The TX-Channel-ByChannel logical device controls some parameters of an encoder / modulator / power amplifier transmit chain from the satellite database. The device complements the RX-Channel-ByChannel logical device which provides a similar function for receive chains.
TX-Channel-ByChannel supersedes the ZX-Channel device in FILTER-BY-CHANNEL workflow mode, which no longer should be used for new applications. It reads its channel definitions from the SQL based satellite database.
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 (channel select) page for the device.
--- The fault page. There is one fault signal the device (optionally) monitors, this fault is reported as "TX Chain" fault.
--- The device info page.
--- The maintenance page. The configuration parameters from this page are described below.Operation
The TX-Channel-ByChannel device follows a 'filter by channel' workflow. You first select a satellite channel from a list, which configures the transmit equipment. The auto-filter mode of the drop down box helps to find the desired satellite channel. Selecting a channel means to set all transmit parameters, the polarization switch and (if configured) also the antenna pointing from the satellite name stored with the selected data record. Optionally, a switch matrix port may be controlled in this mode and the LO frequency may be automatically changed depending on the signal routing.
The TX-Channel-ByChannel device manages a number of transmit parameters, sets these parameters at the encoder, modulator etc. when a channel is selected. The following parameter may be managed by the TX-Channel-ByChannel device:
For an installation of the software not necessarily all of these parameters are available. The TX-Channel-ByChannel device may be configured to ignore some of these parameters.
Please note, that the TX-Channel-ByChannel device neither sets nor clears the TX-ON state of the equipment. The operator is responsible to switch off the transmission before applying a satellite channel data record and also to perform the line up procedure as specified. The LineUp-Control logical device may be used to support the operator with this task. With the LineUp-Control device, the nominal and reduced eirp values from the database are set at this device rather than at the equipment itself. The operator then easily can set the transmit power values required during the line up procedure.
Instead of selecting the satellite and channel you also may enter the transmit parameters at the fields of the device screen. The TX-Channel-ByChannel device forwards these settings to the ancillary devices.
Output switching and LO calculations
The device may control an input port of a combining matrix which routes the signal to a certain transmit chain. With the frequency range and LO frequency data defined in a configuration file, the device only offers the output routes which are valid for the selected transmit frequency. The LO frequency defined for the selected route is applied automatically to the transmit frequency and the frequency setting at the modulator is updated every time the output route changes.
To use this feature, the setup parameter 'config.switchId' must be set to the control parameter of the matrix input to use and a configuration with the frequency range and LO frequencies for all routes must be supplied (the format is described some paragraphs below).
Video profiles
The line settings database contains a parameter called "profile" which controls the basic video encoding mode for the encoder device. This profile contains the MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 selection, the MPEG profile/level and the 4.2.0/4.2.2 color subsampling setting.
Most video encoders don't provide a single parameter to set these values, but use several settings which may differ in name and values they offer to select. To overcome these differences, the TX-Channel-ByChannel device can use special device presets to set the profile parameter in a way individually specialized for the type of video encoder.
To use this feature, store device presets for the profiles you need. Each preset must be named exactly as the profile selection in the channel database (e.g. 'MPEG4-MP@HL-420'). The presets stored for this purpose should be edited in a way, that all parameters which could interfere with other database settings are removed, leaving only the parameters in the preset which set the profile properties.
Then configure the TX-Channel-ByChannel device to route the profile parameter ('profileId' configuration parameter) to the 'applyPreset' parameter of the encoder (e.g. 'ENC.applyPreset'). The TX-Channel-ByChannel device will apply the appropriate device preset when a channel from the database is selected.
Configuration parameters
At the maintenance page of the device window there are a couple of configuration parameters which must be set to interconnect the TX-Channel-ByChannel device with the transmit equipment.
| parameter | description |
|---|---|
| switchId | The message ID to set the signal routing at a switch matrix. Defining this adds the signal routing / variable LO frequency capability to the device. This also requires that a configuration file with the frequency range definitions must be supplied and the 'configFile' parameter below must be set to the name of this file. |
| configFile | Defines the name of the configuration file which defines the frequency range limits and the LO frequencies for each signal path. The ile must be in the satnms home directory and follow the format described in the paragraph below. |
| frequencyId | The message ID to set the transmit frequency. |
| fecId | The message ID to set the FEC. If the modulator provides a combined modulation/FEC parameter, leave this field empty. |
| symbolRateId | The message ID to set the symbol rate. Modulators expecting the symbol rate in 'Msps' and in 'sps' are supported. The symbol rate is only set, if the line settings parameter 'useSymbolRate' is set to SYMBOLRATE. |
| bitRateId | The message ID to set the bit rate. Modulators expecting the bit rate in 'Mbps' and in 'bps' are supported. The bit rate is only set, if the line settings parameter 'useSymbolRate' is set to BITRATE. |
| dvbModeId | The message ID to set the DVB-S/DVB-S2 mode. |
| nlcModeId | The message ID to set the NLC mode. |
| pilotsId | The message ID to switch pilots ON/OFF. |
| rollOffId | The message ID to set the roll-off parameter. |
| modulationId | The message ID to set the modulation scheme (e.g. QPSK) |
| modulationFecId | Some modulator devices provide a combined modulation FEC parameter instead of separate parameters. For such a device enter the message ID of the combined parameter here and leave the modulationId / fecId fields empty. |
| packetSizeId | The message ID of the modulator packet size parameter (188/204) |
| frameSizeId | The message ID of the MPEG frame size parameter (short/normal) |
| videoRateId | The message ID to receive the video data rat (Mbit/s). The device sends this parameter only if th line settings data record has thee video data rat marked as FIXED. |
| profileId | The message ID of the video coding profile or th 'applyPreset'e parameter of the encoder if the profile shall be set using device presets. |
| eirpId | The message ID of the parameter to receive the nominal EIRP value for the selected line setting. In most cases this will be the 'nominalEirp' parameter of the LineUp-Control device complementing this device. |
| reducedEirpId | The message ID of the parameter to receive the reduced (line up) EIRP value for the selected line setting. In most cases this will be the 'reducedEirp' parameter of the LineUp-Control device complementing this device. |
| audioRateId | The message ID of the encoder audio bitrate parameter (first audio channel). |
| audio2RateId | The message ID of the encoder audio bitrate parameter (second audio channel). The value is only set if the 'audioChannels' parameter in the actual line settings is 2 or higher. |
| audio3RateId | The message ID of the encoder audio bitrate parameter (third audio channel). The value is only set if the 'audioChannels' parameter in the actual line settings is 4 or higher. |
| audio4RateId | The message ID of the encoder audio bitrate parameter (fourth audio channel). The value is only set if the 'audioChannels' parameter in the actual line settings is to 4. |
| txFaultId | You may specify the message ID of a fault signal here which is reported as "TX Chain" fault by the device. If you don't want any fault monitoring, leave the field empty. |
| decoderInputId | The message ID to switch the encoder's output between SAT/IP/ASI |
| ipTypeId | The message ID for selecting the IP protocol family (UNICAST/MULTICAST) at the encoder. |
| ipProtocolId | The message ID for selecting the IP protocol (UDP, RTP, etc.) at the encoder. |
| srcIpAddressId | The message ID for setting the IP source or multicast address at the encoder. |
| srcIpPortId | The message ID for setting the IP source port at the encoder. |
| dstIpAddressId | The message ID for setting the IP destination address at the IRD. |
| dstIpPortId | The message ID for setting the IP destination port at the encoder. |
| ipFecId | The message ID for enabling / disabling the IP FEC |
| encPhysInterfaceId | The message ID for selecting the physical network interface number at the encoder |
| txLoFrequency | You may set a BUC LO frequency here, e.g. if the transmit equipment is not capable to compute the modulator output frequency by itself. If your equipment is configured to set the transmit frequency in terms of true RF frequency at the antenna, then leave the field empty or set the LO frequency explicitly to 0. When operated with the 'switchId' set and a frequency range configuration file supplied, LO frequencies are read from this file and the setting of 'txLoFrequency' is ignored. |
| polSwitchId | The message ID for switching the transmit polarization plane. This may be a waveguide switch position or the 'rxpolplane' parameter of an Antenna-Pointing device. |
| polSwitchHval | The value to send to the polSwitchId in order to switch the transmit polarization to horizontal. Please note, that when using the 'rxpolplane' parameter of an Antenna-Pointing device, you have to set this to 'V' (the cross polar value). |
| polSwitchVval | The value to send to the polSwitchId in order to switch the transmit polarization to vertical. Please note, that when using the 'rxpolplane' parameter of an Antenna-Pointing device, you have to set this to 'H' (the cross polar value). |
| antennaName | The name of the antenna (the Antenna-Pointing device) this transmit chain uses. |
Configuration file format
The TX-Channel's configuration file is a plain text file which defines the matrix / signal routing assignments. As this is a system wide assignment, you usually will edit one common configuration file for all TX-Channel-ByChannel devices connected to one output matrix.
In the file all empty lines and lines starting with a '#' character are ignored. All other lines are treated as table rows where the cells are separated by space characters. Each row describes one matrix input as follows:
| column | contents | remark |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | switch position / matrix output | If the output numbering starts at one or at zero, depends on the matrix / switch device driver. |
| 2 | name | The name must not contain spaces, commas o pipe characters. The choices for the 'output' setting are made up of these names. |
| 3 | LO frequency for this port | The LO frequency must be given as a decimal number (MHz) with a decimal point (no commas, no thousand's separators are allowed) |
| 4 | low band edge for this port | The frequency must be given as a decimal number (MHz) with a decimal point (no commas, no thousand's separators are allowed) |
| 5 | high band edge for this port | The frequency must be given as a decimal number (MHz) with a decimal point (no commas, no thousand's separators are allowed) |
Example:
#
# tx switch matrix example file
#
# matrix port low band edge
# | name LO frequency | high band edge
# | | | | |
01 UPC1-Ku 13000.0 14000.0 14500.0
02 UPC2-Ku 13000.0 14000.0 14500.0
03 UPC3-Ka1 26550.0 27500.0 28250.0
04 UPC4-Ka2 27150.0 28100.0 28850.0
The TX-Channel-ByChannel device parses this file on startup and when it receives a new name for the configuration file. So when you change the configuration file in the running M&C system, the best way is to restart the M&C server process to make all devices read the configuration file again.
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.switchId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.configFile | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.frequencyId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.frequency.min | FLOAT | SAVE SETUP | DoubleRange (0.000 .. 0.000) |
| config.frequency.max | FLOAT | SAVE SETUP | DoubleRange (0.000 .. 0.000) |
| config.fecId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.symbolRateId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.bitRateId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.dvbModeId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.nlcModeId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.pilotsId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.rollOffId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.modulationId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.modulationFecId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.txFaultId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.packetSizeId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.frameSizeId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.videoRateId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.profileId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.eirpId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.reducedEirpId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.audioRateId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.audio2RateId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.audio3RateId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.audio4RateId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.decoderInputId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.ipTypeId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.ipProtocolId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.srcIpAddressId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.srcIpPortId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.dstIpAddressId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.dstIpPortId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.ipFecId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.ipBufferSizeId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.encPhysInterfaceId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.txLoFrequency | FLOAT | SAVE SETUP | DoubleRange (0.000 .. 0.000) |
| config.polSwitchId | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.polSwitchHval | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.polSwitchVval | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| config.antennaName | TEXT | SAVE SETUP | StringRange |
| output | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (unknown) | |
| antenna | TEXT | R/O | StringRange R/O |
| satellite | TEXT | R/O | StringRange R/O |
| fec | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (AUTO 1/2 1/3 1/4 2/3 3/4 2/5 3/5 4/5 5/6 6/7 7/8 8/9 9/10) | |
| txFrequency | FLOAT | DoubleRange DIS (0.000 .. 0.000) | |
| polarization | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (X Y) | |
| comment | TEXT | SAVE | StringRange |
| symbolRate | FLOAT | DoubleRange DIS (0.0000 .. 0.0000) | |
| bitRate | FLOAT | DoubleRange DIS (0.0000 .. 0.0000) | |
| dvbMode | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (DVBS DVBS2 NS3 NS4) | |
| nlcMode | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (OFF ON) | |
| rollOff | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (0.02 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.35) | |
| pilots | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (OFF ON) | |
| modulation | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (BPSK QPSK OQPSK 8PSK 16PSK 16QAM 64QAM 256QAM 16APSK 32APSK) | |
| packetSize | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (188 204) | |
| frameSize | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (SHORT NORMAL) | |
| videoRate | FLOAT | DoubleRange DIS (0.0000 .. 0.0000) | |
| profile | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (UNKNOWN) | |
| eirp | FLOAT | DoubleRange DIS (0.00 .. 0.00) | |
| reducedEirp | FLOAT | DoubleRange DIS (0.00 .. 0.00) | |
| audioRate | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (DISABLED 64k 96k 128k 160k 192k 224k 256k 320k 384k) | |
| audio2Rate | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (DISABLED 64k 96k 128k 160k 192k 224k 256k 320k 384k) | |
| audio3Rate | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (DISABLED 64k 96k 128k 160k 192k 224k 256k 320k 384k) | |
| audio4Rate | CHOICE | EnumRange DIS (DISABLED 64k 96k 128k 160k 192k 224k 256k 320k 384k) | |
| decoderInput | CHOICE | EnumRange (SAT IP ASI) | |
| ipType | CHOICE | EnumRange (UNICAST MULTICAST) | |
| ipProtocol | CHOICE | EnumRange (UDP RTP TCP ZIXI) | |
| srcIpAddress | TEXT | StringRange | |
| srcIpPort | INTEGER | IntegerRange (0 .. 65535) | |
| dstIpAddress | TEXT | StringRange | |
| dstIpPort | INTEGER | IntegerRange (0 .. 65535) | |
| ipFec | CHOICE | EnumRange (OFF ON) | |
| ipBufferSize | INTEGER | IntegerRange (0 .. 0) | |
| encPhysInterface | INTEGER | IntegerRange (1 .. 4) | |
| reloadProfiles | TEXT | StringRange | |
| channel | CHOICE | EnumRange (unknown) | |
| reset | TEXT | StringRange | |
| locked | BOOLEAN | BooleanRange (true false) | |
| display | TEXT | R/O | StringRange R/O |
| dispColor | TEXT | R/O | StringRange R/O |
| eventDescription | TEXT | SAVE NOPRESET | StringRange |
| faults.01 | ALARM | R/O | AlarmFlagRange R/O (TX Chain) |
| faults.02 | ALARM | R/O | AlarmFlagRange R/O (Config file) |
| faults.03 | ALARM | R/O | AlarmFlagRange R/O (Database access) |