User Manual

9.653 Sync-Switch

The Sync-Switch logical device couples two switches located at two different sites (i.e. controlled by two different M&C/VLC systems) to one single switch. A possible application for this function is a manually controlled site diversity switch. With one single parameter, the local transmission is switched on while at the remote site the transmission gets switch off and vice versa.

Sync-Switch devices may be used symmetrically which means that at both sites a Sync-Switch device is configured which controls both switches. It also is possible to configure the Sync-Switch only at one of the two sites.

The Sync-Switch device monitors the 'sanity' of both switches, the availability of the remote network connection and the consistency of the switch settings. It sets the applicable fault flag if it detects an error condition.

Device window pages

The following table shows which device window pages are available with this individual device type. Tool-bar functions not mentioned here are described at the general description of device windows .

--- The main control page for the device. The operational parameters of the Sync-Switch device are described below.
--- The fault page.
- Remote connection : The TCP/IP connection to the remote site is broken.
- Switch combination : The switches are not in a consistent position.
- Local switch : Fault of the local switch.
- Remote switch : Fault of the remote switch.
--- The device info page.
--- The maintenance page. The configuration parameters described later are set at this page.

Operational parameters

The operational parameters of the Sync-Switch device are set at the main control page. The table below explains each parameter in particular.

parameter	description
position	Like for an ordinary 'Switch' device, 'position' is the only operational parameter. Changing this value, actuates the local and the remote switch as well. Which choices this parameter offers may be configured with the parameters below.

Configuration parameters

At the maintenance page of the device window there are a couple of configuration parameter which must be set to interconnect the Sync-Switch device with the device id shall monitor/control.

parameter	description
choices	With this configuration parameter you define which choices appear in the drop down box for the 'position' parameter. You may want to set the names of the two sites here, for example. In the choices field, two words separated by a single comma must appear. There should be no spaces around the comma as the program would treat them as part of the choices.
localSwitchName	This is the device name of the local switch device to be controlled.
localSwitchChoices	In this field, two position values for the local switch, separated by a comma, must be set. The position values mut appear in that order that matches the values in 'choices'. The program will send the first position value to the switch if the operator selects the first choice value of 'position'.
remoteSwitchName	This is the device name of the switch device at the remote site to be controlled.
remoteSwitchChoices	In this field, two position values for the remote switch, separated by a comma, must be set. The position values mut appear in that order that matches the values in 'choices'. The program will send the first position value to the switch if the operator selects the first choice value of 'position'.
remoteIpAddress	Specify the IP address of the remote M&C computer with this parameter, either in dotted quad notation or as a computer name the local machine is able to resolve.

Remarks

The Sync-Switch devices require a permanent network connection between the two sites. They are sensing the presence of this connection with a cyclic "ping" and will report a fault if the network link is down. If you are using an "on demand" dial-up link between the M&C computers, the ping probably will keep the link alive all the time.
The 'Switch combination' fault responds very fast. The fault will be activated for a short time with each switch actuation. This is because the local and the remote switch don't change their positions at the same time. Set the fault delay parameter of this fault flag to value of one or two seconds to avoid this behavior.

Variables defined by this device driver

name	type	flags	range
info.driver	TEXT	R/O	StringRange R/O
info.type	TEXT	R/O	StringRange R/O
info.frame	TEXT	R/O	StringRange R/O
config.choices	TEXT	SAVE SETUP	StringRange
config.localSwitchName	TEXT	SAVE SETUP	StringRange
config.localSwitchChoices	TEXT	SAVE SETUP	StringRange
config.remoteSwitchName	TEXT	SAVE SETUP	StringRange
config.remoteSwitchChoices	TEXT	SAVE SETUP	StringRange
config.remoteIpAddress	TEXT	SAVE SETUP	StringRange
position	CHOICE		EnumRange (A B)
faults.01	ALARM	R/O	AlarmFlagRange R/O (Remote connection)
faults.02	ALARM	R/O	AlarmFlagRange R/O (Switch combination)
faults.03	ALARM	R/O	AlarmFlagRange R/O (Local switch)
faults.04	ALARM	R/O	AlarmFlagRange R/O (Remote switch)