Manual till NEXMON [Documentation]



SPS SPAB

2003-10-03

PCNEXMON - Monitor for the NEXUS Network

1. The PCNEXMON program is used to monitor the NEXUS Network on a PC computer. To run it you need:

2. An IBM or compatible PC computer with a 80286 or later processor with at least one serial port (COM1 or COM2) and 640K of memory.

3. DOS Version 3.0 or later.

4. The NEXUS PC-interface FD art no. 21248.

Features

5. Allows you to simultaneously watch all boat, navigation and GPS data from the NEXUS Network.

6. Built in Way-Point Editor where all Way-Points used in the NEXUS system can be viewed, edited and/or copied to and from files on the computers floppy or hard-disk(s).

7. All Way-Points can be given a maximum of 9-characters long name. The Way-Points (including the names) are stored in the NEXUS Server-Unit as normally and are directly available on the MULTI-Instrument (even if the names can't be viewed from the MULTI-Instruments).

8. Sail-Plan Editor (Route-Editor) where the current Sail-Plan (Goto-Queue) can be viewed and modified. Allows you to store and recall Routes from files on the PC.

9. Data logging. Selected data are stored in files in standard ASCII format. Time between samples can be specified freely. All logging is done in background to alow user to use other features of this program simultaneously.

Summary of contents

1 Installation 3

2 How to start the program. 3

3 Screen Layout 4

4 Main Menu 5

4.1 Display Data 5

5 Edit WayPoints 7

5.1 Edit a Waypoint 7

5.2 Delete a Waypoint 7

5.3 Block mode 7

5.4 Copy Waypoints 8

5.5 Move Waypoints 8

5.6 Save to file 8

5.7 Load from file 9

6 Sail-Plan 9

6.1 How to Move 9

6.2 Set Destination 9

6.3 Insert a new destination 11

6.4 Remove a Leg 11

7 Edit Routes 11

8 List Devices 12

9 Data Logging 12

9.1 Start logging to file 12

9.2 Stop-Logging 13

9.3 View an old log file 13

10 Configuration / Setup 13

10.1 PC Connection 13

10.2 Nexus Configuration 14

10.3 Used units 14

10.4 Default directories 14

Installation

Copy all files from the installation diskette to your hard disk or run them directly from the diskette. The configuration file "F" must be on your working directory. If it isn't present it will automatically be created with default configuration.

Connect the interface cable to the Nexus-Network on the Server's screw terminal (No. 5 = SBUS) or at any MULTI- or ANALOG-Instrument. Make sure to keep the right colour:

Green = +12V (9-16 V)

Yellow = RS-485 (A)

White = RS-485 (B)

Unshielded = Ground (-)

Connect the 9-pole D-sub connector to the serial port (either COM1 or COM2) on the computer. This is how the diffrent pins are used in the connector.

25-pole 9-pole Used for

Pin Pin

2 3 Transmit Data

3 2 Receive Data

4 7 Request To Send

7 5 Ground

All other pins are unused

How to start the program.

Make sure that the "PCNEXMON.EXE" is in your working directory or in your path-list. Write "PCNEXMON" and you will enter the main menu directly.

If you are using COM2 instead of COM1 you need to tell the program. This can be done in two ways:

1. The easiest is to enter the setup (Type "S" in the main menu) and select COM2 as your communication port. This needs to be done only once (the setup is stored in the file F in your working directory).

2. As an alternative you can override the setup by "switches" on the command line when you start the program:

"PCNEXMON -1" will start the program using COM1

"PCNEXMON -2" will use COM2

This needs to be done every time you start your program.

Screen Layout

When you start the program your screen is divided into three active areas:

╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗

║ ║

║ BOX 1 ║

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║ ║

║ ║

║ ║

║ ║

║ ║

║ BOX 2 ║

║ ║

║ ║

║ ║

║ ║

║ ║

║ ║

║ ║

╟────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢

║ ║

║ BOX 3 ║

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╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

1. In the upper box you will always have the program name to the left and version number to the right. In the middle you find the selected main function. When you start it will be "Main menu".

2. The middle (big) box is used as your active screen to display data and show alternatives (as in the main menu).

3. The lower box is used as a status window:

To left is the Unit-ID on the NEXUS Network for the PC written (normal 15). You also have Next-Id for the unit that follows (in a daisy chain like order). If your PC can't get write access on the NEXUS Network it will read "Next-Id -- "

Then you see the number of sent and received data packets (to and from the NEXUS Network). If this numbers are not increasing (fast) your PC doesn't have any contact with the NEXUS Network: Please check cables, connections and that the right serial port is selected.

To change the speed that the PC-interface is ”talking” with use PCSETUP.EXE.

Next column tells you how many checksum errors that is detected.

NOTE! It's completely normal to have a few errors when you start the program (as it takes some time for the PC to synchronize with the data on the NEXUS Network). The same is true if you remove any instrument while the NEXUS Network is running.

Finally you find the name of the active log file and the number of samples written to it.

Main Menu

The main menu shows all main functions of the program. These are:

A. Display Boat-Data.......

B. Edit WayPoints............

C. Edit Sail-Plan...............

D. Edit Routes.................

E. List Devices.................

F. GPS Utilities................

G. Data-Logging..............

S. Setup / Configuration....

To enter any of this functions just press the function letter (A-G or S).

To return to the main menu (from selected function) you can always press the ESCape-key.

To exit the program press the ESCape-key in the main menu.

1 Display Data

This option allows you to select between five sub-windows that almost simultaneously shows you all data that is sent by the server and the GPS units (if connected).

You can switch between the five windows by pressing [PageUp], [PageDown] or you may also switch directly to one window by pressing the numbers 1-5. These windows available are:

1. Boat Data

2. GPS Data

3. Satellite satus

4. Navigation Data

5. Depth

Data that is not valid is marked with "-------" as in the MULTI-Instrument. Units (here and elsewhere in the program) is selectable in the setup (see chapter 0).’

A short description of the data you can view.

BSP : Boat-Speed, Speed of the boat trough water

LOG : Total accumulated distance measured by the speed log.

TRP : Trip Log. Distance since reseted.

DEP : Depth below reference (surface or keel)

TMP : Water Temperature

BAT : Battery Voltage measured at the Sensor-Unit

AWS : Apparent (Relative) Wind Speed

AWA : Apparent (Relative) Wind Angle

TWS : True Wind Speed

TWA : True Wind Angle

TWD : True Wind Direction (Geographical)

VMG : Velocity Made Good (Velocity towards the wind)

WCV : WayPoint Closing Velocity (Velocity towards WP)

DMG : Distance Made Good (Dead Reckoning)

CMG : Coarse Made Good (Dead Reckoning)

HDC : Heading Compass. Magnetic or True (M / T)

STR : Selected Steer Reference (MEM, BTW, CTS, AWA)

CTS : Coarse To Steer (includes Set & Drift) to WP.

BTW : Bearing To WayPoint (Great Circle)

DTW : Distance To WayPoint (Great Circle)

TTG : Time To Go to next Waypoint

BOD : Bearing Origin to Destination

XTE : Cross Track Error

DFT : Set&Drift direction (geographical)

SET : Set&Drift speed

LAT : Latitude (Current position)

LONG : Longitude (Current position)

TIME : Local-Time (±Time-Zone)

DATE : Local-Date

SOG : Speed Over Ground

COG : Coarse Over Ground

ALT : Altitude above reference ellipsoid

The Mode status-line contains GPS operation mode. Used abbreviations are:

AQU = Acquisition

2D = Two dimensional navigation

3D = Three dimensional navigation

2DD = 2D-Differential-navigation

3DD = 3D-Differential-navigation

Fl = Figure Of Merit: l = 1 (very good) to 9 (useless)

(Xsat)= Number of satellites used in calculations

The lower part of the GPS-window contains two boxes. To the left you have the DOP values that ranges from 1.00 (no dilution = perfect) up to 327.27

HDOP = Horizontal Dilution Of Precision

VDOP = Vertical Dilution Of Precision

PDOP = Position Dilution Of Precision

TDOP = Time Dilution Of Precision

GDOP = Geometric Dilution Of Precision

The right box is valid only for SPAB's own GPS receivers. It shows the status for each of the five channels.

First column shows Satellite-ID (PRN-code, range 1-32).

Second column contains Status:

T = Tracking, S = Searching, D = Differential correction available

Third and last column gives the signal-to-noise ratio in dBHz

Edit WayPoints

This editor allows you to define or edit any WayPoint used in the NEXUS Network. You can also store and load WayPoints to and from files on the computers disks. Please note that all changes done is immediate. If a WayPoint is deleted it is gone!

All valid commands are single keys and they are all shown on the right part of the screen as a quick-guide.

All positions are given in thousands of minutes or in tens of seconds. Choose the representation you prefer in the setup (see 0).

How to Move and Search for Waypoints

On screen you find 12 Waypoints simultaneously with number, name, latitude and longitude. To select a specific Waypoint just move the cursor-line (waypoint written in reverse video) with the Up or Down key. When you pass the screen border the next or previous 12 waypoints will be displayed. Page-Up or Page-Down will directly put you on the next/previous page (of 12 waypoints). The Home-Key brings you back to the first page and the End-Key takes you to the last page.

If you want to move to a specific Waypoint number, use the N-search command (just press "N"). You are then requested to enter the wanted Waypoint number. Confirm with ENTER and the cursor-line is directly moved to that Waypoint (if the number you entered was valid).

To Search for a known name, use the A-Search (Alphabetic-Search) by pressing "A". Give the name or part of the name you want to search for and press ENTER. The program will search through all Waypoints from the cursor-line to the end after the Waypoint that gives the best match with the given name. To search for the next match, just press "A" again and press ENTER. The search is then repeated. If you want to search through all Waypoints use the HOME-command before you start the search.

1 Edit a Waypoint

Select right Waypoint number and press ENTER (RETURN). Edit name and confirm with ENTER. Edit latitude and then longitude in the same way.

If the selected Waypoint wasn't in use the current position will be used as default position in the same way as in the Multi-Instrument.

Use the Left or Right key to move within the field you are editing. For the latitude and longitude only the numbers can be changed, the special characters (°.'") is fixed. Please not that the Up or Down key has no use in edit mode. To select a number just type the right digit on your keyboard!

2 Delete a Waypoint

Select Waypoint and press DELETE. The Waypoint is deleted directly without any questions asked. There is no way to delete a block of Waypoints.

3 Block mode

Both the Move and Copy commands (see below) can work with block of Waypoints. To mark a block move the cursor-line to the start (or the end) of the wanted block and press F10. "Block On" starts to flash in the lower left corner. You can now move the cursor-line to the other end of the block. All waypoints between the first marked point and the cursor-line are marked with BRIGHT RED color (bright on a black and white screen) and is included in the block. There is no limit of the number of Waypoints within the block, it can cross several pages.

When the right Waypoints are in the block select the wanted command (Move or Copy) that will automatically work with the entire block.

If you want to leave the Block mode just press F10 a second time and the block is removed.

4 Copy Waypoints

Select a Waypoint or mark a block. Press "C". A box appears with the number of selected Waypoints, the Waypoint number of the original Waypoint(s) (on the From-line). You are then requested to enter the destination Waypoint number for the first of the selected Waypoints (To: WPT000). After this all the selected Waypoints are copied to the new block starting at the given number. You can abort the command if you press ESCape before the destination is selected.

Note:

10. All Waypoints are copied. Any old Waypoint in the selected destination is overwritten and lost

11. If a block is selected the destination must be outside the original block.

5 Move Waypoints

The Move Waypoints is identical with Copy command (described above) except for one thing: The original Waypoints are removed after they are copied leaving the original block free.

To use the move command just press "M".

6 Save to file

This command saves all Waypoints to a file on the computers disks.

Press "S" and a box appears. Give the name of the file where you want to store your Waypoints in. If no extension is given ".WPT" is used.

If the file already exists you are asked if you want to Overwrite it or not (use the up or down arrow to change between Yes and No, confirm with ENTER).

The file contains all used Way-Points in normal text (ASCII) format. It can easily be modified in a normal text editor or by other programs. Each field in the file is separated with "|" (vertical bar). The last field is empty and can be used for comments.

7 Load from file

This command loads Waypoints from a text (ASCII) file normally stored by the "Save to file"-command. This feature allows you to build libraries with Waypoints that can be loaded at any time.

Press "L" and enter the name of the file you want to load. If no extension is given ".WPT" is assumed.

Note: If there is any collision between any new Waypoint from the file and an old Waypoint the old Waypoint is overwritten without any warning.

Hint: If your editing the files in a text-editor and you want to change the Waypoint number you can use an auto-number-feature: Just write the number for the first waypoint and remove all other Waypoint numbers (leaving the first field for each Waypoint blank). The numbers will then be incremented by one for each new Waypoint read.

Sail-Plan

The Sail-Plan function allows you to view or change the current sail-plan (goto queue).

On screen you find a list of containing leg number, destination Waypoint (number and name), Bearing and Range for each leg. As in the MULTI-Instruments Leg 0 is your origin and Leg 1 is your current destination. The first free (not used) place in the sail-plan is marked with END (instead of leg number). On this line is also written the total distance all legs combined.

Note: If Leg 1 is changed it will immediately change destination for the navigator. A change of Leg 0 will in the same way change origin (that will affect XTE and BOD).

All valid commands are single keys and they are all shown on the right part of the screen as a quick-guide.

1 How to Move

Use the Up or Down Key to move the cursor-line up or down. The Home Key will take you to Leg 0 and END Key to the END.

2 Set Destination

Move the cursor-line to the Leg you want to change, or move to the END if you want to set a new leg. Press RETURN (ENTER).

You are now put in a sub mode of Edit-Waypoint (see 0) in order to select the new destination for the selected leg. Use the normal keys to move the cursor-line (see 0) to the Waypoint you want. Press RETURN (ENTER) to set the chosen destination. If you change your mid, abort with ESCape.

Note: You can not select blocks of Waypoints in this mode. Neither can you change, load or store Waypoints. You are placed in the Edit Waypoint window just to select one Waypoint!

When you have confirmed with RETURN (or Aborted with ESCape) you are automatically moved back to the Sail-Plan window and the new destination is set (if confirmed with RETURN).

3 Insert a new destination

Use this command if you want to insert a new destination before an already set destination.

Move the cursor-line to the Leg where you want to insert the new destination. Press the INSERT key. You are now asked to select a Waypoint in the same way as for the "Set Destination"-command (see 0).

The old destination for the selected leg is moved down to the next leg (the entire sail-plan is from this point moved one step down).

Note: The Sail-Plan can contain a maximum of 24 Legs. If 24 legs is already used when you inserts a new destination the last leg is lost.

4 Remove a Leg

Move the cursor-line to the leg you want to remove and press DELETE. The selected Leg is removed and the remaining legs moved up one step.

To enter next leg before the arrival, just remove Leg 0.

Edit Routes

This command allows you to edit other routes than the active sailplan.

Once you have selected one route to work with the operating procedure is the same as when you work with a sailplan.

List Devices

This functions allows you to list all active instruments and sensors or other devices connected to the NEXUS Network.

Note: The analog instrument are not sending on the bus and are therefore not on the list.

For each unit in the list is given the id number (unique for each sender on the bus), the type of unit, version number and finally the sending category. The sending category is written hexadecimal and tells the advanced user what type of data that device has the right to send (see NEXUS-Bus Specification)

Data Logging

1 Start logging to file

This function is used to start a new data logging on a file. The logging puts selected data at specified time intervals on the file in normal text (ASCII) format.

When you enter this window you are asked to give the name of the file you want to store the data on. If no extension is given ".LOG" is used. If you just press RETURN (ENTER) "NEXMON.LOG" is used. If the file already exists you are asked if you want to Overwrite it or not (use the up or down arrow to change between Yes and No, confirm with RETURN).

After this you are asked the time between samples. All data is stored simultaneously and written to the file with the specified time interval. The minimum time is 0.5 seconds.

Next step is to select what data you want to put on the file. On the line starting with "Data: " is shown all data that you have select in the same order as it will appear in the file. The first data is always "Time" (can't be removed). Below this line is given a list of all types of data you can choose between. Each data is given a uppercase letter. To select a certain data just type this letter and it will directly appear on the "Data:"-line. Rubout removes the last selected data. When you are ready confirm with RETURN (ENTER) and the logging start directly. You can also abort this function by pressing ESCape. In either case you return to the main menu.

Example: If you choose time between samples to 1 second and Data to "Time, BSP, HDC, SAT" the start of the logfile will look like this:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐

│ │

│ Creator: NEXUS PCNEXMON Ver 1.00 │

│ Date: Thu Mar 24 08:25:50 1994 │

│ │

│ │

│ │

│ Time │ BSP(kt ) │ HDC │ SAT │

│ ─────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────── │

│ 08:25:51 │ 13.48 │ 008.8 │3D : d1(4sat)│

│ 08:25:52 │ 13.48 │ 008.0 │3D : d1(5sat)│

│ 08:25:53 │ 13.48 │ 008.6 │3D : d1(5sat)│

│ 08:25:54 │ 13.48 │ 008.0 │3D : d1(3sat)│

│ │

│ .... │

└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

2 Stop-Logging

This function terminates the logging. There is no way to resume logging without starting again with "Data Logging" (see 9.1).

When selecting this function the log file is closed and you return to the main menu without any questions.

3 View an old log file

Allows you to view an old log file page by page.

Configuration / Setup

The setup is used to select serial-port, select units and other things that affect the programs behaviour and that is generally chosen once and then very rarely changed. The setup is stored in the file "F" that must be on the current directory when the program is started (or the program will automatically create a new "F"-file with the default setup on that directory).

When you enter the Setup the window will look something like this:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐

│ │

│ A: PC Connection │

│ B: Nexus Configuration │

│ C: Used units │

│ D: Default directories │

│ │

│ │

│ │

│ │

│ │

│ │

│ ESC: Return to main menu....... │

│ │

│ │

└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

After the dot line is the current selection displayed. The default value is showed inside the [] at the end of each line.

To alter any value just type the number at the start of the line. The chosen value starts to flash. To change use the Up or Down key (except for number 2, Device-Id..., where the number is written directly). Confirm with RETURN (ENTER).

1 PC Connection

Select the serial port for the PC-interface. It can be either COM1 or COM2. If wrong port is selected no data can be received or sent.

You can also select communication speed. Recommended speed is 9600. If you are using very long cables from the PC-interface you might have to lower the speed.

2 Nexus Configuration

This setting depends on wether you are using the server or a GPS-navigator as the navigating unit on the NEXUS Network. If you are using the server select Server fom this option otherwise select extended. Automatic allows you to select what kind of navigator you ar using when you start this program.

3 Used units

Select the uits you like to use in PCNEXMON. These settings does only affect PCNEXMON and not the NEXUS Network.

4 Default directories

This option allows you to select where your stored waypoints, routes etc will be placed by the program.

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