ST G3-PLC User Manual

UM1811
User manual
G3-PLC graphical user interface (GUI)
Introduction
The G3 power line communication (G3-PLC) graphical user interface (GUI) is a tool
implemented by STMicroelectronics™ that allows interfacing one or more ST platforms
equipped with the G3-PLC protocol, hereafter called G3-PLC platforms. This tool is running
® ® ®
on a Microsoft Windows PC that is connected to a supported G3-PLC platform (see
Section 2 on page 6) through to a serial link, converted to a USB connection. On the PC
side, the communication with the G3-PLC platform is managed thanks to a node interface
plugin written in C# accessible through a graphical front-end. On the G3-PLC platform, the
communication is managed thanks to a host interface application that receives/sends the
messages from/to the PC. Messages are translated into commands for the ST G3-PLC
library. This document does not describe in details the plugin, the host interface application,
nor the ST G3-PLC library. It describes the PC tool features, it details the options that it
offers, it gives clear guidance on how to connect a G3-PLC platform to the tool and it
provides examples in order to transmit data between two different G3-PLC platforms. To
better understand some menu of the GUI, it is useful to understand how the ST G3-PLC
protocol stack is implemented:

Figure 1. Communication between GUI and G3-PLC platform

On the G3-PLC platform, a Host Interface application forwards commands from the serial
link to the right layer of the protocol stack (6LoWPAN, MAC, PHY) and it forwards responses
from one layer of the protocol stack to the serial link. On the PC side, the node interface
plugin forwards commands from the graphical front-end to the serial link and it forwards the
responses from the serial link to the graphical front-end. The host interface application and
node interface plugin communicate thanks to a serial link.
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