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Acksys WLg-DONGLE User Manual

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SERIAL TO Wi-Fi GATEWAYS
USER'S GUIDE
FOR 802.11
/
/
/
A
B
G
H DEVICES

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Summary of Contents for Acksys WLg-DONGLE

  • Page 1 SERIAL TO Wi-Fi GATEWAYS USER’S GUIDE FOR 802.11 H DEVICES...

  • Page 2: Registered Trademarks

    ACKSYS ® will in no case be held responsible for any errors that may be contained in this document, nor for any damage, no matter how substantial, occasioned by the provision, operation or use of the equipment.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    - 3 - TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION..............................5 II. GLOSSARY & ACRONYMS..........................6 III. PRODUCTS LINE OVERVIEW........................7 III.1 P .............................7 RODUCTS GOALS III.2 H ......................7 ARDWARE ARCHITECTURE BLOCK DIAGRAM III.3 S ......................8 OFTWARE ARCHITECTURE BLOCK DIAGRAM IV. PRODUCTS COMMON FEATURES......................9 IV.1 S .............................9 ERIAL SERVICES IV.2 W...
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  • Page 5: Introduction

     The online help provided by the web administration pages. This reference guide describes the latest version of the product firmware. Please read the change log (which can be downloaded from ACKSYS web site) to check firmware features changes. 54 Mb Wi-Fi port servers user guide ( DTUS062...

  • Page 6: Glossary & Acronyms

    C-Key A removable memory component for configuration backup, available on the WLg-IDA/S and other ACKSYS products DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a system to obtain an IP address automatically by asking to a preinstalled DHCP server...

  • Page 7: Products Line Overview

    - 7 - PRODUCTS LINE OVERVIEW III. III.1 Products goals This line of products provides Wi-Fi connectivity for serial devices. These products establish a bi-directional gateway between the asynchronous, byte- oriented, serial port and the frame-oriented Wi-Fi network. Configuration Net to serial Wi-Fi Serial access...

  • Page 8: Iii.3 Software Architecture Block Diagram

    - 8 - III.3 Software architecture block diagram The Flash EPROM is organized in two areas to allow reliable in-field firmware upgrades. The first area contains the normal (regular) firmware, the second area contains a so-called “emergency upgrade” firmware which starts up if a firmware upgrade failed (due to, say, an unexpected power failure).

  • Page 9: Products Common Features

    - 9 - PRODUCTS COMMON FEATURES IV.1 Serial services IV.1.1 Understanding serial services The serial port can be set to provide six different kinds of services.  Virtual COM port (SERVERCOM module, RFC2217 mode). This is mainly used to provide a virtual COM port on a Windows operating system, using the VIP software.
  • Page 10 - 10 - IV.1.2 Selecting the right serial service If you want to access a remote serial device in the same manner as a local port (including control signals): usually the “Virtual COM (VIP)” service on the device side and a •...

  • Page 11: Iv.2 Wireless Communication

    - 11 - IV.2 Wireless communication IV.2.1 Infrastructure Mode In an infrastructure network there are 2 kinds of devices:  The access point  Client Wi-Fi devices (client stations) that connect to the access point to gain access to other Wi-Fi devices or LAN devices. Other Wi-Fi device Obstacles or large distance...
  • Page 12 - 12 - connections or printers. More APs can be added to the WLAN to increase the reach of the infrastructure and support any number of wireless clients. Compared to the alternative ad-hoc wireless networks, infrastructure mode networks offer the advantage of scalability, centralized security management and improved reach.
  • Page 13 - 13 - IV.2.3 Wireless Network Name This name is also referred to as the SSID and serves as a subnetwork identifier. A service set identifier, or SSID, is a name used to identify the specific 802.11 wireless LANs to which a user wishes to be connected. A client device will receive broadcast messages from all access points within range, advertising their SSIDs, and can choose one to connect to based on pre- configuration, or by displaying a list of SSIDs in range and asking the user...
  • Page 14 - 14 - 802.11a Typical Bit Rate Range Range Op. Frequency throughput (Max) (Indoor) (Outside) 5 GHz 20Mbit/s 54 Mbit/s ~10 m ~50 m The 802.11a operates in 5 GHz band with a maximum raw data rate of 54 Mbit/s, which yields a realistic mean throughput in the mid-20 Mbit/s. Since the 2.4 GHz band is often saturated, using the relatively unused 5 GHz band gives 802.11a provides a significant advantage.
  • Page 15 - 15 - Auto channel selection When in infrastructure topology only (see “wireless mode”), the product can scan all the allowed channels in the region for reachable access points with the indicated SSID. Otherwise it will scan only the selected channel(s). 802.11d When the “802.11d”...

  • Page 16: And Mac Filters

    - 16 - IV.2.7 Antenna On products providing a secondary (AUX) antenna plug, you can direct communication to that antenna. When two antennas are connected the “diversity” choice enhances reception. With one (MAIN) antenna only, use the “main” or “diversity” setting. IV.2.8 Transmission Rate By default, the fastest possible transmission rate will be selected.
  • Page 17 - 17 - IV.3.1 WEP encryption WEP is a method of encrypting data for wireless communication and is intended to provide the same level of privacy as a wired network. However, WEP is not as secure as WPA encryption. To gain access to a WEP network you must know the key.
  • Page 18 - 18 - III) The client has to encrypt the challenge text using the configured WEP key and send it back in another authentication request. IV) The Access Point decrypts the information and compares it with the clear-text it had sent. Depending on the result of this comparison, the Access Point sends back a positive or negative response.
  • Page 19 - 19 - Security in pre-shared key mode (PSK) In Pre-Shared Key mode (PSK, also known as personal mode), each Access Point client must provide a password to access the network. The password may be from 8 to 63 printable ASCII characters. Most operating systems allow the password to be stored to avoid re-typing.
  • Page 20 For example, a Windows XP SP2 supplicant allows: - PEAP authentication with login and password (called MSCHAP V2) - Use of certificates The ACKSYS “serial-to-Wi-Fi” products can use the MSCHAP Version 2 when the unit works as SUPPLICANT. 802.1x configuration (WPA/WPA2-Enterprise) To access the “802.1x Configuration”...
  • Page 21 - 21 - IV.3.3 MAC ID Filtering in infrastructure client mode ACKSYS infrastructure clients contain a MAC ID filter that allows the administrator to refuse or authorize access points. It uses a list of MAC addresses which works as follows: ...

  • Page 22: Iv.4 Roaming

    IV.4.1 Overview The “roaming” ability allows a wireless mobile station (the infrastructure client mode in the ACKSYS products) to switch from an access point to another without losing the network connection. Without this ability, a Wi-Fi client station will not connect to another access point until connection has been lost with the current Access Point.
  • Page 23 - 23 - Better access point found This more common case happens when several APs cover the same area. Roaming threshold station Station trip C D E F AP1 radiation AP2 radiation cone cone In this example the RSSI that the mobile station measures evolves as shown in the following table.
  • Page 24 The lower the bit rate, the longer the time taken to transmit frames. IV.4.3 Configuring The ACKSYS roaming solution allows configuring the various aspects discussed above. The roaming configuration parameters are found in two pages of the web interface: BASICWireless: Roaming enable and disable, basic parameters.
  • Page 25 - 25 - The roaming configuration menu is shown below: This menu will allow you to set the roaming threshold. It can be entered in percent or in dBm. The station will roam from AP1 to AP2 if: (RSSI < RSSI ) AND (RSSI <...
  • Page 26 - 26 - “Scan Period”: This field sets the scan process period. This value must be chosen according to the moving speed of the station. This field is always available regardless of the number of selected channels. In multichannel mode, the scan process is both active and passive. In monochannel mode, the scan is active (passive scan is permanent) The default scan interval is 5 seconds.

  • Page 27: Iv.5 Long Distance Wi-Fi

    - 27 - beacons sent by the APs around; this mode is called “passive mode scan”. It will also periodically broadcast “probe requests” to find AP that were not seen during the passive mode scan; this is the “active mode scan”. The period can be specified by the user and is called scan period.
  • Page 28 (say, the access point and the station) will trigger retransmission timeouts and the throughput will decrease. The ACKSYS products can be used over 1 km, up to 5 km, by configuring the “distance” parameter in the web interface, page “AdvancedAdvanced Wireless”.
  • Page 29 - 29 - Check the “Enable long distance” box, the distance configuration parameters will appear. Type the distance from one product to the other in the “Distance between Antennas” input box. Do not change the other parameters (Slot Time, Ack Time out, CTS time) unless you completely understand the impact on the Wi-Fi protocol.
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  • Page 31: Products Distinctive Features

    - 31 - PRODUCTS DISTINCTIVE FEATURES Distinctive features availability table Some features are available on some products of the products line. We will learn which product supports which feature, and then we will discuss each feature separately. This section focuses on the features that involve specific software configuration.

  • Page 32: Rs422/Rs485 Port

    - 32 - RS422/RS485 port This section only applies to products that provide RS422/RS485 connectivity. The normalized identifiers for RS422/RS485 differential cables are A, B, A’, B’. We will use these names to avoid the misleading non-standard names “+” and “–” used by some manufacturers. Software configuration: The electrical interface must be specified in the software configuration.
  • Page 33 - 33 - RS485 mode cabling: Identify AA’& BB’ signals on the equipment side. The points AA’ and BB’ are as defined in the EIA-485 and V11 recommendations, such that: < V when idle (state also called MARK or OFF: AA’...
  • Page 34 - 34 - V.4.1 RS422 Cabling example RS422 FULL-DUPLEX POINT TO POINT CABLING RS422 INTERFACE FOR POINT TO POINT LINK DB9 Pin TWISTED PAIRS RS422 INTERFACE FOR POINT TO POINT LINK 54 Mb Wi-Fi port servers user guide ( DTUS062 DTUS062) Release A.2, December 14, 2010...
  • Page 35 - 35 - RS422 FULL-DUPLEX MULTIDROP CABLING RS422 INTERFACE FOR MASTER-TYPE MULTIDROP LINK (POLLING SELECTING) RS422 INTERFACE FOR INTERMEDIATE SLAVE- TYPE MULTIDROP LINK TWISTED PAIRS RS422 INTERFACE FOR TERMINAL SLAVE-TYPE MULTIDROP LINK 54 Mb Wi-Fi port servers user guide ( DTUS062 DTUS062) Release A.2, December 14, 2010...
  • Page 36 - 36 - V.4.2 RS485 cabling example RS485 HALF-DUPLEX MULTIDROP CABLING INTERFACE RS485 FOR MASTER- TYPE MULTIDROP LINK (POLLING-SELECTING) A-A' B-B' DE/REB RS485 INTERFACE FOR INTERMEDIATE SLAVE-TYPE TWISTED PAIRS MULTIDROP LINKS (POLLING-SELECTING) A-A' B-B' DE/REB RS485 INTERFACE FOR TERMINAL SLAVE-TYPE MULTIDROP LINKS (POLLING-SELECTING) A-A'...

  • Page 37: Alarm

    - 37 - Alarm On the products equipped with an alarm contact, several alarm sources are available:  Loss of power supply #1.  Loss of power supply #2.  Loss of link with the Access Point (in infrastructure station mode). Configuring the alarm sources Each source may be managed in two ways: ...

  • Page 38: C-Key

    - 38 - C-Key The C-Key is an optional component used for product configuration backup. It must be inserted or removed only when the product is powered off. NOTE: The C-Key is optional; if not ordered the product is delivered without a C-Key.

  • Page 39: Wl G -Dongle-Oem Integration Data

    - 39 - WLg-DONGLE-OEM integration data The WLg-DONGLE-OEM-TTL is a module aimed to add Wi-Fi connectivity to existing PCBs equipped with an asynchronous serial port. A HE10 connector conveys the power supply, the serial control and the serial data signals between the PCB and the product. The signals are LVTTL (3.3V TTL) compatible.
  • Page 40 - 40 - 54 Mb Wi-Fi port servers user guide ( DTUS062 DTUS062) Release A.2, December 14, 2010...
  • Page 41 - 41 - V.8.3 Connector WLg-DONGLE-OEM-232 and WLg-DONGLE-OEM-EVAL models: refer to the WLg-DONGLE documentation for the DB9 connector. Female HE10 reference: Nicomatic 3y-20-131-16-1 HE10 (J3) Signal Electrical Description Pin 2 (3.3V) or Pin 15 (5V): Power supply. If the module is powered at 3.3V...
  • Page 42 - 42 - V.8.4 Application note Administration mode driven by a switch or any kind of I/O pin from a remote CPU Attention, le produit ne Warning, the product doit pas être alimenté must not be powered simultanément depuis les from the two power Connect to the DE pin of a RS485 line...

  • Page 43: Administration

    Fi card. In other cases you will need to set up a Wi-Fi/Ethernet bridge device in ad-hoc mode. Network defaults are as follows: Mode: ad-hoc SSID: “acksys” Channel: 6, mode 802.11B No key protection (neither WEP nor WPA, WPA2) IP address: 192.168.1.253 If you have no means to connect to the product with the defaults, you can change the configuration through the serial port (see CLI administration).

  • Page 44: Vi.3 Administration Through The Serial Port

    - 44 - VI.2 RESET button Anyone having physical access to the product can reset it to factory settings without any password protection. He/she could replace it by another pre- configured product anyway, so there is no point protecting that. VI.3 Administration through the serial port You can configure the product through the serial port.

  • Page 45: Vi.4 Administration Through The Network

    PC with a Wi-Fi card Product with the Admin switch turned ON, or with factory settings Peer-to-peer (ad-hoc) Wireless network 802.11b, channel 6 SSID ‘acksys’ Wireless connection with IP address 192.168.1.xxx IP address: 192.168.1.253 PC with Ethernet access only Product with the Admin switch turned ON, or with factory settings...
  • Page 46 Custom channel, SSID, IP VI.4.2 Acksys NDM Acksys NDM is a “Network Device Manager” for ACKSYS products. It can be used to display the state of all the products on the LAN, change their IP addressing data, upgrade their firmware, plan and execute bulk configuration changes over groups of products.

  • Page 47: Firmware Upgrades

    - 47 - FIRMWARE UPGRADES VII. VII.1 Standard upgrade (Web browser or Acksys NDM) VII.1.1 Web interface Uploading a new version of the firmware is easily done from the web interface page “TOOLSfirmware”. All previous configuration changes will be left unchanged.

  • Page 48: Vii.2 Upgrading While In Serial Administration Mode

    - 48 - VII.1.2 Acksys NDM Select in the list the products you wish to upgrade and click the “Upgrade” button. Select the file to upload then click on “Upgrade”. If you wish to upgrade several products at once select them in the list and click “Upgrade All”.

  • Page 49: Vii.3 Emergency Upgrade

    - 49 - VII.3 Emergency upgrade Continually pressing the “reset” button during product start-up will enter a special failover mode called “Emergency upgrade”. The product will then execute a restricted web service allowing only firmware uploads. This failover mode displays by the DIAG LED blinking quickly. Remind that it is off in normal working mode.
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  • Page 51: Troubleshooting

    - 51 - TROUBLESHOOTING VIII. This section gives indications on the checks to perform when things do not work as expected after configuration. A network sniffer may prove very helpful when debugging network connections. We recommend WireShark, a free sniffer working on Windows and Linux.
  • Page 52 - 52 - Check Diag + WLAN LEDs If the product is set for infrastructure station mode, it will try to connect to an access point with corresponding configuration (channel, protocol, keys and SSID). During the search the Diag (red) and WLAN (blue) LEDS will blink alternately.

  • Page 53: Viii.2 Serial Is Slave

    - 53 - VIII.2 Serial is slave slave Check network connectivity (1) Check product emission* No data Data out Check serial Check device configuration (3) emission (5) Was bad Was OK done done Check application Check configuration (4) encapsulation (6) done done Check...
  • Page 54 - 54 - 4. Check that the remote application uses the correct destination IP address and TCP/UDP port. Use a network sniffer if in doubt.  Check firewalls in the remote computer or in intermediary routers.  When using the Virtual COM service, check that the application does not require an unsatisfied flow control.

  • Page 55: Viii.3 Serial Is Master

    - 55 - VIII.3 Serial is master master Check device emission (1) No data Data in Check cables (3) Check network connectivity (2) Check your device configuration (4) Check serial emission* (5) done Data out No data Check remote is sending (6) No net data Net data out...
  • Page 56 - 56 - interface of the product, log in and use the PING command towards the remote application. If the remote does not answer to PING commands proceed to the “A” diagram. 3. Check the cabling. Insure that the Tx and Rx signals need not be crossed.

  • Page 57: Viii.4 Diagram "A": Network Connectivity

    - 57 - VIII.4 Diagram “A”: network connectivity Check IP addresses (1) Check security parameters (2) Check Wi-Fi parameters (3) done 1. Check IP addresses: the following assumes that all network devices are in the same LAN (the computer used for the tests, the product, the remote device): ...

  • Page 58: Appendix - Radio Channels List

    - 58 - APPENDIX – RADIO CHANNELS LIST IX.1 802.11b/g (2.4GHz) These networks use the ISM (Industrial Scientific and Medical) radio band on the [2.3995-2.4965] spectrum. Channel Central frequency Allowed by (25 MHz) (GHz) 2,412 Asia MKK, Europe ETSI, US FCC 2,417 Asia MKK, Europe ETSI, US FCC 2,422...

  • Page 59: Ix.2 802.11A/H (5 Ghz)

    - 59 - IX.2 802.11a/h (5 GHz) These networks use the 5 GHz radio band UN-II (Unlicensed-National Information Infrastructure). Central frequency Channel Power Allowed by (GHz) 5,170 Japan TELEC 5,180 40 mW (FCC), 200 mW (ETSI) Europe ETSI, US FCC 5,190 Japan TELEC 5,200...

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