415U Condor-long-range wireless I/O and gateway
User Manual MN032006EN
Effective May 2018
Glossary
Term
ACK
Access Point
Antenna Gain
AODV
AWG
DIO
DIN Rail
DNP3
DNS
Encryption Key
EIRP
FEC
FSK
Hub
Bandwidth
COS
CSA
DCS
DHCP
Hz
IEEE
I/O
IP
IP Address
ISM
LAN
LQI
Definition
Acknowledgment.
An access point connects wireless network stations (or clients) to other stations within the wireless network and also can serve as the point of interconnection between the wireless network and a wired network. Each access point can serve multiple users within a defined network area. Also known as a base station.
Antennas do not increase the transmission power, but instead focus the signal. Rather than transmitting in every direction (including the sky and ground), antenna focus the signal either more horizontally or in one particular direction. This gain is measured in decibels.
Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) Routing is a routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks and other wireless ad hoc networks. In AODV, the network is silent until a connection is needed. At that point the network node that needs a connection broadcasts a request for connection. Other AODV nodes forward this message, and record the node that they heard it from, creating an explosion of temporary routes back to the needy node. When a node receives such a message and already has a route to the desired node, it sends a message backwards through a temporary route to the requesting node. The needy node then begins using the route that has the least number of hops through other nodes. Unused entries in the routing tables are recycled after a time.
American wire gauge (AWG), also known as the Brown and Sharpe wire gauge, is a standardized wire gauge system used predominantly in the United
States and Canada for the diameters of round, solid, nonferrous, electrically conducting wire.
The maximum data transfer speed available to a user through a network.
Change of state. For a digital input, a COS is a change from “off” to “on,” or a change from “on” to “off.” For an analog input, internal analog input, or pulse input rate, a COS is a configurable value called sensitivity.
The Canadian Standards Association (CSA), is a not-for-profit standards organization that develops standards in 57 areas. The CSA registered mark shows that a product has been independently tested and certified to meet recognized standards for safety or performance.
A Distributed Control System (DCS) is a computerized control system used to control the production line in industry. The entire system of controllers is connected by networks for communication and monitoring.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a utility that enables a server to dynamically assign IP addresses from a predefined list and limit their time of use so that they can be reassigned. Without DHCP, an IT manager would need to manually enter in all the IP addresses of all the computers on the network.
When DHCP is used, whenever a computer logs onto the network, an IP address is automatically assigned to it.
Digital input/output.
A DIN rail is a metal rail of a standard type widely used for mounting circuit breakers and industrial control equipment inside equipment racks.
Communication protocol used in industrial control systems. Commonly used in Water supply and Electrical distribution.
Domain name service (DNS) is a program that translates URLs to IP addresses by accessing a database maintained on a collection of Internet servers.
The program works behind the scenes to facilitate surfing the Web with alpha versus numeric addresses. A DNS server converts a name like mywebsite.
com to a series of numbers like 107.22.55.26. Every website has its own specific IP address on the Internet.
An alphanumeric (letters and/or numbers) series that enables data to be encrypted and then decrypted so it can be safely shared among members of a network. WEP uses an encryption key that automatically encrypts outgoing wireless data. On the receiving side, the same encryption key enables the computer to automatically decrypt the information so it can be read. Encryption keys should be kept secret.
Equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) or, alternatively, effective isotropically radiated power is the amount of power that a theoretical isotropic antenna (which evenly distributes power in all directions) would emit to produce the peak power density observed in the direction of maximum antenna gain. EIRP can take into account the losses in transmission line and connectors and includes the gain of the antenna. The EIRP is often stated in terms of decibels over a reference power emitted by an isotropic radiator with an equivalent signal strength. The EIRP allows comparisons between different emitters regardless of type, size or form.
Forward Erro Correction. This is a method of reducing the errors in a message by adding aditional data which is used to detect and correct errors. The extra data reduces the effective data rate, but improves the sensitivity for long and dificult radio paths.
Frequency Shift Keying. This method of radio modulation encodes data using shifts in radio frequency. 2FSK uses two frequency levels to encode one bit of data for each symbol. 4FSK uses four frequency levels to encode two bits of data for each symbol.
A multiport device used to connect PCs to a network via Ethernet cabling or via 802.11. Wired hubs can have numerous ports and can transmit data at speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to multi-Gigabyte speeds per second. A hub transmits packets it receives to all the connected ports. A small wired hub may only connect four computers; a large hub can connect 48 or more.
Hertz. The international unit for measuring frequency, equivalent to the older unit of cycles per second. One megahertz (MHz) is one million hertz. One gigahertz (GHz) is one billion hertz. The standard US electrical power frequency is 60 Hz, the AM broadcast radio frequency band is 535–1605 kHz, the
FM broadcast radio frequency band is 88–108 MHz, and wireless 802.11b/g LANs operate at 2.4 GHz.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org. A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. It has more than 300,000 members and is involved with setting standards for computers and communications.
Input/Output. The term used to describe any operation, program, or device that transfers data to or from a computer.
Internet Protocol (IP) is a set of rules used to send and receive messages across local networks and the Internet.
A 32-bit number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent across the Internet. An IP address has two parts: an identifier of a particular network on the Internet and an identifier of the particular device (which can be a server or a workstation) within that network.
The industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands are portions of the radio spectrum reserved internationally for industrial, scientific, and medical purposes other than telecommunications.
Local Area Network (LAN) is a system of connecting PCs and other devices within the same physical proximity for sharing resources such as an Internet connections, printers, files, and drives.
Link quality indicator (LQI) is used in wireless networks to indicate how good the communications link is. LQI is a computed value, based on how clearly the signal is received by the radio. Interference, low signal strength, and radio transmitter or receiver faults can all contribute to poor LQI.
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User Manual MN032006EN
Effective May 2018
415U Condor-long-range wireless I/O and gateway
Term
MAC Address
Modbus
PLC
Proxy Server
QAM
Receive
Sensitivity
RJ-45
Router
RSSI
RTU
SCADA
Server
SMA
Sub Network or Subnet
Switch
TCP
TCP/IP
Transmit Power
TTL
WAN
WEP
Wi-Fi
Definition
Media Access Control (MAC) address is a unique code assigned to most forms of networking hardware. The address is permanently assigned to the hardware, so limiting a wireless network’s access to hardware (such as wireless cards) is a security feature employed by closed wireless networks. But an experienced hacker armed with the proper tools can still figure out an authorized MAC address, masquerade as a legitimate address, and access a closed network.
Every wireless 802.11 device has its own specific MAC address hard-coded into it. This unique identifier can be used to provide security for wireless networks. When a network uses a MAC table, only the 802.11 radios that have had their MAC addresses added to that network’s MAC table will be able to get onto the network.
Modbus is a serial communications protocol for use with its programmable logic controllers (PLCs).
A programmable logic controller (PLC) is a digital computer used for automation of electromechanical processes, such as control of machinery on factory assembly lines, amusement rides, or light fixtures.
Used in larger companies and organizations to improve network operations and security, a proxy server is able to prevent direct communication between two or more networks. The proxy server forwards allowable data requests to remote servers and/or responds to data requests directly from stored remote server data.
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. This method of radio modulation encodes data by varying the phase and amplitude of the radio signal. This allows more data to be encoded into each symbol at the expense of reduced sensitivity.
The minimum signal strength required to pick up a signal. Higher bandwidth connections usually have less receive sensitivity than lower bandwidth connections.
Standard connectors used in Ethernet networks. RJ-45 connectors are similar to standard RJ-11 telephone connectors, but RJ-45 connectors can have up to eight wires, whereas telephone connectors have four.
A device that forwards data from one WLAN or wired local area network to another.
Received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is a measurement of the power present in a received radio signal. In a radio system, RSSI is the relative received signal strength in a wireless environment, in arbitrary units. RSSI is an indication of the power level being received by the antenna. Therefore, the higher the RSSI number (or less negative in some devices), the stronger the signal.
A remote terminal unit (RTU) is a microprocessor-controlled electronic device that interfaces objects in the physical world to a distributed control system or SCADA system by transmitting telemetry data to a master system, and by using messages from the master supervisory system to control connected objects.
SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) is a type of industrial control system (ICS). Industrial control systems are computer controlled systems that monitor and control industrial processes that exist in the physical world. SCADA systems historically distinguish themselves from other ICS systems by being large scale processes that can include multiple sites, and large distances.
A computer that provides its resources to other computers and devices on a network. These include print servers, Internet servers and data servers. A server can also be combined with a hub or router.
SMA (SubMiniature version A) connectors are semi-precision coaxial RF connectors for coaxial cable with a screw type coupling mechanism. The connector has a 50 Ω impedance. It is designed for use from DC to 18 GHz.
Found in larger networks, these smaller networks are used to simplify addressing between numerous computers. Subnets connect together through a router.
A type of hub that efficiently controls the way multiple devices use the same network so that each can operate at optimal performance. A switch acts as a networks traffic cop: rather than transmitting all the packets it receives to all ports as a hub does, a switch transmits packets to only the receiving port.
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) isprotocol used along with the Internet Protocol (IP) to send data in the form of individual units (called packets) between computers over the Internet. While IP takes care of handling the actual delivery of the data, TCP takes care of keeping track of the packets that a message is divided into for efficient routing through the Internet. For example, when a Web page is downloaded from a Web server, the TCP program layer in that server divides the file into packets, numbers the packets, and then forwards them individually to the IP program layer. Although each packet has the same destination IP address, it may get routed differently through the network. At the other end, TCP reassembles the individual packets and waits until they have all arrived to forward them as single message.
The underlying technology behind the Internet and communications between computers in a network. The first part, TCP, is the transport part, which matches the size of the messages on either end and guarantees that the correct message has been received. The IP part is the user’s computer address on a network. Every computer in a TCP/IP network has its own IP address that is either dynamically assigned at startup or permanently assigned. All
TCP/IP messages contain the address of the destination network as well as the address of the destination station. This enables TCP/IP messages to be transmitted to multiple networks (subnets) within an organization or worldwide.
The power at which the wireless devices transmits, usually expressed in mW or dBm.
Transistor–transistor logic (TTL) is a class of digital circuits built from bipolar junction transistors and resistors. It is called TTL logic because both the logic gating function (AND) and the amplifying function are performed by transistors.
Wide area network (WAN) is a communication system of connecting PCs and other computing devices across a large local, regional, national or international geographic area. Also used to distinguish between phone-based data networks and Wi-Fi. Phone networks are considered WANs and
Wi-Fi networks are considered Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs).
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a basic wireless security provided by Wi-Fi. In some instances, WEP may be all a home or small-business user needs to protect wireless data. WEP is available in 40-bit (also called 64-bit), or in 108-bit (also called 128-bit) encryption modes. As 108-bit encryption provides a longer algorithm that takes longer to decode, it can provide better security than basic 40-bit (64-bit) encryption.
Wireless Fidelity. An interoperability certification for wireless local area network (LAN) products based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard.
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415U Condor-long-range wireless I/O and gateway
User Manual MN032006EN
Effective May 2018
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Publication No. MN032006EN / Z17944
May 2018
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