Serial servers distribute multiple messages
A
B and B Electronics Manufacturing Company product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Nov 25, 2004
B and B Electronics has enhanced its family of serial servers, so now serial data can be sent over intranets or the Internet to up to eight client locations anywhere in the world.
Millions of industrial devices are configured by serial ports, but serial ports are fast disappearing from new PCs.
To solve this problem, B and B Electronics has enhanced its family of serial servers, so now serial data can be sent over intranets or the Internet to up to eight client locations anywhere in the world.
"Each of our Vlinx serial servers is now a multicast/unicast web server, so that not only can users configure devices from anywhere in the world, but serial messages can be distributed to multiple computers at once".
"This greatly expands the possibilities in a complex system", says Mike Fahrion of B and B Electronics.
"A sensor can send its data to multiple users, and multiple people can request information from the sensor".
"That kind of diagnostic capability was not previously possible".
The ESP901/ESP902/ESP904 serial servers can use either the UDP or TCP protocol to communicate with multiple hosts.
UDP dispenses with error checking in favour of speed.
TCP opens and closes sockets and does error checking for more reliable, but lower speed, datacommunications.
The TCP option allows up to eight client connections.
Specific connections can be used as alarms, triggering an appropriate response from a remote client, even thousands of miles away.
Serial networks up to 1.2km long and with 32 devices can pass their data to a computer anywhere and the remote PC "thinks" the devices are local.
Other benefits include configurable TCP or "time out" options for all devices.
This can be set to recognise the absence of serial data or Ethernet communications.
Once the timeout is reached the unit will automatically make itself available for a new connection, with no human intervention.
Another new feature is a "forced transmit" function which sends accumulated data across the network at preset intervals, as determined by the user.
B and B customers report that the web-based configuration tool can be used with any browser and is very easy to use.
"When things go bump in the night, people sure like logging in from their home PC instead of pulling on their jeans and driving through the snow", Fahrion adds.
"Virtually any device with a serial port can be accessed this way".
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