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Ascii protocol – West Control Solutions N6600 User Manual

Page 54

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5.2.3 ASCII Protocol

The protocol assumes half duplex communications. All communication is initiated

by the master device. The master sends a command or query to the addressed

slave and the slave replies with an acknowledgement of the command or the

reply to the query. All messages, in either direction, comprise:

(a) A Start of Message character

(b) One or two address characters (uniquely defining the slave)

(c) A parameter/data character string

(d) An End of Message character

Messages from the master device may be one of four types:

Type 1:

L {N} ? ? *

Type 2:

L {N} {P} {C} *

Type 3:

L {N} {P} # {DATA} *

Type 4:

L {N} {P} I *

where all characters are in ASCII code and:

L

is the Start of Message character (Hex 4C)

{N}

is the slave Controller address (in the range 1 - 99); addresses 1

- 9 may be represented by a single digit (e.g. 7) or in two-digit

form, the first digit being zero (e.g. 07).

{P}

is a character which identifies the parameter to be

interrogated/modified - see Table 5-2.

{C}

is the command (see below)

#

indicates that {DATA} is to follow (Hex 23)

{DATA}

is a string of numerical data in ASCII code (see Table 5-1)

*

is the End of Message character (Hex 2A)

No space characters are permitted in messages. Any syntax errors in a received

message will cause the slave controller to issue no reply and await the Start of

Message character.

5-2

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