TRB142 Serial Utilities

Main Page > TRB Gateways > TRB142 > TRB142 Manual > TRB142 WebUI > TRB142 Services section > TRB142 Serial Utilities

The information in this page is updated in accordance with firmware version TRB1_R_00.07.06.8.


Summary

The Serial Utilities page is used to make serial communication configurations of different types. To make a new serial configuration instance select a serial type from the left-hand navigation menu. In the next page enter a custom name for the new config, select a serial device and click the Add button.

Example from the Modem Configuration page:

Networking rutos manual serial utilities add new instance default rs232 v1.png

Then, click the Edit button next to the instance:

Networking rutos manual serial utilities edit config default rs232 v1.png

This manual page provides an overview of the Serial Utilities page in TRB142 devices.

General information

RS232


Connector pinout


The RS232 connector type on this device is a DCE female. DCE stands for Data Communication Equipment.

Services rs232 connector.PNG

PIN NAME* DESCRIPTION* DIRECTION ON THIS DEVICE
1 DCD Data Carrier Detect Output
2 RXD Receive Data Output
3 TXD Transmit Data Input
4 DTR Data Terminal Ready Input
5 GND Signal Ground -
6 DSR Data Set Ready Output
7 RTS Ready To Send Input
8 CTS Clear To Send Output
9 RI Ring Indicator Output (connected to +3.8V permanently via a 4.7k resistor)

Cables


There are two types of RS232 serial devices: DTE and DCE. DTE typically refers to the serial port on a PC or terminal, while DCE refers to communication devices. Connectors mounted on DTE are likely to be male, and those mounted on DCE are likely to be female.

This device is DCE and has a female connector.


To connect a standard DTE device, use a straight-through Female/Male RS232 cable:

Services rs232 connector female male.PNG

See straight cable pinout below:

Straight cable pinout v2.png


To connect another DCE device to RUT/TRB, a Null-modem (crossed) Male/Male cable should be used:

Male male rs232 cable.jpg

See straight crossed cable pinout below:

Straight crossed rs232 cable pinout v2.png


Maximum cable length is 15 meters or the cable length equal to a capacitance of 2500 pF (for a 19200 baud rate). Using lower capacitance cables can increase the distance. Reducing communication speed can also increase maximum cable length.

Modem Control

The Modem serial type is used to manage modem functionality which could be accessed using shell interface. For this purpose you may want use CR/LF (Carriage Return, Line Feed) capable applications like PuTTY on Windows and microcom, minicom, cutecom or similar applications on Linux.

Networking rutos manual serial utilities modem control default rs232 v2.png


Field Value Description
Enable off | on; default: off Turns the instance on or off.
Name string; default: none Instance name, generated by the user when first creating the configuration.
Device RS232; default: RS232 Specifies which serial port will be used for serial communication.
Baud rate integer [300..3000000]; default: 9600 Data rate for serial data transmission (in bits per second (bps)).
Data bits 5 | 6 | 7 | 8; default: 8 Number of data bits for each character.
Stop bits 1 | 2; default: 1 Stop bits sent at the end of every character allow the receiving signal hardware to detect the end of a character and to resynchronise with the character stream. Electronic devices usually use one stop bit. Two stop bits are required if slow electromechanical devices are used.
Parity None | Odd | Even | Mark | Space; default: None In serial transmission, parity is a method of detecting errors. An extra data bit is sent with each data character, arranged so that the number of 1 bits in each character, including the parity bit, is always odd or always even. If a byte is received with the wrong number of 1s, then it must have been corrupted. However, an even number of errors can pass the parity check.
  • None (N) - no parity method is used.
  • Odd (O) - the parity bit is set so that the number of "logical ones (1s)" has to be odd.
  • Even (E) - the parity bit is set so that the number of "logical ones (1s)" has to be even.
Flow control None| RTS/CTS | Xon/Xoff; default: None In many circumstances a transmitter might be able to send data faster than the receiver is able to process it. To cope with this, serial lines often incorporate a "handshaking" method, usually distinguished between hardware and software handshaking.
  • RTS/CTS - hardware handshaking. RTS and CTS are turned OFF and ON from alternate ends to control data flow, for instance when a buffer is almost full.
  • Xon/Xoff - software handshaking. The Xon and Xoff characters are sent by the receiver to the sender to control when the sender will send data, i.e., these characters go in the opposite direction to the data being sent. The circuit starts in the "sending allowed" state. When the receiver's buffers approach capacity, the receiver sends the Xoff character to tell the sender to stop sending data. Later, after the receiver has emptied its buffers, it sends an Xon character to tell the sender to resume transmission.
Mode Partial control | Full control; default: Partial control Specifies modem control mode.
  • Partial control- enables modem control with AT commands, mobile connection will be controlled by RUTOS.
  • Full control- enables modem control with AT commands, mobile connection will be controlled by user.
Start up message string; default: none Message to print to serial device when modem control is ready.

Console

Console mode requires no further configuration than the settings above and is used as a direct-access method to the device's shell interface. For this purpose you may want use such applications as PuTTY on Windows and microcom, minicom, picocom or similar applications on Linux.

Networking rutos manual serial utilities console default rs232 v1.png

Field Value Description
Enable off | on; default: off Turns the instance on or off.
Name string; default: none Instance name, generated by the user when first creating the configuration.
Device RS232; default: RS232 Specifies which serial port will be used for serial communication.
Baud rate integer [300..3000000]; default: 9600 Data rate for serial data transmission (in bits per second (bps)).
Data bits 5 | 6 | 7 | 8; default: 8 Number of data bits for each character.
Stop bits 1 | 2; default: 1 Stop bits sent at the end of every character allow the receiving signal hardware to detect the end of a character and to resynchronize with the character stream. Electronic devices usually use one stop bit. Two stop bits are required if slow electromechanical devices are used.
Parity None | Odd | Even | Mark | Space; default: None In serial transmission, parity is a method of detecting errors. An extra data bit is sent with each data character, arranged so that the number of 1 bits in each character, including the parity bit, is always odd or always even. If a byte is received with the wrong number of 1s, then it must have been corrupted. However, an even number of errors can pass the parity check.
  • None (N) - no parity method is used.
  • Odd (O) - the parity bit is set so that the number of "logical ones (1s)" has to be odd.
  • Even (E) - the parity bit is set so that the number of "logical ones (1s)" has to be even.
Flow control None| RTS/CTS | Xon/Xoff; default: None In many circumstances a transmitter might be able to send data faster than the receiver is able to process it. To cope with this, serial lines often incorporate a "handshaking" method, usually distinguished between hardware and software handshaking.
  • RTS/CTS - hardware handshaking. RTS and CTS are turned OFF and ON from alternate ends to control data flow, for instance when a buffer is almost full.
  • Xon/Xoff - software handshaking. The Xon and Xoff characters are sent by the receiver to the sender to control when the sender will send data, i.e., these characters go in the opposite direction to the data being sent. The circuit starts in the "sending allowed" state. When the receiver's buffers approach capacity, the receiver sends the Xoff character to tell the sender to stop sending data. Later, after the receiver has emptied its buffers, it sends an Xon character to tell the sender to resume transmission.

Over IP

The Over IP serial type is used to manage serial connections over a TCP/IP network.

Serial Device Configuration


Configure serial port communication parameters in the Serial Device Configuration section.

Networking rutos manual serial utilities over ip serial default rs232 v2.png

Field Value Description
Enable off | on; default: off Turns the instance on or off.
Name string; default: none Instance name, generated by the user when first creating the configuration.
Device RS232; default: RS232 Specifies which serial port will be used for serial communication.
Baud rate integer [300..3000000]; default: 9600 Data rate for serial data transmission (in bits per second (bps)).
Data bits 5 | 6 | 7 | 8; default: 8 Number of data bits for each character.
Stop bits 1 | 2; default: 1 Stop bits sent at the end of every character allow the receiving signal hardware to detect the end of a character and to resynchronise with the character stream. Electronic devices usually use one stop bit. Two stop bits are required if slow electromechanical devices are used.
Parity None | Odd | Even | Mark | Space; default: None In serial transmission, parity is a method of detecting errors. An extra data bit is sent with each data character, arranged so that the number of 1 bits in each character, including the parity bit, is always odd or always even. If a byte is received with the wrong number of 1s, then it must have been corrupted. However, an even number of errors can pass the parity check.
  • None (N) - no parity method is used.
  • Odd (O) - the parity bit is set so that the number of "logical ones (1s)" has to be odd.
  • Even (E) - the parity bit is set so that the number of "logical ones (1s)" has to be even.
Flow control None| RTS/CTS | Xon/Xoff; default: None In many circumstances a transmitter might be able to send data faster than the receiver is able to process it. To cope with this, serial lines often incorporate a "handshaking" method, usually distinguished between hardware and software handshaking.
  • RTS/CTS - hardware handshaking. RTS and CTS are turned OFF and ON from alternate ends to control data flow, for instance when a buffer is almost full.
  • Xon/Xoff - software handshaking. The Xon and Xoff characters are sent by the receiver to the sender to control when the sender will send data, i.e., these characters go in the opposite direction to the data being sent. The circuit starts in the "sending allowed" state. When the receiver's buffers approach capacity, the receiver sends the Xoff character to tell the sender to stop sending data. Later, after the receiver has emptied its buffers, it sends an Xon character to tell the sender to resume transmission.
RS232: Echo off | on; default: off Enable serial device echo. This option is available only on the RS232 device.

Over IP Configuration Settings


You can configure network related parameters of the serial connection in the Over IP Configuration secion.

Networking rutos manual serial utilities over ip mbus configuration general v1.png

Field Value Description
Mode Server | Client | Client + server | Bidirect; default: Server This device's role in the connection:
  • Server - the device waits for incoming connections.
  • Client - the device initiates the connection.
  • Client + server - launches service in server and client(s) mode simultaneously.
  • Bidirect - acts as client by default but waits for incoming connections at the same time.
Protocol TCP | UDP; default: TCP Protocol used in the communication process.
Client: Destination address IP | Port; default: empty Specify server address and port for client to connect to. E.g first field for address second for port. 16 destination addresses are allowed.
Server: UDP: Predefined addresses IP | Port; default: empty Set predefined IP and port for UDP connection. E.g first field for address second for port.
Listening port [1..65535]; default: empty When enabled, all data will be transmitted transparently.

Networking rutos manual serial utilities over ip mbus configuration security v1.png

Field Value Description
Use TLS/SSL off | on; default: off Mark to use TLS/SSL for connection.
TLS version Support all | tlsv1.0 | tlsv1.1 | tlsv1.2 | tlsv1.3; default: Support all Minimum TLS version allowed to be used.
TLS type Certificate based | Pre-Shared-Key based; default: Certificate based Select the type of TLS encryption.
Require certificate off | on; default: on Demand certificate and key from peer and verify them against certificate authority.
Verify host off | on; default: off Check if the server certificates Common Name (CN) matches hostname to which client is connecting.
Certificate files from device off | on; default: off Choose this option if you want to select certificate files from device.
Certificate files can be generated <a class=link href="/system/admin/certificates/generation">here</a>.
Certificate file .crt file; default: none Upload certificate file.
Key file .key file; default: none Upload key file.
CA file .ca file; default: none Upload CA file.
Pre-Shared-Key string; default: none The pre-shared-key in hex format with no leading “0x”.
Identify string; default: none Specify the identity.

Networking rutos manual serial utilities over ip mbus configuration advanced v2.png

Field Value Description
Raw mode off | on; default: on When enabled, all data will be transmitted transparently.
Remove all zeros off | on; default: off When checked, indicates that the first hex zeros should be skipped.
Inactivity timeout integer [0..36000]; default: 300 Specifies period of time in seconds, where server connection must be inactive, to disconnect client. To disable timeout input 0.
Serial timeout integer [0..1000]; default: none Specifies the maximum milliseconds to wait for serial data.
Max clients integer [1..32]; default: 4 Specify how many clients are allowed to connect simultaneously.
TCP echo on | off; default: off Enable software TCP echo.
Close connections on | off; default: off Close TCP connections everytime data is sent or received (might result in serial data loss).
Keep alive time integer [0..32000]; default: 0 Close TCP connections everytime data is sent or received (might result in serial data loss).
Keep alive interval integer [0..32000]; default: 0 The interval between subsequential keepalive probes.
Keep alive probes integer [0..32000]; default: 0 The number of unacknowledged probes.

IP Filter


The IP Filter section is used for configuring which network is allowed to communicate with the device. You may add a new instance by selecting the Interface and pressing Add.

Networking rutos manual console ip filter.png

Then enter the IP address and save.

Networking rutos manual console ip filter instance.png