ST G3-PLC User manual

October 2014 DocID026814 Rev 1 1/52
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UM1811
User manual
G3-PLC graphical user interface (GUI)
Introduction
The G3 power line communication (G3-PLC) graphical user interface (GUI) is a tool
implemented by STMicroelectronics™ that allows interfacing one or more ST platforms
equipped with the G3-PLC protocol, hereafter called G3-PLC platforms. This tool is running
on a Microsoft®Windows®PC that is connected to a supported G3-PLC®platform (see
Section 2 on page 6) through to a serial link, converted to a USB connection. On the PC
side, the communication with the G3-PLC platform is managed thanks to a node interface
plugin written in C# accessible through a graphical front-end. On the G3-PLC platform, the
communication is managed thanks to a host interface application that receives/sends the
messages from/to the PC. Messages are translated into commands for the ST G3-PLC
library. This document does not describe in details the plugin, the host interface application,
nor the ST G3-PLC library. It describes the PC tool features, it details the options that it
offers, it gives clear guidance on how to connect a G3-PLC platform to the tool and it
provides examples in order to transmit data between two different G3-PLC platforms. To
better understand some menu of the GUI, it is useful to understand how the ST G3-PLC
protocol stack is implemented:
Figure 1. Communication between GUI and G3-PLC platform
On the G3-PLC platform, a Host Interface application forwards commands from the serial
link to the right layer of the protocol stack (6LoWPAN, MAC, PHY) and it forwards responses
from one layer of the protocol stack to the serial link. On the PC side, the node interface
plugin forwards commands from the graphical front-end to the serial link and it forwards the
responses from the serial link to the graphical front-end. The host interface application and
node interface plugin communicate thanks to a serial link.
www.st.com

Contents UM1811
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Contents
1 Documentation conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
List of abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 GUI installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1 System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 G3-PLC GUI release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 G3-PLC GUI main window overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3 Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1 Node connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2 Node tree panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3 GUI and Plugin Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
3.4 Automatic confirm and indication events parsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4 G3LIB menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1 G3LIB root menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2 G3LIB IB EX menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.3 G3LIB information base attributes description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5 PHY menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5.1 PHY root menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2 PLME control menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.3 PLME menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6 MAC menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.1 MAC root menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.2 MLME control menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.3 MLME IB menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.4 MLME IB EX menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.5 MAC information base attributes description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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7 ADP menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
7.1 ADP root menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
7.2 ADPM control menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
7.3 ADPM LBP menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
7.4 ADPM IB menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
7.5 ADP information base attributes description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
8 BER Test panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.1 Typical setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.2 Test description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
9 Sniffer panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
9.2 Data logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
10 Basic G3 operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
10.1 Environment setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
10.2 Connect Node 1 and 2 on the G3-PLC GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
10.3 PHY layer data exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
10.4 MAC layer data exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
10.5 ADP layer data exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
11 Revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

List of figures UM1811
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List of figures
Figure 1. Communication between GUI and G3-PLC platform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Figure 2. Main G3-PLC GUI window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Figure 3. Add a node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Figure 4. Node connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Figure 5. Node tree panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 6. Plugin Settings panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Figure 7. G3LIB root panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 8. G3LIB information base explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 9. Configure the host interface in PHY mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Figure 10. PHY root panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Figure 11. PLME control menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Figure 12. PLME menu description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Figure 13. Configure the host interface in MAC mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 14. MAC root panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Figure 15. MLME control menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 16. MAC IB menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Figure 17. MAC information base explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 18. Configure the host interface in ADP mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Figure 19. ADP root panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Figure 20. ADPM control menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 21. LoWPAN bootstrap protocol menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 22. ADPM_IB menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 23. Effect of show routing table command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 24. BER Test setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 25. Enable BER Test panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 26. Configure BER Test panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 27. Deactivate Reed-Solomon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Figure 28. Set GMK for the Sniffer tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 29. Sniffer tool activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 30. Sniffer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 31. Environment setup to perform the basic G3 operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 32. Configure Node 1 in TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 33. Configure Node 2 in RX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 34. Send PHY data from TX to RX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 35. Configure Node 1 PANId . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 36. Configure Node 1 short address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 37. Configure Node 2 PANId . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 38. Configure Node 2 short address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 39. Send MAC data from TX to RX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 40. MCPS-DATA.Indication message details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 41. Configure Node 1 GMK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 42. Send ADP data from TX to RX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

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1 Documentation conventions
List of abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used:
Table 1. List of abbreviations
Abbreviation Description
6LoWPAN IPv6 over low power wireless personal area networks
ADP Adaptation layer
BER Bit error rate
GUI Graphical user interface
G3 G3-PLC powerline protocol
MAC Medium access control layer
PC Personal computer
PHY Physical layer
PLC Power line communication
UART Universal asynchronous receiver transmitter
USB Universal serial bus

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2 GUI installation
2.1 System requirements
A personal computer (PC) including:
Operating system Windows 7.
Microsoft .NET©framework 4.0 or later installed.
20 Mbytes free on the local disk for the archive to be uncompressed.
One or more USB ports.
2.2 G3-PLC GUI release
The GUI is released in a zip archive. To run the application, the archive needs to be
uncompressed on the user local disk.
Once the archive is successfully uncompressed, the user needs to run the
StPowerLineGui.exe file.
2.3 G3-PLC GUI main window overview
Once the StPowerLineGui.exe executable has been launched, the main window of the G3-
PLC GUI appears on the screen after few seconds.

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Figure 2. Main G3-PLC GUI window
The elements of the main window are:
1. Power Line Sniffer button: it opens the Sniffer tool panel
2. Plugin Settings button: it opens the configuration panel
3. Plugin Information button: it shows the plugin information panel
4. ST Power Line GUI information button: it shows the G3-PLC GUI information panel
5. Node tree navigation panel: it is used to select a specific node and to choose the
command type
6. Command panel: it is used to execute a specific command
7. Trace window: it traces the traffic from/to the G3-PLC GUI application and one node.

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3 Getting started
3.1 Node connection
More than one G3-PLC platforms can be connected to the same instance of the G3-PLC
GUI. Click on the small cross on the command panel to connect one G3-PLC platform
(Figure 3). Alternatively, right-click on the ST PowerLine Host icon and click on “Add Node”.
Figure 3. Add a node
Once the “Add Node” cross has been selected, one new tab appears in the command panel.
In the node tree panel, selecting the “COM” section gives access to the serial link
configuration. Then the enhanced COM port that corresponds to the G3-PLC platform to be
driven needs to be selected. Click the Open port button (Figure 4) to enable the
communication between the G3-PLC GUI and the board.

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Figure 4. Node connection
Once the Open button has been selected (1), the trace window (2) allows checking that the
command has been correctly transmitted to the evaluation board. The G3-PLC GUI
command panel has as much tab as G3-PLC platforms are connected. To identify the tab,
the associated COM port is displayed in the panel title (3).
3.2 Node tree panel
The G3-PLC GUI offers access to the “Service Access Points” (SAP) of each layer specified
by the G3-PLC standard plus some additional features such as a bootstrap application or
the G3 library configuration.
Once a G3-PLC platform is connected, it can be explored thanks to the object tree panel.
Each root menu can be collapsed or not to see its detailed content. The detailed content
gives access to each specific SAP: PHY, MAC, ADP, BOOT and G3LIB.
Additional levels of the interface (such as IPv6) may be present. The related functions may
be used in conjunction with specific firmware projects that may be obtained from your local
support.

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Figure 5. Node tree panel
All the services provided by one layer may be accessed from the main menu or from one of
its sub menus. Below here there is a brief description of each main menu:
PHY: the PHY menu offers an interface to use the PHY primitives of the G3-PLC
protocol.
MAC: the MAC menu offers an interface to use the MAC primitives of the G3-PLC
protocol.
ADP: the ADP menu offers an interface to use the 6LoWPAN primitives of the G3-PLC
protocol.
BOOT: the BOOT menu offers an interface to use the ST defined bootstrap application.
This feature will not be described in this document. Please contact your ST local
support for additional information.

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G3LIB: this menu offers an interface to be able to configure the G3-PLC library and
access additional parameters that are not specified in the G3-PLC protocol.
IPv6: the IPv6 menu offers the possibility to drive a specific firmware with the IPv6 on
the top of G3. This feature will not be described in this document. Please contact your
ST local support for additional information.
TEST: the TEST menu offers an interface for test purposes.
Each menu provides one specific SAP layer of the G3-PLC stack. In order to access a given
SAP layer, the G3-PLC implementation needs to be configured to work in a specific
operational mode.
In order to do this, the G3LIB section exports the HI-MODE-SET command, which can set
one of the following values:
0x00 - PHY_MODE: the PHY only working mode. The device may perform all the
operations described by the G3-PLC standard for the PHY layer.
0x01 - MAC_MODE: the MAC working mode. The device may perform all the
operations described by the G3-PLC standard for the MAC layer.
0x02 - ADP_MODE: the ADP/6LoWPAN working mode. The device may perform all the
operations described by the G3-PLC standard for the adaptation layer.
0x03 - BOOT_MODE (default): the BOOT working mode. The device may perform all
the operations described by the G3-PLC standard for the adaptation layer. In addition,
the bootstrap application is activated. This is the default mode of operation.
Additional operational modes (such as IPv6) may be present. The related functions may be
used in conjunction with specific firmware projects that may be obtained from your local
support.
3.3 GUI and Plugin Settings
Under the Plugin Settings button (1) represented in Figure 5, some advanced G3-PLC GUI
features may be enabled or disabled.
Request/Response Trace Layout: it changes the layout of the trace panel
Asynchronous Rx message thread: see Section 3.4 on page 12
TESTLAB panel: enables the test panel as described in Section 8 on page 38
Sniffer MAC Key: the 128-bit key used by the MAC layer to cipher data. Configuring the
key is necessary to decipher the MAC frames captured by the Sniffer.
Additional information (i.e.: the version numbers) related to the G3-PLC GUI may be
checked under the Plugin Information and ST PowerLine GUI buttons.

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Figure 6. Plugin Settings panel
3.4 Automatic confirm and indication events parsing
The G3-PLC GUI has an automatic management of the “Confirm” and “Indication” events
communicated by the G3-PLC platform. As a consequence the user does not need to
periodically poll the status of the G3-PLC platform.
It is possible to disable this functionality for test purposes. Under the Plugin Setting (1) the
Asynchronous Rx message thread button (2) enables or disables that feature.

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4 G3LIB menu
4.1 G3LIB root menu
The G3LIB root menu allows to configure the G3-PLC library implementation and to get
access to features not specified by the G3 protocol.
Figure 7. G3LIB root panel
The G3LIB main menu contains two areas. The first one (1) comprises the commands
useful to configure the host interface application:
HI-MODE-SET.Request: this command sets the G3-PLC platform working mode.
HI-MODE-GET.Request: this command gets the operational mode of the host interface
application.
HI-STATE-GET.Request: this command performs a basic action to test the connection
with the board.
HI-HWRESET.Request: this command performs a system reset of the device.
The second area includes (2) all the commands related to the G3 library configuration. The
following commands are available:
G3LIB-TESTMODE.Request: this command enables or disables a specific test mode
used for G3-PLC library verification, which normally is not useful for the user.
G3LIB-GET.Request: this command is used to get the value of one attribute of the G3-
PLC ST library.
G3LIB-SET.Request: this command is used to set the value of one attribute of the G3-
PLC ST library.

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Below this SET command, a list of options or a text box allows providing the value with
which the selected attribute is set.
G3LIB-SWRESET.Request: this command performs a software reset of the G3-PLC
protocol stack (RTE and non-RTE part.).
G3LIB-GET/SET.confirm: these commands are used to get asynchronous confirm
message from the application to the connected device. Note that the “Confirm”
message is sent automatically by the application as described in Section 3.4 on page
12.
4.2 G3LIB IB EX menu
IB-EX stands for the information base explorer. This menu offers the user the ability to
read/modify any attribute of the library information base.
It is made of a white board in which the user can drag and drop the desired attribute from
the list on the left side.
Figure 8. G3LIB information base explorer
More than one attribute may be added in the white board. A generic set/get method is then
available to write/read the attribute.

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4.3 G3LIB information base attributes description
From the G3LIB menu, a set of attributes may be read and written. These attributes are not
specified by the G3-PLC protocol. Here is a brief description of all those attributes:
Table 2. G3LIB real-time engine information base attributes
Real-time engine attributes
RTEFWVERSION The real-time engine firmware version
RTEPROTOVERSION The real-time engine protocol version
RTEDRQUEUESIZE The number of TX packets that could be handled by the real-time engine
RTETXPACKETCOUNT The statistical counter of transmitted packet by the real-time engine
RTERXPACKETCOUNT The statistical counter of correct received packet by the real-time engine
RTEMODE The real-time engine working mode (0 rt-MAC, 1 PHY-only)
RTECAPABILITIES Internal use
RTEVALIDATIONTEST Internal use
Table 3. G3LIB protocol engine information base attributes
Protocol engine attributes
PEFWVERSION The protocol engine firmware version
PEPROTOVERSION The protocol engine protocol version
PEDEBUGLEVEL Debug mode settings
PEMODE The G3-PLC library working mode (0 PHY, 1 MAC,2 ADP, 3 BOOT)
PEUNUSED Unused
PECURRENTTIME Current time in the G3-PLC library
Table 4. PHY layer information base attributes
PHYSICAL layer attributes
PHYCRCERRPKTCOUNT The statistical counter of the packet received by PHY with error detected by
CRC5
PHYCRCFAILPKTCOUNT The statistical counter of the packet received by PHY with a correct CRC5 but
with error on the fields range
PHYLASTRCVPKTMODE Last received mode
PHYISFIXEDDT The DT field has a fixed value specified by the PHYDTValue attribute (0 - DT
has not the fixed value, 1 - DT has a fixed value)
PHYDTVALUE The value of the DT field in PHY FCH of the next frames
PHYISFIXEDPDC PDC has a fixed value specified by the PHYPDCValue attribute (0 - PDC has
not the fixed value, 1 - PDC has a fixed value)
PHYPDCVALUE The value of the PDC field in PHY FCH of the next frames
PHYRSFAILPKTCOUNT The statistical counter of the packet received by PHY with errors that can't be
corrected by the Reed-Solomon decoder

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PHYLASTRCVPKTRSSTATUS Status returned by the Reed-Solomon decoder on the last received packet (0
- no errors, 1 - corrected errors, 2 or 3 - errors detected but not corrected)
PHYLASTRCVPKTDT DT value of the last RX PHY packet
PHYLASTRCVPKTPDC PDC value of the last RX PHY packet
PHYLASTRCVPKTTM TM value of the last RX PHY packet
PHYFREECHANNELTIME Timestamp at which the channel becomes free
PHYPREDRIVERGAIN Correspondence between the attribute value and predriver gain
PHYLASTRXVALIDFCH FCH of the last valid RX PHY packet
PHYLASTTXFCH FCH of the last TX PHY packet
PHYAGCRESETTIMEOUT The number of SYNCP preamble symbols without any preamble detection
after which the AGC is reset
PHYCENELECLEGACYMODE 0 (elementary interleaving, interleaver parameters are not swapped), 1 (full
block interleaving, interleaver parameters are swapped)
PHYRSFILTERDISABLED Disabled the RS filter: 0 filter active, 1 filter not active
PHYTHRPCS_S The carrier sense threshold on one SYNCP
PHYTHRPCS_S2 The carrier sense threshold on two SYNCP
PHYPCSWINDOW The number of SYNCP symbols to wait for the preamble detection after PCS
PHYZCDELAYCOMPENSATION
The delay in µs between the zero crossing of powerline AC and the zero
crossing at the ZC_IN pin. The compensation is applied for phase detection
purposes such as PDC field.
Table 4. PHY layer information base attributes (continued)
PHYSICAL layer attributes

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UM1811 PHY menu
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5 PHY menu
To be able to execute PHY layer commands, the G3-PLC platform working mode needs to
be configured to the PHY mode.
To do this, simply go to the G3LIB panel as shown in Figure 9. Choose the PHY_MODE
from the available modes (1) and press the HI-MODE-SET.Request button (2).
Figure 9. Configure the host interface in PHY mode
Once the PHY mode is selected, the following menu panels may be accessed:
PHY root menu: it allows to send data in the physical layer mode
PDACK: physical data service for acknowledgment message sending
PLME control: physical layer management entity control panel, used for the line status
request and RX/TX configuration
PLME: physical layer management entity panel, used to set the transmission
parameter details (modulation, ToneMap, ToneMask, etc.).

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5.1 PHY root menu
The root menu offers the possibility to enter a payload and send the frame in physical layer
mode, as represented Figure 10.
Figure 10. PHY root panel
On this panel, three main actions can be done:
PD_DATA.Request: command to send data at the PHY level
PD_DATA.Confirm: forces generation of a confirmation message (if automatic event is
disabled)
PD_DATA.Indication: forces generation of an indication message (if automatic event is
disabled)
Data shall be specified in the hexadecimal or ASCII format, selecting the proper button.
Note that, in case of the Hex format, if the payload is entered manually, the payload length
must be even (each character corresponds to 4 bits, allowed characters are “0 - 9" and
“A - F”).
A random payload may be generated clicking the “Generate Random” button. In this case, if
the Max Payload Size option is checked, the random payload has a fixed length as specified
in the text box, otherwise a random length is generated and used (length is always less or
equal to the specified maximum).
When the PD_DATA.Request command is executed, messages are logged into the trace
window.

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5.2 PLME control menu
The physical sublayer management entity control menu offers 2 options: set the RX and TX
chain status and get the status of the line (carrier sense).
Figure 11. PLME control menu
Concerning the PLME_SET_TRX_STATE.Request command, two options may be selected:
TXON_RXOFF: used to configure the device in transmission
TXOFF_RXON: used to configure the device in reception.

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5.3 PLME menu
The physical sublayer management entity menu allows setting the transmission parameters,
as shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12. PLME menu description
From this panel, the following commands are available:
PLME_SET.Request: to set PHY layer transmission parameters
PLME_GET.Request: to get parameters related to the latest received packet
PLME_SET.Confirm: forces generation of a confirm message (if automatic event is
disabled)
PLME_GET.Confirm : forces generation of a confirm message (if automatic event is
disabled).
The following transmission options are available in the panel:
ToneMap: bitmap containing the list of the active sub bands (bit set to 1) or inactive (bit
set to zero). Active means that data are transmitted in that sub-band, inactive means
that dummy data are transmitted. The 6 less significant bits are only considered.
ToneMask: bitmap containing the list of the active carriers (bit set to 1) or inactive (bit
set to zero). Active means that the carrier has energy (transport data or dummy bit),
inactive means that the carrier has no energy.
DT: delimiter type
– NO_RESP: start of the frame with no response expected
– RESP_EXP: start of the frame with response expected
– ACK: positive acknowledgment
– NACK: negative acknowledgment