Visonic Mcr-300/uart User manual

MCR-300/UART

PowerCode Receiver Interface Module User Guide

1. INTRODUCTION

The MCR-300/UART module is a PowerCode receiver interface module

designed to communicate with Visonic PowerCode / CodeSecure

wireless devices. The module includes a super-heterodyne receiver

module, specifically for digital data transfer on UHF radio channels. Its

main application is as an RF interface unit used in security systems that

communicates digital codes and reports. The receiver features serial

data output at CMOS levels, which may be applied to a decoder or

directly to a micro-processor unit.

The Module decodes PowerCode & CodeSecure wireless messages

and transfers them into a serial bit stream as defined by the receiver

protocol description.

The module includes two integral antennas for diversity reception,

allowing high performance reception, overcoming "in-band" interference.

Mechanical support and electrical connections to the MCR-300/UART

are obtained by mounting the module on a 5-pin header seated on the

host motherboard. The header pins are connected to a panel.

2. SPECIFICATIONS

Receiver Type: Single-channel, UHF super-heterodyne receiver.

Frequency: 868.95 MHz

Bandwidth: 400kHz@-3dBpoints

Data Rate: Up to 1 kbps NRZ.

Data Output Levels: 0V (LOW) and 5V (HIGH).

Baud rate: 9600

Parity bit: None

Data bit: 8

Stop bit: 1

UART interface

2 Integral Antennas diversity reception allowing high performance

reception, overcoming "in-band" interference. Length: 80mm

Supply Voltage: 5 VDC ±5%.

Current Consumption: 15 mA @ 5 VDC.

2 MGC-Manual Control Gain:

•MGC - High "5V" - Sensitivity attenuation 30dB.

•MGC - High impedance - Normal Sensitivity

Note: Do not connect MGC to GND

Operating Temperatures: 0°C to 49°C (32°F to 120°F).

Dimensions: 52.5 x 51 x 12 mm

Compliance with Standards: Complies with EN 301 489-3 V1.2.1

(2000-08), EN 300 220-1 (1999) and EN 50131-1 Grade 2, Class II

requirements.

Note: A sample disc can be obtained on email request.

GND

MGC

GND

RSSI

DATA

MGC

PIN HEADER

RFR MODULE

GND

ANT

51 mm

80 mm

28 mm

4 mm

Figure 1. Top View of PCB and Electrical Connections

WARNING: Changes or modifications to this unit not expressly

approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the

user's authority to operate the equipment.

3. WIRING AND SETTINGS

VDC

RJ-11

RS-232ADAPTER

to COM-1 or COM-2

PC connector

Display of detectors communicationformat

(PowerCode/CodeSecure),signalstrength,

ID and events data

2-wire cable

PowerCode /

SecureCode

Device

Antenna

PowerCode /

SecureCode

Device

GND

MGC

GND

RSSI

DATA

MGC

PIN HEADER

RFR MODULE

GND

ANT

51 mm

80 mm

28 mm

4 mm

Note: Make sure that com ports 1 and 2 of your computer are not being used by another application.

Figure 2. Functional Diagram

DE3140U 1

4. DEMONSTRATION BOARD

4.1 The System and RF Communication

The MCR-300/UART is designed to be integrated into your control

panel. The Module consists of a microprocessor and several other

components. To aid in the understanding of the structure and content

of messages a demonstration board was set up together with a

unique computer software program. The demonstration board can be

connected to the computer's COMM port for viewing messages

received from the RF receiver. These messages appear in the same

format as the messages sent by the module to the control panel.

For a general understanding, we will examine the structure of the

received RF message.

Receiving RF message structure

A receiving RF message is sent only if two such messages are

received with true checksum (Power code) or with true lowest 10 bits

of ID and function key (CodeSecure) in the same packet of

messages.

RF message structure for PowerCode

Power code message 36 bits

ID-24bits 3 bytes

DATA 1 byte

Check sum 0.5 byte

CodeSecure message (66 bits):

Encrypted code 4 bytes

ID-28bits 3.5 bytes

Function Key 0.5 byte

Last byte (9th)RL

The RS232 Message Structure (10 or 3 bytes)

The RS232 message is sent at a rate of 9.6 KBaud.

There are two types of messages sent by the Receiver Module:

•Data message

•Control message

The Data message contains the data of a RF message received from

the RF receiver.

The Control message contains data on jamming events and

supervision data to support the communication link between the

Receiver Module and the Control Panel.

Data message format (10 bytes):

Start ‘>’ 3E(H) 1 byte

Status 1 byte

RF Message 7 bytes

Check Sum 1 byte

Control message format (3 bytes):

Start ‘>’ 3E(H) 1 byte

Status 1 byte

Check Sum 1 byte

Both types of messages start with a Start byte of value 0x3E, and end

with a Checksum byte. The messages also have a Status byte. The

Data message includes the contents of the received RF message.

RS232 dialog between the Receiver Module and the Control Panel.

A message will be sent a maximum of 3 times. After each

transmission the module waits for acknowledgement from the control

panel. If an acknowledge signal/message is not received within 50

ms, the same message will be sent again.

The Receiver Module sends a Supervision message (using a Control

message) every minute. Any Data message or Control message,

successfully sent, is also considered a supervision message. Timer of

supervision at the Receiver Module is cleared after every message

that is sent.

An acknowledge message will be sent by the Control Panel to the

Receiver Module after every message sent by the Receiver Module.

This includes data messages and control messages. The

acknowledged message will be of the character ‘<’ = 0x3C.

4.2 Status Byte Structure (control

message)

Bit Name Value Meaning

00 No jamming detected

01 USA jamming level

10 European standard jamming level

0,1 Jamming

level

11 ---

2,3 Not used 0Constantly 0

0000 Not used

0001 Supervision message from Module to

Control Panel (not RF supervision)

0010 Not used

0011 PowerCode message includes

jamming (if detected)

4-7 Message

type

0100 CodeSecure message includes

jamming (if detected)

4.3 The RF Message PowerCode

Structure (7 bytes)

ID-24bits

3 bytes DATA

1 byte DATA

1 byte xxxx

2 bytes

<----- Sending direction

Contents of DATA byte for PowerCode

Bit Name Value Meaning

0Tamper 1Tamper event

1Alarm 1Alarm event

2Low Battery 1Low battery at transmitter

3Working bit 0Else

1Transmitter has a restore

capability, e.g. Magnet

4Restore

0Transmitter with no restore, e.g.

PIR detector

1Supervised transmitter5Supervise 0Non-supervised transmitter, e.g.

Panic button

1Transmitter works in a Spider

system (Not relevant)

6SpiderNet

0A regular transmitter, not in a

Spider system

1The transmitter is a Repeater.

Displays messages received

from a repeater in the system.

7Repeater

0Any other transmitter

Contents of DATA1 byte for PowerCode:

Bit Name Value Meaning

00 Poor

01 Good

10 Strong

0,1 Quality of RF signal of last

message received

11 Not used

7Not used 0All bits are

constantly 0

RF message structure for CodeSecure (7 bytes) - Keyfob

ID-28bits

4 bytes DATA

1 byte Sync

counter

2 bytes

4 MSB bits 701

byte

LSB

bytes 3

bytes 000

0xxx

xFFF

F0LQ

LSB

byte

MSB

bytes

<----- Sending direction

Contents of DATA byte for CodeSecure

Bit Name Value Meaning

00 Poor

01 Good

10 Strong

0,1 Quality of RF signal of last

message received

11 ---

2Low Battery 1Low battery at

transmitter

3Not used 0Constantly 0

4-7 Function key / button on

transmitter - F1, F2, F3,

F4.

1xxx

Button 1 pressed,

bit 4

2 DE3140U

x1xx

Button 2 pressed,

bit 5

xx1x

Button 3 pressed,

bit 6

Two or more buttons may be

pressed simultaneously, e.g.

1010 = 1, 3 pressed.

xxx1 Button 4 pressed,

bit 7

The Jamming Bits

There are two standards for jamming decision that are implemented

in the system: European standard and American (USA) standard. The

two differ slightly.

The common part of those standards is:

1. For every second, a jamming state is detected if during 18% of a

second the disturbances are larger than a predefined threshold.

2. Jamming event is declared if the jamming state persists for 30 or

more seconds of the minute.

The difference between the USA and European standards are as

follows:

•USA standard requests continuous 30 or more seconds of

jamming state.

•European standard requests any 30 or more seconds of

jamming state during one minute.

Clearly, not every jamming event defined as European standard is

considered a jamming event according to USA standard.

CodeSecure Implementation

CodeSecure implements the KELOQ code hopping technology to

make each transmission by an encoder unique. The encoder

transmissions are comprised of two parts. The first part changes each

time the encoder is activated and is called the "hopping code". The

second part is the serial number of the encoder (ID), recognizable to

a decoder.

The hopping code contains function information, a discrimination

value and a synchronization counter. An encryption algorithm

encrypts this information before being transmitted. The encryption

algorithm uses a 64-bit encryption key. If one bit in the data that is

encrypted changes, the result is that an average of half of the bits in

the output will change. As a result, the hopping code changes

dramatically for each transmission and cannot be predicted.

The transmitted word contains a 16-bit synchronization counter.

The counter is incremented every time the encoder is activated.

The synchronization information is used at the decoder to determine

whether a transmission is valid, or a repetition of a previous

transmission is being sent. When a following transmission is received

from the same transmitter it is possible to verify whether the

transmission is valid. Previous codes are rejected to safeguard "code

grabbers". The range of the synchronization counter is 65,536. Each

transmission, for example, a button press, generates a new

synchronization number, one out of the 65,356.

Implementation Guidelines

Storing serial numbers - The synchronization counter value is

stored in EEPROM of the control panel every time a valid

transmission is received from a particular encoder. It is highly

recommended to keep two copies of the synchronization counter

in two different EEPROM locations. This is because that in the

event of a power failure during an EEPROM write, a corrupted

counter value would be read when the control panel is later powered

up, resulting in encoder transmissions erroneously being discarded

as invalid.

The encoder’s serial number is transmitted every time a button is

pressed. The serial number is transmitted unencrypted as part of the

transmission. A serial number is used at the Receiver Module to check

message correction after message decryption, and at the control panel

to verify whether transmitter is valid. Serial numbers of every valid

transmitter must be stored in EEPROM of the control panel.

Algorithm of synchronization counter control

Conditions must be established where the transmitter is pressed while

out of valid range of the RF Receiver. Allowing two “synchronization

windows” achieves this:

•The open window

•The resynchronization window

The open window is a reception of a transmission where the

synchronization counter is 1 to 16 higher than the previous counter

value received. The reception of such a signal will result in an

immediate counter update by the control panel program and the

appropriate outputs being activated.

If the transmitter is pressed more than 16 times out of range of the

receiver, resynchronization needs to be performed. The

resynchronization window is half of the total counter range, 32K

numbers. During resynchronization, the control panel program waits

for two consecutive transmissions from the encoder before

resynchronization occurs and the resynchronized counters are

updated in the EEPROM of the control panel. When the control panel

receives a transmission with a synchronization counter value more

than 16 above the stored counter value and less than 32,768 counts

above the stored value, the control panel temporarily stores the value

of the synchronization counter received. If the next transmission

received has a synchronization counter value of one above the

previous sent, the control panel resynchronizes on the last

transmission received and activates the appropriate outputs.

If any of the above tests fail, the transmission received is discarded.

5. OPERATION

5.1 Viewing all Detector IDs

Note: Use a MCR-300/UART unit whose receiving frequency is

identical to the frequency of the detectors.

The following steps are performed for checking detector IDs within the

system.

1. Insert the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.

2. Copy the contents of the CD-ROM into a new folder on your PC.

3. From your PC, double-click the MCW_LINK_DOS.exe file.

4. Press 1 or 2 on your keyboard to establish which COM port is being

used; a window displays a list of all the registered detectors within

the system and their IDs, as shown in Figure 2.

5. To view a specific detector ID you should initiate an event, for

example, alarm or tamper (a tamper event is initiated by opening

and closing the cover).

6. Write down the ID (6 characters, for example, F384B3).

7. Click X on the top right corner of the window to close the window.

8. A new window will open; click End Now.

Notes:

a) When receiving and viewing messages on your screen the

software creates a new file in the directory you already opened

containing the MCW_LINK_DOS.exe file and ID_TABLE.txt file.

This new file will contain a name that includes the date of the

received messages, for example, THUSEP23.txt

(day/month/date.txt). This enables the computer to

automatically create a log file of all received messages. Every

day the computer automatically opens a new file with the date

included in the file name.

b) You can convert the .txt data file into an Excel data sheet (.xls)

by clicking File

→

Open then launching the daily file from the

directory to which it was saved. Follow the remainder of the

instructions of the Text Import Wizard.

Figure 2. All Detector ID window

5.2 PowerCode - Viewing Specific

Detector IDs

To view specific detector IDs, you need to enroll the required

detectors by filling a simple .txt file to provide details of the detector

ID.

1. From your PC, double-click the ID_TABLE.txt file.

Note: If the file opens as Read-only, from Windows Explorer right-

click the file, select Properties, then click the General tab.

Deselect the Read-Only checkbox, then click OK.

2. Enter the ID of the detector; enter each ID on a separate row.

3. Save the ID_TABLE.txt file using the same file name (from the

File menu, click Save).

4. Click X on the top right corner of the window to close the

ID_TABLE.txt window.

5. Double-click the MCW_LINK_DOS.exe file.

6. Press 1 or 2 on your keyboard to establish which COM port is

being used; a window displays a list of all the enrolled detectors

and their IDs, as shown in Figure 3.

DE3140U 3

Figure 3. Specific Detector ID window

PowerCode Message Definitions:

Display

field Name Definition

1Jamming 0 = No jamming

E = European STD jamming level

U = USA STD jamming level

2Quality of RF

signal POOR / GOOD / STRONG

3ID The detector's ID (6 characters)

4Data 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 (see Para.4.3)

5Time of event hh:mm:ss (24 h format)

7. The system now begins to monitor the enrolled detectors. The

window will display the detectors you selected as shown in

Figure 3.

Note: The PowerCode Message Definitions table explains how to

read the data. The Definition of DATA bits in a PowerCode

Message table explains each bit of the DATA field in a

PowerCode message.

8. Click X on the top right corner of the window to end the monitoring

and to close the window.

9. A new window will open; click End Now.

Definition of DATA bits in a PowerCode Message:

Bit Name Value Meaning

0Tamper 1Tamper event

1Alarm 1Alarm event

2Low Battery 1Low battery at transmitter

3Working bit 0Else

1Transmitter has a restore

capability, e.g. Magnet

4Restore

0Transmitter with no restore, e.g.

PIR detector

1Supervised transmitter5Supervise 0Non-supervised transmitter, e.g.

Panic button

1Transmitter works in a Spider

system (Not relevant)

6SpiderNet

0A regular transmitter, not in a

Spider system

1The transmitter is a Repeater.

Displays messages received

from a repeater in the system.

7Repeater

0Any other transmitter

5.3 CodeSecure - Viewing Specific

Keyfob IDs

To view specific keyfob IDs, you need to enroll the required keyfobs

by filling a simple .txt file to provide details of the keyfob ID. To

perform this, follow the instructions in section 4.2.

Figure 4 displays the messages sent by a keyfob, where all four

keyfob buttons were pressed consecutively.

Figure 4. Specific Keyfob ID window

The CodeSecure Messages table provides the definition of each field

in a keyfob message.

CodeSecure Messages:

Display

field Name Definition

1Jamming 0 = No jamming

E = European standard jamming

U = USA jamming

2Quality of RF

signal POOR / GOOD / STRONG

3ID 7 character ID, for example,

015C613

3FUNC Button number; the 4 buttons have

code numbers 0010, 0100, 1000,

0001

4SYNC Transmission serial number

6Time of event hh:mm:ss (24 h format)

WARRANTY

Visonic Ltd. and/or its subsidiaries and its affiliates ("the Manufacturer") warrants its

products hereinafter referred to as "the Product" or "Products" to be in conformance with

its own plans and specifications and to be free of defects in materials and workmanship

under normal use and service for a period of twelve months from the date of shipment by

the Manufacturer. The Manufacturer's obligations shall be limited within the warranty

period, at its option, to repair or replace the product or any part thereof. The Manufacturer

shall not be responsible for dismantling and/or reinstallation charges. To exercise the

warranty the product must be returned to the Manufacturer freight prepaid and insured.

This warranty does not apply in the following cases: improper installation, misuse,

failure to follow installation and operating instructions, alteration, abuse, accident or

tampering, and repair by anyone other than the Manufacturer.

This warranty is exclusive and expressly in lieu of all other warranties, obligations or

liabilities, whether written, oral, express or implied, including any warranty of

merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, or otherwise. In no case shall the

Manufacturer be liable to anyone for any consequential or incidental damages for breach

of this warranty or any other warranties whatsoever, as aforesaid.

This warranty shall not be modified, varied or extended, and the Manufacturer does not

authorize any person to act on its behalf in the modification, variation or extension of this

warranty. This warranty shall apply to the Product only. All products, accessories or

attachments of others used in conjunction with the Product, including batteries, shall be

covered solely by their own warranty, if any. The Manufacturer shall not be liable for any

damage or loss whatsoever, whether directly, indirectly, incidentally, consequentially or

otherwise, caused by the malfunction of the Product due to products, accessories, or

attachments of others, including batteries, used in conjunction with the Products.

The Manufacturer does not represent that its Product may not be compromised and/or

circumvented, or that the Product will prevent any death, personal and/or bodily injury

and/or damage to property resulting from burglary, robbery, fire or otherwise, or that the

Product will in all cases provide adequate warning or protection. User understands that a

properly installed and maintained alarm may only reduce the risk of events such as

burglary, robbery, and fire without warning, but it is not insurance or a guarantee that such

will not occur or that there will be no death, personal damage and/or damage to property

as a result.

The Manufacturer shall have no liability for any death, personal and/or bodily injury

and/or damage to property or other loss whether direct, indirect, incidental,

consequential or otherwise, based on a claim that the Product failed to function.

However, if the Manufacturer is held liable, whether directly or indirectly, for any loss or

damage arising under this limited warranty or otherwise, regardless of cause or origin, the

Manufacturer's maximum liability shall not in any case exceed the purchase price of the

Product, which shall be fixed as liquidated damages and not as a penalty, and shall be the

complete and exclusive remedy against the Manufacturer.

Warning: The user should follow the installation and operation instructions and among

other things test the Product and the whole system at least once a week. For various

reasons, including, but not limited to, changes in environmental conditions, electric or

electronic disruptions and tampering, the Product may not perform as expected. The user

is advised to take all necessary precautions for his/her safety and the protection of his/her

property.

6/91

W.E.E.E. Product Recycling Declaration

For information regarding the recycling of this product you must contact the company from which you orignially purchased it. If you are discarding this product and not

returning it for repair then you must ensure that it is returned as identified by your supplier. This product is not to be thrown away with everyday waste.

Directive 2002/96/EC Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment.