RTK Base Station Configuration and Utilities Table of Contents Introduction:... 2 LED Functionality:... 2 Initial Survey:... 2 Additional Surveys:... 3 Power Up At a Previously Surveyed Location:... 3 Technician Cables and Connecting to a Base Station:... 3 Technician Cable Diagrams:... 4 Base Station Configuration Tool:... 6 AF Link Programming Utility:...11 Installation:...11 Description of the Software:...11 AFLink with Satel Radio:...12 AFLink with FreeWave radio:...17 Advanced User Features:...22 1
Introduction: This document will be used to guide you through the advanced functionality of RTK Base Stations. To provide +/- 4 in (+/- 10 cm) absolute accuracy with real world coordinates, the base station must survey its position for a period of 24 continuous hours. After this point, the base station will store this location and be able to call it up again. The base station has the capability to store up to 16 separate locations. If the base station is moved to a 17th location, it will delete the oldest stored location after it validates the new location. If the base station is not powered on for 24 hours at any location, it will perform in the same manner as the previous release. LED Functionality: RX Blinks as data is received. TX Blinks as data is transmitted can be stead if data flow is continuous. NSV After the base station begins to receive satellite signals, the NSV LED blinks once per satellite received separated by a short pause between groups SR Reserved for Diagnostics ST After applying power, the ST LED flashes to indicate the channel number of the base station. The channel number should be last 3 digits of the serial number. The ST LED blinks once per second both sufficient satellite data has been received to begin position averaging for 24 hours. The ST LED will also blink once per second while it is determining if it is outputting from a previously saved position. The ST LED will be steadily lit when the base station is operating from a saved and validated location. BOK Steady on indicates the base is ready for you to start working. PPS Blinks once per second. PWR Steady on indicates the base station is powered. Figure 1: LED Functionality Initial Survey: 1. Find a location with a clear view of the sky in all directions, free from obstructions. 2. Mount the base station so that it will not move due to natural causes or passing vehicles. 3. Apply power to the base station, such that it will provide constant 12v DC for at least 24 hours. 4. Inspect the panel of LEDs on the front of the Base Station. 5. After 24 hours of continuous position averaging, the base station will output this position as its current location as long as it is not moved. Note: The initial survey can take up to 36 hours depending on GPS quality. 2
Additional Surveys: 1. If the base station is moved to a new location, a new survey is required to obtain absolute accuracy. The base station will provide its best known position until a full survey is completed. It is recommended that any new base station locations be at least 33 ft (10 m) from an existing saved location. 2. Follow the process in Initial Survey to survey additional locations. 3. After the additional survey has completed averaging position data for 24 hours, the base station will add the new location to its data base. 4. The new location will be added as a potential candidate for future power ups. Power Up At a Previously Surveyed Location: 1. Place the base station in exactly the same location as the previously surveyed location. 2. After applying power to the base station, monitor the LEDs on the front panel. 3. The base station will check the last known position. 4. Upon validating a stored position, the ST LED will stop blinking and be steadily lit, indicating that it has validated its location and is outputting the stored location. Technician Cables and Connecting to a Base Station: Table 1: Technician Cable Kits Tech Cable P/N Power Cable P/N Instructions P/N Also Required (user sourced) Ag Leader Kit P/N Mobile Base 201-0176-01 201-0151-01 4002138 N/A 4002135 External Radio & Benco kit p/n 201-0221-01 201-0151-01 4002138 4002136 Repeater 215303 Tower Base GPS 201-0177-01 N/A 4002138 N/A 4002137 Receiver GeoSteer Radio 201-0571-01* 4002136* * GeoSteer Radio Programming requires 4002136 and 201-0571-01. Benco kit p/n 215303 is needed to communicate with the External Radio when mounted on a tower or other tall structure. This allows a PC to communicate with the External Radio via the data cable that connects the External Radio to the GPS Receiver. The kit includes: Tower Gender Adapter Cable Serial Port Adaptor Cable RS-422 to RS-232 Converter It is available by contacting directly: Benco Products Inc. 27065 South Mueller Ave Sioux Falls, SD 57108-8102 Phone: (605) 213-1010 3
Technician Cable Diagrams: Figure 2: Mobile Technician Cable p/n-201-0176-01 Connect the power connection to the power cable. Connect the Setup Port to a COM port of a PC. Use the Base Configuration Tool to communicate with the GPS receiver. Connect the Freewave/Satel Modem port to a PC to communicate with the internal Radio using the AF Link program. o Use the toggle switch to put the Radio into programming mode. Figure 3: Tower Base Technician Cable p/n-201-0177-01 Connect the power connection to the power cable. Connect the Setup Port to a COM port of a PC. Use the Base Configuration Tool to communicate with the GPS receiver. Connect the Freewave/Satel Modem port to a PC to communicate with the internal Radio using the AF Link program. o Use the toggle switch to put the Radio into programming mode. 4
Figure 4: External Radio Technician Cable - p/n-201-0221-01 The External Radio Technician cable is used to communicate with the Tower Radio and Repeater. Benco Kit p/n-212303 is necessary to change the communication rate from RS-232 to RS-422. The Benco kit should be connected to Port 2 (labeled RS-232 / RS-422) which is then connected to a COM port of the PC. Connect the power connection to the power cable. When the Radio is powered, the programming button should be pressed in to put the Radio into programming mode and allow it to communicate with the PC. Figure 5: GeoSteer Programming Cable - p/n: 201-0571-01 This cable is required when programming a GeoSteer 900, 450 or OmniSTAR radio. Connect the end labeled Radio to the GeoSteer Radio Connect the other end to p/n: 201-0221-01 5
Base Station Configuration Tool: Manually entering a known lon/lat position Pre-requisites: Base Configuration Tool should be installed on PC and A5 Base should be upgraded to latest Base Station firmware. A5 Base must be at version V1.27 or higher. Procedure: 1. Install Base Configuration Tool to your PC. 2. Place Base Station in its final desired position. Power the base station with the technician cable. 3. Connect the cable labeled Setup to an available COM port on your PC 4. From windows start menu go to AutoFarm and then select AutoFarm Base Configuration. A screen will appear like this. Figure 6 6
5. In the address bar of web page, remove autofarm.html so that you see: http://localhost:8080/ the page changes to appear as shown in Figure 3. Figure 7 7
6. Select proper Com port and click on Base Location Config tab. Following screen will appear. Figure 8 7. Refresh the web page by hitting F5 key on key board, till base station calculates position and shows it as follow. The line SPS average for 28 sec indicates that base has averaged position for 28 seconds. This time will increase every time you refresh web page. 8. Now disconnect PC and leave base station powered. It will continue average the position. 9. Come back after 24 hours. Without powering off base station, connect PC again as above and go to the same web page. It should now show the time the base has been averaging. 10. Click Add Average Position as New Location to get page like this. 8
11. Select Use Average Position as Type of Height Measurement as follows. Name this location for your reference say MyBaseLocation. Do not change Coordinate Accuracy. Figure 9 9
12. Click Add button to get this screen. See that location MyBaseLocation is stored in Base database and is marked as Active. Figure 10 13. Procedure is complete, disconnect the PC. Now you can power off the base, disconnect technician cable and connect regular cable if you want. Power on the base again and start using it. Base Station distance calculator: http://www.csgnetwork.com/gpsdistcalc.html Latitude/Longitude Convertor: http://www.directionsmag.com/latlong.php 10
AF Link Programming Utility: Installation: The software package includes 2 files: AFLinkPgmUtil.exe AFLink Programming Utility User Manual The User Manual listed here above is this user manual. Description of the Software: When starting up the software, you will see a window as shown on Figure 11. Figure 11 - AFLink Pgm Util startup screen At this point, the user can both right click the window and choose the About option (Figure 12) or press the Detect Radio button (or Alt+D) to start detecting a connected radio. Figure 12 - Basic pop-up menu When choosing the About option from the pop-up menu, the software displays the About window which shows information such as the software version number as shown on Figure 13 here below. 11
Figure 13 - About Window To start programming the radio the user presses the Detect Radio button (or Alt+D), the software initiates the detection logic. The software will then prompt the user to make sure that the radio that needs to be programmed is in programming mode. Figure 14 here below shows the message displayed by the software. Press cancel button to cancel the task. Press Ok button to do detection. Figure 14 - Programming mode window AFLink with Satel Radio: When programming an AFLink radio with Satel, the programming button on the programming cable must be pushed in and remain pushed in. Once the radio is programmed, it locks itself until the programming button is pushed out or the radio is power-cycled. The program displays warning windows on when to have the programming button pushed-in or pushed-out. REMEMBER: If the programming switch is not pushed-in when the application tries to detect the radio, the radio will not be detected. After pressing in the programming button and pressing OK, the software will start detecting the radio, depending on the detected type of radio, the software appearance will be different. Once the application has detected the Satel radio the screen will look like the screen shown on Figure 15 here below. 12
Figure 15 - Satel radio detected One can see that the title in the frame under the Detect Radio button is showing the radio type (Satelline 3AS in this case), Firmware version, Hw information. At the bottom of the screen, one can see 2 boxes, the left one shows the internal modem type and the right box shows the port setting for the detected radio. In our example, the internal modem is a Satel and it is connected to COM1. On the center part of the screen, the software displays the radio's center frequency and channel spacing. The values showing in the boxes for the desired frequency and radio usage show what the current configuration of the radio is. When trying to change the desired frequency, only valid entries are accepted. If the frequency entered is invalid, the software will automatically choose the valid frequency closest to the entered value and if nothing is entered, the software will keep the last valid entry. If non numerical values are entered, the software won't do anything, but the Program Radio button will be disabled until all entries are valid. 13
Figure 16 - Satel AFLink usage choices In terms radio usage, Figure 16 shows the possible options which are: Tractor / Mobile Base Station This setting is to be used if the AFLink is going to be put on a Roof Module or if it will be connected to a portable Base Station. In either of these cases, the programming of the radio is identical. Repeater The AFLink is going to be connected to a Repeater. Tower Base Station This configuration of the AFLink radio is for installation with a Tower Base Station (or Permanent Base Station). For intermediate and advanced users, the software allows the user to configure the AFLink output power as well. Figure 17 shows an example of the software screen when running in one of these 2 modes. One can see in this example that there is a third box giving output power selection choices. 14
Figure 17 - AFLink Pgm Util screen for intermediate and advanced users The output power choices depend on the type of radio as shown in Table 2. Satelline 3AS Satelline 3AS EPIC 10 mw 1 W 20 mw 2 W 50 mw 5 W 100 mw 10 W 200 mw 500 mw 1000 mw Table 2 - Satel radio output power choices Figure 18 shows an example of the power choices for a 3AS radio. Also note that in this case, the label under the Detect Radio button shows that the radio is 3AS. 15
Figure 18 - AFLink Pgm Util output power selection Finally, when all programming options are selected, the user can press the Program Radio button to start programming the radio. Note that the button is only enabled if all fields are correctly filled. If any of the fields has an invalid entry, the Program Radio button will be disabled. After the radio has been programmed correctly, the software will prompt the user with a confirmation message as shown of Figure 19. Note that for Satel radios, the user needs to flip the programming switch to normal mode before the radio can do anything again. Figure 19 AFLink Satel successful programming window 16
AFLink with FreeWave radio: When programming an AFLink radio with a FreeWave radio the programming button on the programming cable must be pushed in. FreeWave radios enter the programming mode when the programming switch is being pushed-in and pushed out (Freewave uses edge detection. So, user needs to switch the programming button on and off). Pushing the switch afterwards will not make the radio exit the programming mode. Once a FreeWave radio has been successfully programmed, it automatically returns to its normal operation mode (not programming mode) regardless of the programming switch position. The program displays warning windows on when to push-in the programming button. If the radio is in programming mode, and the user wants it to return to normal operation mode without programming it, it must be power-cycled. REMEMBER: If the programming switch has not been pushed-in before the application tries to detect the radio, the radio will not be detected as shown in Figure 19 Figure 20 - Freewave radio not detected For AFLink radios populated with a Freewave radio the screen the user gets after detecting the radio looks like what's on Figure 11. Now we see that under the Detect Radio button, the radio type show is Freewave. Again, the 2 boxes at the bottom of the window show the internal radio type and the communication port and settings that the AFLink was detected at. The other boxes on the screen show what the current configuration of the radio is. 17
Figure 21 Freewave radio detected The desired radio channel the user gets to choose should be a value between 0 and 3824. Note that invalid entries (smaller than 0 or larger than 3824) will be set to 0 or 3824 (respectively). When no channel is entered, the latest valid channel is used. NOTE: The Frequency Key on the radio is computed from the channel number. As the Frequency Key "0x0E" may not be used in Australia, when the selected country is Australia, the software checks that the Frequency Key matching the chosen channel number is acceptable. If the channel number is such that Frequency Key "E" would be used, the software will reject the channel number entry and display the warning on Figure 12. The user can only enter a channel number which will not result in using Frequency Key "E". Figure 22 - Australia Network Id E alert In terms of radio usage, the Freewave radios offer the following options (see Figure 23): Tractor This option is used for AFLink radios installed on the Roof Module of the vehicle. Repeater 1 This is used when the AFLink is connected to a Repeater. Repeater 2 This is used when the AFLink is connected to a Repeater. Base Station This option is used for AFLink radios connected to a Base Station. 18
Figure 23 - AFLink Freewave usage choice If the firmware version is 2.64, user can set mode to be Legacy, or Fast Roaming mode as shown in Figure 23. In Legacy mode, Tractor, Repeaters only accept the packages sent from the base station with the same network id. In Fast Roaming mode, Tractor and repeaters can accept the packages sent from the base stations out of the network. Figure 24 - AFLink Freewave Mode Choices (Legacy or Fast Roaming) for firmware 2.64 19
If the firmware is not 2.64, only legacy mode is supported. Firmware update button will be shown if the firmware doesn t support fast roaming mode. User can press this button to update firmware as shown in Figure 15 (some old hardware will not support new firmware). Figure 25 - AFLink Freewave firmware update for version older than 2.64 For intermediate and advanced users, the software allows the user to configure the AFLink output country of use as well. Figure 26 shows an example of the software screen when running in one of these 2 modes. One can see in this example that there is a third box giving country of use selection choices.. Figure 26 - Freewave country choices for intermediate and advanced users 20
As shown in Figure 26, the 2 countries currently supported by the AFLink with Freewave radios are: The United States of America Australia When all boxes contain valid entries, the software enables the Program Radio button. The user can then click the button in order to load the current settings to the radio. As for the Satel radios, the software will only enable the Program Radio button if all entries are valid. Once the radio has been programmed, the software displays a confirmation window with the AFLink new configuration. This information window is shown on Figure 27 below. Figure 27 - AFLink Freewave successful programming window NOTE: As opposed to the AFLink with Satel, once the AFLink with Freewave has been programmed, it is immediately ready for use. 21
Advanced User Features: The advanced user features will be shortly introduced here. A full description is out of the scope of this document. For more details about the advanced features, contact AutoFarm. When the advanced features are enabled, the users can right-click anywhere within the software window and get the pop-up menu shown on Figure 28. This allows the user to show, hide, clear and save the Diagnostics window. Figure 28 - Advanced user pop-up menu The Diagnostics window shows details of the communication between the software and the radio and allows advanced users to see more details on the AFLink configuration. It also allows troubleshooting communication problems between the software and the AFLink radio. Save Diagnostics will allow user to save the diagnostics message to files. Display Setting will display all FreeWave configurations. Note that the software always populates those windows, so even when they are hidden, they still collect debugging information. To show the desired window, press Show Diagnostics. To hide them press Hide Diagnostics. And to clean up the windows choose Clear Diagnostics, all this does is erase what currently is in the window, and any new debugging information will still be displayed in these windows. 22