................................................................................... 48
Figure 16-3: Point-to-Point with two Repeaters ........................................................................... 49
Figure 16-4: Point-to-Point with Slave/Repeaters ........................................................................ 49
Figure 16-5: Point-to-Multipoint network .................................................................................... 50
Figure 16-6: Point-to-Multipoint with Repeaters ......................................................................... 51
Revision 1.0c vii © 2003 Intuicom Inc.

Section 1: Product Overview
1 Product Overview
Welcome to the Intuicom Communicator II License-Free Spread-Spectrum Wireless Data
Transceiver. The Intuicom Communicator II can be used in a wide variety of roles to wirelessly
enable the flow of data to and from serial devices. Communicator II transceivers can be operated
in straightforward point-to-point or point-to-multipoint networks or in conjunction with Intuicom
Navigator II transceivers for highly functional Adaptive Multipoint networks combining multiple
serial ports and optional integrated GPS.
This User Guide covers basic setup and configuration of Intuicom Communicator II transceivers
and focuses on the most common mode of operation: Point-to-Multipoint.
SETUP
RADIO
MAIN DIAG CD
Communicator II
TX CTS -+
Figure 1-1: Intuicom Communicator II Front Panel
1.1 Communicator II roles in Intuicom Wireless Data Networks
While an Intuicom Navigator II can be used as a Master or a Repeater in an Intuicom
Multifunctional Adaptive Multipoint network, an Intuicom Communicator II often represents
a less costly option when Navigator II features are not required in these roles.
For more information about Intuicom Wireless Networks with Navigator II transceivers,
contact Intuicom.
Revision 1.0c 1 © 2003 Intuicom, Inc.

Section 2: Quick Start
2 Quick Start
When purchased as a pair the Intuicom®Communicator II Wireless Data Transceivers are
shipped from the factory pre-configured to operate together in point-to-point applications. The
Transceivers are preset for high-speed data communications and to communicate only with each
other.
Intuicom Communicator IIs will potentially operate in virtually any environment where RS232
data communications occur. The transceivers function as a 9-pin null modem cable. If the
Communicator II is to be used in an application where a null modem cable is used (such as
communication between two computers), then the transceivers can be connected directly. If the
transceivers are to be used to replace a straight-through RS232 cable, then a null modem cable or
adapter must be placed between the transceiver and the DCE instrument to which it is connected.
To establish communications between a pair of Intuicom Communicator II Wireless Data
Transceivers just received from the factory:
1. Set the baud rate on each transceiver to match the baud rate of the instrument to
which it is attached. Please note that when you are setting the transceiver's baud rate
you are setting its RS232 data rate, which must match the rate for the instrument to
which it is attached. This in turn means that the baud rate does not have to be on the
same setting for the two transceivers.
2. Verify that the RS232 connector on the cable supplied will fit the RS232 interface on
the instrument to which it is being connected. The cable supplied will fit a 9 pin male
RS232 connector; any other format will need an adapter or different cable.
3. Connect antennas to the transceivers. Any Communicator II transceiver may be
operated without an antenna for bench top testing without concern for damaging the
product.
4. Connect the transceiver to the instrument with the RS232 cable and attach the power
adapter to the transceiver. Shortly after both transceivers are plugged in they should
establish a communications link with each other and your connection is complete!
Note: The terms “Modem” and “Transceiver” are used interchangeably in this manual and in
the text of the setup menu. While the words have different meanings, the two terms should be
treated as one and the same for the purposes of use of the Intuicom product.
Revision 1.0c 2 © 2003 Intuicom, Inc.