FipLabs

Design - Network Model

The FIP network is represented using a tree where each item can be dropped on the Network Model view or added by right-clicking on each parent item.

The Items Box panel includes the items that you can drag and drop on the central view to build your network model.

The right view allows you to set in detail the properties of each item of the model.

You can see below the hierarchy of items allowed in the network model:

We will now define the properties of each item and their hierarchical link in the model tree:

Control - FipArbiter Device

If you have one or more EXOLIGENT's FIPArbiter device(s), you can now physically start the FIP stations you created with your model.

Bind/Unbind Device

When your model is ready, you can now associate each station of the model with a FIP device.

To do this, you have two solutions:

• Manually: Click on Bind a device of the FIP Device column of the model. A drop-down list appears with all devices detected on your machine. Select the desired FIP device to bind it
• Automatically: By clicking on the Network -> Auto-Bind Devices button, the application will automatically associate the FIP devices detected on your machine with the stations of the model (in increasing order of FIP address)

Once you have binded the devices you want to drive, you can launch the connection to network by clicking on the Network -> Connect button:

Then the app creates a thread per station to drive and performs the following actions:

• Device opening
• Loading the XML configuration
• Starting the FIP communication
• Starting the bus arbiter (if present)
• Loop of actions:
  • Writing the output variables of the station
  • Reading the input variables of the station
  • Reading and treatings the events:
    • Reading the input messages
  • Processing actions on a user command:
    • Writing an aperiodic message
    • Purging a messaging channel
    • Managing the bus arbiter (Start, Stop, Continue, Toggle)
    • Managing the FIP medium
• Stopping the bus arbiter and FIP communication on te loop end (thread end)

Once the connection has been successfully made, a new GUI view appears with access to the control commands for each element (item) of the FIP station.

We will now detail the different possible actions on the FIP station:

Station Management

By clicking on a station item, you can observe the above information. The view lists the properties of the station you have defined into your network model.

In addition, you have the device information that are linked to the station (Device type, Device Index, Product Number, Version, Speed, Impedance, RGB Color).

The medium information report on the state of the station channels:

• Active flags: Under certain circumstances, the FIP device may invalidate a channel (send error on channel).
• TX error flags: These send indicators are activated as soon as an error signal in transmission is detected on the line driver components of the device.
• Watchdog error flags: A send watchdog is triggered following a serious fault (line permanently busy, etc.). A user reset command is needed to reinitialize the device.

The error counters read on the device are the following:

• No Error Channel 1 / 2: Counts the number of transactions for each channel. The transaction possible are:
  • ID_DAT / RP_DAT
  • ID_RQ / RP_RQ
  • ID_MSG / RP_MSG
  • ID_MSG / RP_FIN
  • ID / Silence
• Error Channel 1 / 2: Counts the number of transaction received erroneously for each channel. The type of errors detected and reported are:
  • Noise detection
  • Gap (Carrier Detect fall-off in middle frame)
  • CRC error
  • Manchester encoding fault
  • Number of bits
• Error No Echo: Counts the number of transactions sent with an error for each channel (without line echo for optics only)
• Error Testp Channel 1 / 2: Counts the number of errors detected for each channel during testing of subscribers present.

Medium Controls

It's possible to send commands to the FIP channels controller embedded in the device.

• Clear Channels Errors: This command allows to delete the transmission error flags for the 2 channels (Flags TX Error 1 / 2)
• Reset Channel 1: Reinitialise channel 1 (=> Reset flag Watchdog Error 1).
• Reset Channel 2: Reinitialise channel2 (=> Reset flag Watchdog Error 2).
• Activate Channel 1 Only: Enable channel 1 & Disable channel 2.
• Activate Channel 2 Only: Enable channel 2 & Disable channel 1.
• Activate Channels 1 And 2: Enable channel 1 & 2.

Bus Arbiter Controls

Start the bus arbiter (if it is stopped).

Wake up the bus arbiter (if it is not already stopped).

Switch from one program to another (in case the bus arbiter has two scan table set).

Stop the bus arbiter (if it is not already stopped).

The icon of the bus arbiter may have 3 different colors:

The bus arbiter is in STOPPED state (red).

The bus arbiter is in STARTING or IDLE state (yellow).

The bus arbiter is active (green).

Bus Arbiter States

For memorising purposes and for clarifying these notes the eight possible states in which an active bus arbitrator can be found are presented here:

• STOPPED: The bus arbiter is not active, nothing is transmitted by it on the network.
• STARTING: The bus arbiter is starting up. Its start delay elapses.
• IDLE: The local bus arbiter starts up and goes into election mode. Nothing is transmitted on the network during this stage. It tries to detect some activity on the network. At the end of this stage, it automatically goes into EMISSION mode if no active bus arbiter has been detected. It will remain in this state as long as the detected active bus arbiter remains active.
• MACRO END: End of macrocycle.
• SENDING ID_DAT: The bus arbiter sends ID_DAT frames.
• SENDING ID_MSG: The bus arbiter sends ID_MSG frames.
• TESTING: Presence test in progress.
• TESTING END: End of presence test.
• PENDING: The bus arbiter is suspended following a SUSPEND instruction. In this state it sends padding frames.
• APER. VAR WINDOW: The bus arbiter sends aperiodic variable traffic until the time specified in the SEND_APER has elapsed. If there is no aperiodic variable traffic it automatically goes to the next instruction of the macrocycle.
• APER. MSG WINDOW: The bus arbiter sends aperiodic message traffic until the time specified in the SEND_MSG instruction has elapsed. If there is no aperiodic message traffic, it automatically goes to the next instruction in the macrocycle.
• WAITING TIME: The bus arbiter waits until the specific time in the WAIT instruction has elapsed. In this state it sends padding frames.
• WAITING SYNC.: External resynchronization in progress.
• WAITING SYNC. SILENT: External resynchronization in progress.

In order to understand the behavior of the bus arbiter, here is a summary diagram of states and possible transitions:

Writing an output variable

By clicking on an output variable item, you can observe the above information. The view lists the properties of the variable you have defined into your network model.

The item control consists of a hexadecimal table representing the useful data frame of the variable. This table can be updated and sent to the FIP network by clicking the Apply button.

To reset all values in the table, click on Reset button.

For output variable with the refreshment set, a Refreshed flag appears.

The Report tag indicates the status of the last write command.

Reading an input variable

By clicking on an input variable item, you can observe the above information. The view lists the properties of the variable you have defined into your network model.

The item control consists of a hexadecimal table in read-only representing the useful data frame of the variable.

For an input variable with the production status set, a Refreshed flag appears.

The Prompt flag is updated during the reading of the variable in the app thread.

The Report tag indicates the status of the last read command.

Sending an Aperiodic List

Send button allows to make a request for the transfer of a list of variables via the aperiodic send service. The transfer type is determined by the Mode property (Urgent or Normal).

Purge button allows to reset the aperiodic request queue to 0.

Writing an Output Message

By clicking on an output message item, you can observe the above information. The view lists the properties of the message you have defined into your network model.

The item control consists of a hexadecimal table representing the useful data frame of the message. The message size is defined by the user through the Payload Bytes combo-box (Up to 256 bytes).

To reset all values in the table, click on Reset button.

Once the table is filled with the desired value, the message can be sent to the FIP network by clicking the Send button.

Purge button allows to reset the message request queue to 0.

The Report tag indicates the status of the last write command.

Reading an Input Message

By clicking on an input message item, you can observe the above information. The view lists the properties of the message you have defined into your network model.

The item control consists of a hexadecimal table in read-only representing the useful data frame of the message.

The right and left arrow buttons allows to browse message history.

Erase button deletes the history of reception of the messages.

The Report tag indicates the status of the last read command.

Sending a file

By clicking on an output message item with File Transfer option enabled, you can observe the above information.

Select the file you wish to send with the path button and click on send button to start the transfer. If a station is listening, a progress bar should be displayed to inform you about the progress of the exchange.

Receiving a file

Receiving a file is done automatically. If a transfer is in progress, you can see the progress of the exchange by clicking on the input message item concerned.

The directory for receiving files is set in the following section of FipLabs app: Options Tab -> General -> File Transfer - Reception Directory.

Note : By default the directory path is C:/Users/{UserName}/Documents/Exoligent/FipLabs/Downloads.