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Summary of Contents for ShipModul MiniPlex-2 Series
- Page 1 ShipModul Marine Electronics MiniPlex-2 series NMEA 0183 multiplexer Manual This manual covers: MiniPlex-2S MiniPlex-2S/BT MiniPlex-2USB MiniPlex-2USB/BT MiniPlex-2E MiniPlex-2Wi MiniPlex-2 series, V2.0 Firmware V3.20.x Rev. A, 19-2-2013 © CustomWare, 2013...
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Page 2: Table Of Contents
Introduction ..........................4 NMEA 0183 ..........................4 NMEA Sentences ........................4 Talkers and Listeners ........................ 4 The Multiplexer ........................5 The Host ..........................5 The MiniPlex-2 Multiplexer ......................6 Galvanic Isolation ........................6 ... - Page 3 $PSMDLDR – Loader message ....................51 $PSMDOP – Set Options ......................51 $PSMDOV – Overflow ......................52 $PSMDRESET – Reset the multiplexer ..................52 $PSMDSP – Set Speed ......................53 $PSMDUI – Set Unique Identifier .................... 53 ...
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Page 4: Introduction
They differ in the type of host interface, the interface that talks to the computer. This manual covers all models of the MiniPlex-2 series. There is a chapter for each type of host port. The remaining part of the manual covers NMEA connections and configuration, which are the same for all models. -
Page 5: The Multiplexer
Depth Radar Wind Auto- pilot Figure 2 The left part of Figure 2 shows such a situation: one GPS sends data to four devices. It gets complicated when several talkers must send data to one listener (the PC) as shown in the right part of Figure 2. -
Page 6: The Miniplex-2 Multiplexer
The MiniPlex-2 Multiplexer The MiniPlex-2 multiplexer is an advanced NMEA 0183 multiplexer with four NMEA inputs or listener ports, two NMEA outputs or talker ports and one or two host interfaces. It combines NMEA sentences that are received on the NMEA inputs and it can send these sentences to the NMEA outputs Host and to the host interface(s). -
Page 7: Host Port
Host Port The host port is the port that connects to a PC, laptop, smartphone, PDA, tablet or any device that is connected to the multiplexer to receive the combined NMEA data for processing and display. The type of host port differs for each type of multiplexer and some multiplexers have two host ports. The host port is always bi-directional: it delivers the combined NMEA data from the NMEA inputs to the host and it also receives NMEA data from the host to be sent to the NMEA outputs of the multiplexer. -
Page 8: Rs-232 Serial Port
RS-232 Serial Port (MiniPlex-2S, MiniPlex-2S/BT) The RS-232 serial port is galvanically isolated from the multiplexer to prevent ground loops when connected to a computer. Ground loops can result in excessive currents in ground connections, which could destroy the multiplexer or the serial port of the connected computer. The default speed of the serial port is 38400 Baud. -
Page 9: Usb Port
To install the drivers for the MiniPlex manually, open the Control Panel, choose “System and Security” and then “Device Manager”. The Device Manager will show a “ShipModul MiniPlex- 2USB” listed under “Other Devices” as shown in Figure Right-click on the MiniPlex entry and choose “Update Driver Software...”... - Page 10 Choose “Browse my computer for driver software”. Figure 7 A new window opens (Figure 8) where you must choose the location of the driver. The driver is located in the subfolder “\USB Driver\Windows” on the MiniPlex Driver & Utility CD. If you click on “Next”, Windows will install the driver.
- Page 11 The Device Manager will now list a “USB Serial Port” under “Other Devices” (Figure 10). For this port to work, a second driver needs to be installed. Right-click on the USB Serial Port entry and choose “Update Driver Software...” from the menu that appears.
- Page 12 Figure 13 appears. You can close this window. Figure 13 The Device Manager will now list a “ShipModul MiniPlex NMEA Multiplexer” under “Universal Serial Bus controllers” and a “MiniPlex Serial Port (COMx)” under “Ports (COM & LPT)”.
- Page 13 Windows 2000/Vista/XP When the multiplexer is connected to a USB port for the first time, Windows will detect new hardware and prompts you for a driver. Insert the supplied CD into the drive and follow the instructions on your screen. If you have an Internet connection, you can let Windows search the Internet for updated drivers. Otherwise, when asked to automatically search for drivers, answer no and choose the option to tell Windows where to find the driver.
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Page 14: Bluetooth Interface
Bluetooth Interface (MiniPlex-2S/BT, MiniPlex-2USB/BT) Using the Bluetooth interface you can connect a host device wirelessly with the MiniPlex. It uses the “Serial Port Profile”, which means that this connection is presented on a host as a standard (virtual) COM port. Such a COM port can be opened by any application. No drivers are required to use a MiniPlex with Bluetooth. -
Page 15: Network Interface
Network Interface (MiniPlex-2E, MiniPlex-2Wi) A network interface connects the multiplexer directly to a network with possibly more than one device. There can be more than one multiplexer connected to a network and/or more than one device that needs to communicate with a multiplexer. Network Basics In order to understand how a networked multiplexer works and how to connect to it, it is necessary to know a little bit about IP addresses, port numbers and protocols. -
Page 16: Protocols
The use of different port numbers allows us to use the same physical device on a network for different services. Port numbers are not chosen arbitrarily, they are standardized and controlled by an organization called IANA. Our multiplexers all use port number 10110, which is a registered port for NMEA data. Protocols Two transport protocols are available for sending data over the network: UDP and TCP. -
Page 17: Miniplex-2E Network Setup
In a typical network environment, a router acts as a DHCP server while other devices such as computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones are DHCP clients, receiving IP addresses from the DHCP server. This ensures that you can connect these devices to the network without worrying about IP addresses, netmasks and gateways - al of this is taken care of by the DHCP server. -
Page 18: Search
These are the factory default settings. The IP address shown here is 0.0.0.0, which means the multiplexer is set to DHCP. This address is different from what you have entered in the Host address field on the main window because that is the address that the MiniPlex received from the DHCP server. -
Page 19: Network Recovery
Network Recovery In rare cases a MiniPlex-2E might not show up in the search results window due to a possible misconfiguration in the Network Settings. This might happen when duplicate IP addresses exist on the network or the multiplexer has an illegal IP address. To recover from such a situation, a new IP address can be assigned with menu option “Tools ... -
Page 20: Wifi Interface
WiFi Interface (MiniPlex-2Wi) Through its WiFi interface, the MiniPlex-2Wi can communicate with wireless devices like an iPad, iPhone, a PC or a Mac. WiFi Access Point The MiniPlex-2Wi provides a wireless access point through its 802.11b+g interface with the following parameters: SSID (name): MiniPlex-2Wi:xx:xx IP address:... - Page 21 In your navigation application, you need to enter the IP address of the MiniPlex-2Wi, which is 10.0.0.1. ® The port number to use is 10110. Figure 21 shows the settings in iNavX Figure 21 The WiFi interface and the USB port operate simultaneously and with the same priority. This allows an on-board fixed computer to be connected simultaneously with a wireless device.
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Page 22: Nmea Ports
NMEA Ports The NMEA ports are the inputs/listener ports and outputs/talker ports on the MiniPlex-2 that are used to connect to navigation instruments, chart plotters etc. There are many interpretations and variations of NMEA ports so we’ll explain a few things first. NMEA Signals Although the NMEA 0183 standard specifies the signal names, voltage levels and connection methods very clearly, the reality is far from this ideal world. -
Page 23: Nmea Outputs
Out A/+ In A TX/Out In A Out B/- In B Ground In B Instrument Multiplexer Instrument Multiplexer Differential Single ended Figure 22 NMEA Outputs The MiniPlex has two NMEA outputs called Out1 and Out2. Each output is capable of driving up to four NMEA inputs. -
Page 24: Combining Ports
Combining Ports It is sometimes necessary to combine an input and an output of the multiplexer to connect to an instrument. One of the most common cases is the connection between a GPS and the TxD/Out In A multiplexer. While some GPS receivers have properly designed Ground In B NMEA ports, many only have an RS-232 port which is single... -
Page 25: Power Supply
Power Supply The multiplexer must be powered from an externally supplied DC voltage from 8 to 35V. The power supply connection is protected against reversed polarity. Indicators The LEDs on the MiniPlex provide information about the status and operation of the multiplexer. When the multiplexer is power up, all LEDs flash once. -
Page 26: Data Throughput
Data Throughput A multiplexer is not the Holy Grail for connecting NMEA devices. It should be fairly obvious that if a device combines data from four sources, the total amount of data that must be forwarded is the sum of the amount of each source. - Page 27 burst of sentences is received. The queues in the MiniPlex are quite large and may contain up to 30 sentences of GPS data. A couple of occasional blinks of the red LED over a period of a few seconds means that large bursts of sentences are received and a queue is hitting its limit.
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Page 28: Mpx-Config
MPX-Config The multiplexer can be configured with a configuration program called MPX-Config. This program can be found on the accompanying CD. There is no installation procedure for this program, just start it from the CD or copy it to a suitable folder on the hard disk of your computer and start it from there. The multiplexer itself is configured with proprietary NMEA sentences. -
Page 29: Menu
Menu The menu contains two sub-menus: File and Tools. Some options of these menus are disabled or not visible, depending on the type of connected multiplexer or on the status of the connection. The File menu offers the following choices: Log NMEA…... -
Page 30: Controls
Controls MiniPlex Connection Before being able to configure the multiplexer, a connection must be set up. Use the Port selector either to select the COM port of the multiplexer or to select TCP or UDP when using a network connection. COM Port When a COM port is selected, a speed setting appears which allows you to select the communication speed of the COM port... -
Page 31: Viewer Options
Viewer Options The NMEA Viewer area (Figure 33) offers a few controls that make observing NMEA data easier. Clear This button clears the NMEA Viewer window. No Scroll When this option is enabled, a list of incoming NMEA sentences will be displayed that will be refreshed constantly when new similar sentences are received. - Page 32 Care should be taken when selecting other speeds than 4800 Baud with respect to possible queue overflows. See the paragraph “Data Throughput” on page 26 for more information. Talker ID The multiplexer can change the Talker ID of incoming sentences. The first two characters of an NMEA sentence represent the Talker ID, indicating which instrument (talker) has sent this sentence.
- Page 33 Input Mode The inputs of the multiplexer can be set to different modes besides standard NMEA, to be able to accept “not quite standard” NMEA, plain text or SeaTalk. The following modes are supported: NMEA: Normal NMEA processing. This is the default processing mode which checks sentences for correct formatting.
- Page 34 Wind In 1 Wifi Tablet Comp- In 2 pass In 3 Out 1 Autopilot Multiplexer Figure 35 When the tablet is connected, it will receive all information from the instruments and the navigation software calculates the course to steer and drives the autopilot accordingly. Because the tablet is sending NMEA data, the multiplexer routes this data exclusively to Out1.
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Page 35: Options
Options On the Options page several options and conversions can be chosen. Figure 36 Priority This option deletes duplicate NMEA sentences received on multiple inputs. When enabled, the multiplexer assigns a priority to incoming NMEA data based on the input on which it is received. The host interfaces have the highest priority, followed by NMEA In1, In2, In3 and In4 in descending order. -
Page 36: Nmea Conversions
Time Out This setting allows you to set the time it takes before sentences from a lower priority input are passed. SeaTalk Priority This sets the priority of the SeaTalk data. It can be either Highest (SeaTalk - In1 - In2 - In3) or Lowest (In1 - In2 - In3 - SeaTalk). -
Page 37: Sentence Filtering & Routing
can be used to provide two opposing navigation stations on ferries with a heading from the same gyrocompass. Use the default route or Sentence Filter to route each sentence to a different NMEA output and only one to the host if needed. Sentence Filtering &... - Page 38 Press Enter or click with the cursor: This enters Edit mode with the text selected and the cursor at ● the end. Any character or number that is typed now will erase the existing text entirely unless the cursor is moved around with the mouse or arrow keys. This will unselect the text. Double-click on the entry.
- Page 39 Example Figure 40 shows a small set of filter rules: Figure 40 These rules have the following effect: • GPRMC sentences are passed only when received on input 1 and they are routed to output 1 and to the PC. •...
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Page 40: Firmware Update
Firmware Update From time to time, we will develop new features for the multiplexer or fix bugs in the existing firmware. New firmware image files will then be made available through our website. These image files can be downloaded to your computer and loaded into the multiplexer with the option “Update MiniPlex Firmware…”... -
Page 41: Preparation
Preparation In order to successfully update the WiFi firmware, a few preparations must be made: 1. The latest MPX-Config version must be installed. 2. A working USB connection must exist from your computer to the MiniPlex. The update process uses both the USB connection and the WiFi connection 3. -
Page 42: Mounting
4. Enter the following command in Manual NMEA Sentence Input: PSMDWI,A This resets the WiFi module to factory settings. The following message should appear in the NMEA viewer: $PSMDWI,Initializing WiFi interface... $PSMDWI,RDY 5. Now setup your computer to connect to the WiFi network of the MiniPlex. If you are unable to connect, make sure no other device is still connected. -
Page 43: Technical Reference
Technical Reference NMEA Glossary This glossary lists the most common Talker ID’s and Sentence Formatters in alphabetical order. Talker ID’s Autopilot (general) Autopilot (magnetic) Automatic Identification System Communications: Digital Selective Calling (DSC) Data receiver Satellite Radio telephone (MF/HF) Radio telephone (VHF) Scanning receiver Decca navigator Direction finder... - Page 44 DSC transponder initialise DSC transponder response Datum reference Frequency set information GNSS Satellite fault detection Global positioning system fix data Geographic position, LORAN-C Geographic position, latitude/longitude GNSS fix data GNSS range residuals GNSS DOP and active satellites GNSS pseudo range error statistics GNSS satellites in view Heading, deviation and variation Heading, true...
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Page 45: Translated Seatalk Datagrams
Translated SeaTalk datagrams When the SeaTalk translation is enabled, the following datagrams are translated into NMEA sentences: SeaTalk NMEA Description Depth below transducer Wind angle, (10 and 11 combined) Wind speed, (10 and 11 combined) Speed through water, includes heading when present Trip mileage (21 and 22 combined) Total mileage (21 and 22 combined) -
Page 46: Firmware Update Error Messages
Firmware Update Error messages During a firmware update, the following warnings or error messages may be displayed: The firmware update failed This message appears when the overall update process failed without any other error message. It is shown when the updated multiplexer firmware does not report a version message after start-up. Not a valid firmware file The file you are trying to open is not a valid firmware file. -
Page 47: Wifi Update Messages
WiFi Update Messages The following is an explanation of the messages shown during the WiFi firmware update. $PSMDWC,connecting to xxx.xxx.x.xxx The FTP client in the WiFi module connects to the FTP server in MPX-Config. The IP address shown is the address of your computer. When this connection fails, a time out message may occur like $PSMDWC,Timeout=2 $PSMDWC,FTP file=xx The FTP client downloads the firmware file and stores it into its own file system where xx is the... -
Page 48: Proprietary Nmea Sentences
ID for a multiplexer as defined by the NMEA standard. All MiniPlex proprietary sentences have the following format: $PSMDxx[,a,b,…][*hh]<CR><LF> Start of a proprietary command as dictated by the NMEA standard SMD: ShipModul manufacturer mnemonic Two- or three-character sentence formatter a,b,…: Optional fields Optional checksum <CR><LF>: Carriage Return and Line Feed characters that terminate the sentence... -
Page 49: Psmddr - Set Default Route
Priority Timeout (in seconds): 0 = 1 1 = 2 2 = 3 3 = 5 4 = 10 5 = 30 The ‘s’ field will always return a 0 or 1 in response to a CF query sentence. $PSMDDR – Set Default Route This sentence specifies the default route from the NMEA inputs to the NMEA outputs and from the host interface to the NMEA outputs. -
Page 50: Psmdid - Set Talker Id
Optional divisor factor (0..99). The rate or frequency of a sentence is divided by this number to reduce the number of sentences over time. If for instance a divisor of 6 is specified, only every occurrence of this sentence is passed. yyyy: Optional routing field. -
Page 51: Psmdldr - Loader Message
2: Relaxed NMEA format checking. Normally the multiplexer only passes sentences when they are correctly formatted: starting with a ‘$’ or a ‘!’ and ending on a CR/LF pair. When this mode is selected, an NMEA sentence will be passed if it starts with a ‘$’ or a ‘!’ and ends on a CR or a LF or a combination of both in arbitrary order. -
Page 52: Psmdov - Overflow
xxxxxxxx: all options at once as a 32 bit hexadecimal number. Each bit represents an option where bit 0 is option 0, bit 1 is option 1 etc. Example: $PSMDOP,C,6,1<CR><LF> (enables option 6) $PSMDOP,C,00000021<CR><LF> (enables options 5 and 0) The following options are defined: 0: Enable Priority 1: Enable highest priority for SeaTalk data. -
Page 53: Psmdsp - Set Speed
$PSMDSP – Set Speed This sentence sets the baudrate of the NMEA inputs and outputs. Format: $PSMDSP,a,b,c,d,e,f,g[*hh]<CR><LF> The following fields are defined for setting the various inputs and outputs: a: Sentence Status flag: R = sentence is a status report of current settings C = sentence is a command to change settings b: NMEA In 1 c: NMEA In 2... -
Page 54: Psmdwi - Wireless Control
$PSMDWI – Wireless control This sentence controls the wireless module on the multiplexer (WiFi or Bluetooth). This sentence always results in a response sentence from the multiplexer. This response reflects the response of the wireless module or the result of the operation. Format: $PSMDWI,x,a,b..*hh<CR><LF Sub-command. -
Page 55: Command Mode
Update the firmware in the WiFi module: $PSMDWI,U,file,ip*hh<CR><LF> file: File to load from the FTP server (optional) ftp: IP address of the FTP server (optional) The default file name is ‘wifly-ap.img’ and the default IP address is 195.8.209.192, which is the FTP server of CustomWare. -
Page 56: Channel Information
Note that the multiplexer responds with a $PSMDWC sentence when it is in command mode. In normal mode, a $PSMDWI response is given. A PSMDWI sentence without any parameters exits command mode. When this sentence is issued in normal mode, a $PSMDWI,No response is returned. Terminal Mode Terminal Mode creates a direct connection between the wired and the wireless interface for testing and debugging purposes. -
Page 57: Technical Specifications
Technical Specifications MiniPlex-2S Supply voltage: 8 – 35 V , protected against reversed polarity. Current consumption: 50 mA (100 mA max. with fully loaded talker ports) Host interface: RS-232, galvanically isolated Inputs: 4 x NMEA 0183/RS-422, galvanically isolated. Input 4 can be set to SeaTalk mode Input resistance: >800 Ohm... -
Page 58: Miniplex-2S/Bt
MiniPlex-2S/BT Supply voltage: 8 – 35 V , protected against reversed polarity. Current consumption: 100 mA (150 mA max. with fully loaded talker ports) Host interfaces: RS-232, galvanically isolated Bluetooth V2.0, Class 1 (+6dBm), SPP Bluetooth range: 250 metres typical in free space Inputs: 4 x NMEA 0183/RS-422, galvanically isolated. -
Page 59: Miniplex-2E
MiniPlex-2E Supply voltage: 8 – 35 V , protected against reversed polarity. Current consumption: 100 mA (150 mA max. with fully loaded talker ports) Host interface: 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Ethernet Supported protocols: TCP/IP and UDP, port 10110 for NMEA communication TCP/IP, port 10110 for firmware updates TCP/IP and UDP, port 30718 for network configuration ARP, ICMP and DCHP for network management Inputs:... - Page 60 ShipModul / CustomWare Borgstee 27b 9403 TS Assen The Netherlands web: www.shipmodul.com e-mail: support@shipmodul.com...
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