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iK81 / iK42
TIPI Control
Protocol Overview
Tipi is a simple but powerful ASCII text based protocol for controlling and monitoring IKON Amplifiers from any number of third
party control panels or software applications over Ethernet (TCP/IP).
Physical layer
Tipi would typically be transported using nn Ethernet Interface (10/100/1G) using the TCP/IP protocol, port 51456.
The user would normally select which 3rd party type to use via the "Third Party Control" parameter on the controlled device,
with the selections: "None", "TCP", "Serial".
General frame format
8-bit ASCII text strings are used throughout
The start of a message is delimited by a $ character
Fields are separated by one or more space characters (although no space is required after the Start delimiter ($) or
before the End delimiter (<CR>))
Spaces may not be used in name fields. We suggest the use of underscore instead (_).
Numbers are expressed in decimal units
The case of alpha letters is not important (although Upper Case Commands (e.g. SET) and CamelCase Method names
(e.g. Out1/Gain) will be used in all responses)
The general format is SD C M VE - where:
1.
S is the Start character = $
2.
D is the (optional) Device Address (either the DeviceName. This is normally only required when using a
multidrop RS485 connection. If the address is implicit (in the case of an IP or RS232 connection for example),
then this field may be omitted (so the string then starts with a Command. An absence of this field (i.e. when
the frame starts with a Command) indicates 'any' (either the device is implicitly nominated by an IP address,
or this is a broadcast). The address must always preceded with the '#' delimiter. (See Addressing)
3.
C is the Command type (GEt, SEt etc). A minimum of two characters is required; others may be omitted (e.g.
SE, ge). The full command is returned by devices in any responses.
4.
M is the Method name (such as Out2/Eq3Freq), describing which parameter is to be acted upon. The
MethodName is sometimes made up of concatenated sub-fields separated by a forward slash ("/"). These
fields are usually:
a.
The Path (the input/output name/number) e.g. "Out1". Valid path names are or the form: "In1", "InA",
"Out1"
b.
The Parameter name - e.g. "Eq1Freq". 3.7.4.3.The full MethodName in this example would be
"Out1/EqFreq".
c.
Methods which are not associated with particular input/output channels do not have a Path name or
the forward slash(/), so are simply of the form "Snapshot". A typical command string then might be:
$SET Snapshot 8<CR>
5.
V is the value (such as "-3.8dB"). The units of measure are merely for convenience of reading, so may be
omitted ("-3.8" in this example).
E is the end delimiter: Carriage Return (<CR>) (ASCII 13, 0x0D Hex). Note that an LF or NUL character may also be
appended in addition to <CR>. 3.8.Any characters outside of a S...E frame are ignored
Addressing
Since Ethernet and RS232 connections will necessarily be discrete 1:1 connections, it will not usually be necessary to
specify addressing in the script. However, a Destination device address may be specified. This might be useful for
example in multi-drop RS485 connections.
A destination address is specified as the DeviceName preceded by #
If the string after the start character begins with a command (rather than '#'), then the address is considered to be
wildcard (broadcast). This only has relevance for multidrop RS485 since RS232 and TCP/IP connections have implicit
addressing.
Example: $#LobbyAmp SET Out2/Gain 3.5dB<CR>
Note that spaces in device names are not permitted. Use underscore instead e.g. "Lobby_Amp"
iK81 / iK42 User Guide V2.3
USER GUIDE
39
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