OPERATING MANUAL. DMX Ethernet Node ETHERGATE Mk1, Mk2

Transcription

1 Issue 05/02 OPERATING MANUAL DMX Ethernet Node ETHERGATE Mk1, Mk2 (C) SOUNDLIGHT * ALL RIGHTS RESERVED * NO PART OF THIS MANUAL MAY BE REPRODUCED, DUPLICATED OR USED COMMERCIALLY WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE OWNER * ALL STATEMENTS WITHIN THIS MANUAL HAVE BEEN CHECKED CAREFULLY AND ARE BELIEVED TO BE ACCURATE, HOWEVER SOUNDLIGHT DOES NOT ASSUME ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS. * THE USER HAS TO CHECK THE SUITABILITY OF THE EQUIPMENT FOR THE INTENDED USE. SOUNDLIGHT EXPRESSLY EXCLUDES ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGES - DIRECT OR INDIRECT - WHICH MAY OCCUR DUE TO MISUSE, UNPROPER INSTALLATION, WRONG OPERATING CONDITIONS AND NON-COMPLIANCE TO THE INSTRUMENT'S INSTRUCTIONS, AS WELL AS IGNORANCE OF EXISTING SAFETY REGULATIONS. SOUNDLIGHT Glashüttenstrasse 11 D Hannover Tel.: page 1

2 PREFACE This manual is a shortform manual for the EtherGate 7400A. The Ethergate exists in two versions, Mk1 (original version) and Mk2 (updated version). Both versions can be identified easily: EtherGate 7400A Mk1 EtherGate 7400A Mk2 Please note that wiring of the two bords may be different- see page 11 The EtherGate 7400A Mk1 could handle one DMX universe at a time. The EtherGate 7400A Mk2 can now handle two DMX universes simultaneously. These are the differences between Mk1 and Mk2 versions: Feature. Old EtherGate Mk1. New EtherGate Mk2. Power supply 5V DC 200mA 5V DC 200mA Ethernet connections 1 1 Enttec protocol yes yes Artnet protocol no yes DMX connections 1 2 DMX connectors no yes CONTENTS 1. Features 3 2. Specification 3 3. Modes of operation 3 4. Getting started 5 5. EtherNet connection 5 6. Troubleshooting 6 7. Configured state 6 8. Monitoring 7 9. DMX on EtherNet protocol Hardware Interfacing 11 page 2

3 DMX ETHERGATE Features The DMXEtherGate combo provides the following features: - Full 512 channel DMX512 ethernet gateway. - Up to 256 universes. - Plug & Play or Configured mode. - Unlimited Remote node-universe bindings. - Node naming (up to 10 characters). - IP addressable. - Simple communication protocol. Specification The DMXEtherGate is a DMX512 to Ethernet (10 base T) gateway. There are 2 types of nodes or gateways, one converts DMX512 to ethernet (input) the other Ethernet to DMX512 (output). In a typical installation you would have one or more input nodes next to the lighting desk and output nodes on the stage and throughout the venu. Operation Modes The DMXEtherGate has 2 operation modes: Plug and Play (unconfigured) and configured. Plug & Play: This mode is more suited for mobile installations where users can just connect 2 nodes with ethernet cat-5 wiring and select the universe using the dip switches on the front panel. This kind of operation is very useful in cases where a user would like to transmit DMX using radio, Infrared or fibre-optic lines as Ethernet infrastructure is cheap and readily available. Configured: This mode is more suited to fixed installations. In this case the user can configure the nodes to use the full functionality inside the DMXEtherGate. Using a PC connected on the network and our free GateConfig software, the user can link an Input node to a specific output node, thus providing a nearly endless soft patch capability. In the configured state, the nodes can accept up to 256 DMX universes, and they can be assigned a name to identify them. Data Retention All configuration information is stored in non volatile memory. Each node exists in an output and input model. Network Configuration The DMX traffic can be placed on it's own network or shared with another computer network. When functioning in an unconfigured state the data is transmitted with an ARP and IP broadcast address, data is sent using a UDP/IP scheme. All Configuration packets are sent using an TCP/IP scheme for addded reliability. The input node will compress using an RLE algorithm the DMX data stream to try and page 3

4 use bandwidth the most efficiently possible. It is hard to predict the exact amount of bandwidth used per universe as this depends on the number of channels used and how often the values are changed on the DMX stream. Output nodes will always send DMX at the maximum defined rate of 44 times per second. In case the ethernet connection is broken, the node will continue to send the last valid DMX frame it received. Latency The latency of DMX signal from node to node should not exceed 20ms, if the users wishes to uses and existing network for the transport of DMX, he must be sure that enough bandwidth is available for the DMX data. Limitations: As the DMXEtherGate is reliant on ethernet, if you are using an existing computer network and sharing the traffic, you might experience delays and drop of the update rate. If the time between two DMX512 frames A and B, coming into the DMX EtherGate IN is under 880uS, the DMXEtherGate might drop the second frame (B), but the frame after(c) is guaranteed to be sent. Configuration On the front panel of the DMXEtherGate you will find 4 dipswitches. The dipswitches let you set the universe in Plug&Play mode and reset the node. Switch settings DIP switch setting is important to select the proper mode of operation. Wrong setting of DIP switches may prohibit your Ethergate from functioning properly. DIP SWITCH 1 DIP SWITCH 2 DIP SWITCH 3,4 RESET FUNCTION OFF normal position ON RESET EtherGate, Read configuration OUTPUT MODE / INPUT MODE OFF normal position ON Set EtherGate to INPUT mode (Mk2 only!) Input mode = DMX to EtherNet conversion EtherGates Mk1 are hardware coded for input mode. Leave DIP switch 2 in the OFF position all times. UNIVERSE SELECTION - see table Status LED blink Description OFF OFF OFF OFF Fast Universe 1 or Configured mode OFF OFF OFF ON Slow Universe 2 Plug & Play mode OFF OFF ON OFF Slow Universe 3 Plug & Play mode OFF OFF ON ON Slow Universe 4 Plug & Play mode ON X X X OFF Node Reset X = Not important After changing the universe setting please make sure you reset the node. The node will only read the dip-switch configuration on startup. To use the node in Configured Mode, you must leave the dipswitches all OFF. To set the node in Plug & Play Mode and universe 1, set the node to universe 2 and page 4

5 then switch back to universe 1. When the node is set to Plug&Play mode, all the default parameters will be loaded back into memory. Attribute Default Description Name "Factory" Node name. IP Address See below IP address of the node. TTL 4 Time To Live. TOS All off Type of Service. Transmission Broadcast Data is broadcast onto the network. Data type RAW DMX Uncompressed DMX packets are sent on the network. The default IP address of the node is composed by the unique MAC address of the node e.g.: a node with a MAC address of , will have a default IP of: The first address byte is always 10. Getting Started (Plug & Play operation ) Before powering, start by setting the universe associated with this node. To do this toggle the dipswitches as indicated on the front panel. The universe configuration is read once on startup, thus changing it once the unit is powered will have no effect. Connect the power to the DMXEtherGate. Once the unit is powered, the status led will flash slowly. This indicates that unit is operating in Plug & Play mode. If you later decide to configure it using GateConfig, the status led will flash more rapidly. Now connect the DMX512 network to the DMX EtherGate (node). If you are using an OUT node, you will connect your lighting fixtures or dimmers, if it is an IN node you will be connecting the lighting console. If at any time you wish to set the DMXEtherGate back to factory default configuration set the universe to 2,3 or 4 and restart the node. You are now ready to go onto the next phase... Ethernet Connection Plug in the ethernet connector. You might see the Activity LED blinking, this will depend on the current activity on the Ethernet network. Once the Ethernet connection is established between the IN and OUT nodes, DMX should pass through immediately. If you have connected the 2 nodes together without using a HUB please make sure you have used a cross-over patch lead. Otherwise it will not work. If the Collision led blinks, this means that the traffic on the Ethernet network is becoming excessive and you might loose some DMX packets, if you require close to real time performance we recommend you monitor the collision led closely. Remedies to this problem include: installing a switch instead of a hub or increasing your network bandwidth. page 5

6 Troubleshooting No Ethernet traffic If the there is no DMX on the DMXEtherGate IN, the node will not send DMX packets on the ethernet. If there is a valid DMX signal but the values are always the same, a packet will be sent on each status Led Blink (about 1 per second) If you have checked all physical connections and all are good, please download GateConfig software from our website. Install and run the software on a networked Windows computer. DMX Output does not change By moving a fader on the console, you should see the Activity LED blink faster on the output node. If the led does not blink faster, the Ethernet link is bad. If the led does blink faster and the values do not change, please check that the IN and OUT nodes are set on the same universe. Change the dipswitches so they are on the same universe and then cycle the power. To ensure the unit resets when you cycle the power unplug the DMX EtherGate, wait 5 seconds and then turn the power back on. Configured state Why use GateConfig? You might have to configuring the nodes using GateConfig if : - You have multiple nodes on the same network and wish to configure them from a remote location. - You want to create complex bindings and patches. - You you have more than 4 DMX512 universes. - You wish to monitor the Ethernet traffic generated. GateConfig must be installed on a TCP/IP enabled Windows computer. This computer must also be on the same network as the DMXEtherGate node. You should be able to ping the nodes from that computer. Configuring a node When you first start GateConfig, click on the search button in the menu. This will scan the network for all the nodes on your network. The node will then appear in the list on the left. You can click on the names of the nodes to view their configuration. There are two configuration tabs: The first is common to all nodes. You can set the node name, IP address, TLL and Type of service parameters. If you are about to change the IP, TLL or Type of service settings, please check with your network administrator first. The second configuration tab contains node specific information. The most important setting is the Send Using (for in nodes) or Listen On (for OUT nodes) group box. An IN node can send DMX information in 3 ways: - Broadcast: Outgoing packets will be sent to IP (broadcast address). Any computer or node on the network will be able to receive this information. - Class C Broadcast: Outgoing packets will be sent to the class C broadcast address page 6

7 of the node IP. If the node IP is , packet will be sent to IP Linked IP: Outgoing packets will be sent to the IP specified in the field on the left. The OUT node can listen on any of the 3 settings. Using the Universe field, you can specify the universe the DMX stream is assigned to. This can be anything form 1 to 256. The last combo box is only available for the Input node and indicates the type of traffic to be generated, either RAW DMX or RLE compressed DMX. If you are concerned about minimum latency, we recommend you use RAW DMX. If your concern is minimum bandwidth, when using multiple DMX universes over a single wireless Ethernet lan or if you are sharing the traffic with an existing network, we recommend using RLE compression. You may need to experiment to find out which setting best fits your needs.once you have configured the node as you want, connect to the node by clicking on Connect. Once the software establishes a connection, the Save button will be enabled and you will be able to save the configuration in the node. All configuration information is saved in non volatile memory and will be saved after a power down of the node. If you wish you can also remotely RESET the node using the Reset button. Monitoring GateConfig can also be used as a monitoring tool. By clicking on the DMX menu, you can monitor the values of all DMX channels for every universe that has been sent over the Ethernet. You can also use this as a debugging tool. You can monitor the nodes on your network and also check the amount of traffic that has been generated. page 7

8 Enttec DMX on ETHERNET Protocol Version 1.2 Last Revision: 27/03/01 Status: Final DRAFT Operation: Plug & Play: The IN node will broadcast using (IP: ) MAC(FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF) data packets on the ethernet. The universe is set to whatever the user has specified using the dip-switches. The OUT node will accept any incoming data frame that is set to the same universe as the dip-switches, the frame will be used to update it's internal DMX512 buffer. All outgoing frames from the IN node will be sent with the following IP Parameters: TTL = 4 and TOS=0; Configured: The IN node will send packets to a specific IP using or broadcast, the universe is read from the internal EEPROM that can be configured using GateConfig. The OUT node will only accept data packets for which it has been configured. All data and poll packets are sent to UDP port 3333 ( 0xD05). Config packets are sent to TCP port 3333 RLE Compression The DMXEtherGate can use Run Length Encoding to compress the DMX signal. As the DMX signal is very redundant, this form of compression is very effective although quite simple. The DMX Engine inside the DMXEtherGate can compress the signal in 690uS, so using RLE has very little impact on performance or latency. Before each compressed data packet, a control byte (0xFE) is inserted, the next byte is the number of repetitions of the data byte and the byte after is the actual data byte. If a DMX value is 0xFE or 0xFD, the compressor will insert an escape byte before (0xFD) An RLE compressed DMX Data packet will look like this: 0x78 0x56 0x74 0xFE 0x5 0x10 0x41 0x78 0xFD 0xFE 0x36 0xFD 0xFD Decompressed we would have: 0x78 0x56 0x74 0x10 0x10 0x10 0x10 0x10 0x41 0x78 0xFE 0x36 0xFD Packets: 1. Poll: Used to poll all nodes on a network 2. Poll Reply: Reply by a node from a poll packet 3. Config: Configuration packet sent from GateConfig to node 4. Data: DMX data packet sent from IN node. 5. Ack/nAck: Acknowledgement packets. 6. Reset Packet: Sending this packet will reset the node and update the configuration. Poll Reply: 1 Head 4 Packet header: ESPR 2 MAC 6 Mac address of node (also serial number) 3 Node Type 2 0x0001: DMX Single Output Node 0x0002: DMX Single Input Node 0x0060:RS232 Node 0x0061:IO Node 0x0100:LonWorks Node 4 Version 1 Firmware Version of Node page 8

9 5 Switch settings 1 Setting of DIP switches on front panel (2 top bits) 6 Name 10 ASCII name of node 7 Option Field 1 Option field as in Config packet 8 TOS 1 Type of service 9 TTL 1 As in Config Packet 10 Data N Node Specific Configuration, this is the same as in the Config Packet Poll Poll packets can be sent on a specific IP or Broadcast address. 1 Head 4 Packet header: ESPP 2 Reply Type 1 0 = Just Reply by an Ack (heartbeat) 1 = Reply with full Information Ack/nAck 1 Head 4 Packet header: ESAP 2 Status 1 0x00=OK (Ack) else Error Code of nack 0x01=CRC Failed 0xFF = CRC not supported 3 CRC 1 8 bit CRC of packet received (0 if nack) or reply to a poll DMX Data DMX data packets are only sent when the data changes on an input, if data is not changed the input node shall send 1 full (Type 0 or 2) packet every second. DMX Data packet will use an UDP/IP transmission scheme: 1 Head 4 Packet header: ESDD 2 Universe 1 Universe assigned with this data packet 3 Start Code 1 DMX Start code 4 Data Type 1 Bit field: 0: 512 bytes of DATA 1:Channel + Value 2:RLE Compressed 512 bytes of data 5 Data Size 2 Size of the data block 6 Data n 7 CRC 1 8 bit CRC packet of the whole message Config Packet This packet is used to configure a node. The Configuration Packet must be sent using a TCP/IP connection, this packet can only be sent to a specific node. page 9

10 After a configuration packet is sent, a RESET packet must be sent to restart the node and load the new configuration. 1 Head 4 Packet header: ESNC 2 IP 4 IP Address of node 3 Name 10 ASCII string containing the name 4 Options 1 Bit field: 0: Configured, has the node been configured? 1: Enable DHCP 2: Enable Data Error correction (Ack on BCST packets) 5 TOS 1 Type of service 6 TTL 1 Time to Live to use when transmitting packets 7 Data N Node Type 0x0001 DMX Output node 1 Listen ON 1 Bit field representing the transmission type: 0: Broadcast 1: Linked to node IP (Pier to Pier) 2: Class C Broadcast 2 IP 4 IP to listen to 3 Universe 1 Universe to output Node Type 0x0002: DMX Input node 1 Data Tx Type 1 Bit field representing the transmission type: 0: Broadcast 1: Linked to node IP (Pier to Pier) 2: Class C Broadcast 3: Data Type (0 = Raw DMX 1=RLE Data) 2 IP 4 When input node is linked, this section contains the IP of the output node 3 Universe 1 Universe this input is assigned to Reset Sending this packet will reset the node and load the current configuration. This packet can only be sent in a TCP packet addresed to a single node. Once the packet is sent, the TCP connection will be dropped. 1 Head 4 Packet header: ESZZ page 10

11 HARDWARE INTERFACING The 7104A DMX EtherGate Mk1 features on-board RJ45 style EtherNet connectors. Connection of power supply and DMX In/Out is via pin header contacts: Power supply must be from a stabilized power supply 5.0V DC. Power supply requirements are 200mA. DMX in/out connections are to standard XLR connector 5-pin. Pin1: GND Pin2: DMX- Pin3: DMX+ Pin4: open Pin5: open The 7104A DMX EtherGate Mk2 features on-board RJ45 style NEUTRIK EtherNet connectors. Connection of DMX In/Out is via a separate connector board, and power supply is via pin header contacts: Power supply must be from a stabilized power supply 5.0V DC. Power supply requirements are 200mA. DMX in/out connections are to standard XLR connector 5-pin. Pin1: GND Pin2: DMX- Pin3: DMX+ Pin4: open Pin5: open For Ethergate IN (DMX to EtherNet), use the MALE connector print and set DIP switch #2 to ON. For Ethergate OUT (EtherNet to DMX), use the FEMALE connector print and set DIP switch #2 to OFF. SIMPLE STARTER SETUP for EtherGate Mk2: - ETHERGATE IN: set DIP switch #2 and #4 - ETHERGATE OUT: set DIP switch #4 - power on all Gates (configuration will only be read once at system startup!) - connect EtherGates using a direct cross cable or via a EtherNet Hub - Read DMX data A at output A - Read DMX data B at output B - The Ethergate can process two DMX universes simultaneaously. page 11