Remote Control

Terminal Software

You can access and control LabSat 4 units remotely with most terminal software applications that support a PORT 23 Telnet connection When it has been connected, you can manually enter commands into a terminal program to remotely control a LabSat 4 unit. Commands are linked with the ‘:’ character and are executed on receipt of the carriage return character.

Connecting to the LabSat 4 Unit

LabSat 4 is connected to the network via a standard Ethernet cable plugged into the RJ45 Ethernet connector on the rear panel. LabSat 4 can operate with a fixed IP address or with the DHCP protocol where an IP address is automatically obtained from a network server. Contact your network administrator for advice on the best solution for your application.

You can access the network configuration options via the menu under SETUP.

Setup

• LAN
  • DHCP – Tick to select/deselect.
    When DHCP is deselected, the following manual options will be available:
    • IP Address – Set the IP Address manually.
    • SUBNET MASK – Set the SUBNET MASK manually.
    • DEFAULT GATEWAY – Set the DEFAULT GATEWAY manually.
       

After changing any network settings, you must power-cycle the LabSat 4 unit to re-connect to the network.

You can check the connection to the LabSat 4 unit by using the Ping command from the Windows command prompt along with the IP address set in the device.

An example of the Ping command with the successful response from the connected LabSat 4.

Commands

Click on a command category below to see more information about the relevant commands.  

►Top Level Command Overview

See the subsections for a detailed explanation of each command.

Command	Function
PLAY	Play a file. You can add FROM and FOR options to define start position as the number of seconds into the file and also the duration of replay in seconds.
ATTN (Attenuation)	Set output attenuation. Attenuation level in dB.
MUTE	Mute all channels.
CONF (Configuration)	Used to configure menu options and read current user configurations.
TYPE	Return all text from the About menu, for example, the serial number and unit type.
MEDIA	Media storage functions. Used to list files on media, change directories or delete files.
HELP	Display a list of commands for the current level. Example: HELP:<CR> will list all top-level commands. HELP:PLAY:<CR> will list the PLAY commands.
MON (Monitor)	Monitor functions such as request levels, switch, and raw NMEA output.
FIND	Beep and flash display. For example, identifying a single unit among multiple units: The backlight should flash 500 on then 500 ms off and beep 500 ms on / 500 ms off for a total of 5 seconds.
SHUTDOWN	Powers down the LabSat 4 unit.

Note: For all commands (except MEDIA:LIST), inserting a ‘?’ character in place of a setting value will cause the unit to respond with the data. Example:  PLAY:?<CR> will return <filename><CR> of the current file if it is playing, else ERR<CR>.

Tip <CR> means carriage return which is the ASCII character 0x0D or char(13) but not the individual characters ‘<’ ‘C’ ‘R’ ‘>’. If manually typing commands in a Telnet terminal, <CR> simply means pressing the Enter key.

►PLAY Commands

Command	Specification
PLAY:FILE:<file name>	Replay the file from start to end.
PLAY:FILE: <file name>:FOR:<duration in seconds>	Replay the file from the start point for the defined duration.
PLAY:FILE:<file name>:FROM:<time in seconds>	Replay a file from a selected time to the end.
PLAY:FILE:<file name>:FROM:<time in seconds>:FOR:<duration in seconds>	Replay file from a selected time and for a defined duration.
PLAY:STOP	Stop the replay.
PLAY:?	Query the replay status (name & current duration).

►ATTN Commands

Command	Specification
ATTN:<value>	Add attenuation on replay (all the signals being replayed).
ATTN:CH1:<value>:CH2:<value>:CH3:<value>	Add attenuation on individual channels.
ATTN:?	Returns the unit's attenuation settings.

 

►MUTE Commands

Command	Specification
MUTE:Y	Mute all RF channels.
MUTE:N	Unmute all RF channels.
MUTE:CH1:<Y/N>:CH2:<Y/N>:CH3:<Y/N>	Mute individual RF channels.

 

►MEDIA Commands

Command	Specification
MEDIA:LIST	Show all files on the media.
MEDIA:CHDIR:<directory name>	Open a directory (cannot skip folders).
MEDIA:CHDIR:..	Go back one directory.
MEDIA:CHDIR:\	Go back to root of the media.
MEDIA:DELETE:<file name>	Delete a file.

 

►HELP Command

You can use the Help keyword to display the currently available commands for each level of the tree.

If you type HELP<CR>, the currently available commands on that level would be:

• help
• ?
• ATTN
• CONF
• FIND
• MEDIA
• MON
• MUTE
• PLAY
• REC
• TYPE

If you type HELP:CONF<CR> you will see the available commands for CONF:

• CONS
• PLAY
• SETUP
• ?

You can then see the list of SETUP options, by typing HELP:CONF:SETUP<CR>:

• DISP
• PSAV
• EXT
• TIME
• CAN
   

►CONF Commands

Command	Specification
CONF:PLAY:LOOP:Y	Enable scenarios to be replayed continuously.
CONF:PLAY:LOOP:N	Disable continuous replay.
CONF:PLAY:PAUSE:<duration>	Create a pause between each replay.
CONF:SETUP:DISP:CONT:<value>	Changing the display contrast.
CONF:SETUP:SOUNDS:Y	Enable all unit sounds.
CONF:SETUP:SOUNDS:N	Disable all unit sounds.
CONF:SETUP:PSAV:Y	Enabling power save mode.
CONF:SETUP:PSAV:N	Disabling power save mode.
CONF:SETUP:CLKREF:EXT:Y	Enable external clock reference.
CONF:SETUP:CLKREF:OCXO	Enable the OCXO.
CONF:SETUP:CLKREF:TCXO	Enable the TCXO.
CONF:SETUP:TIME:UTC:Y	Enabling UTC time.
CONF:SETUP:TIME:MAN:<YYYY>:<MM>:<DD>:<HH>:<MM>:<SS>	Set time manually.
CONF:SETUP:CAN:REPLAYFILE:Y	Enable arbitrated CAN replay.
CONF:SETUP:CAN:REPLAYFILE:N	Disable arbitrated CAN replay.
CONF:?	Returns the units configuration.

*You can make individual channel changes by only stating the required channel in the command.

**Should be entered in bits or with the prefix K or M for kbit and Mbit.
 

►MON Commands

Command	Specification
MON:NMEA:ON	Enable live NMEA stream.
MON:NMEA:OFF	Disable live NMEA stream.
MON:SAT	Request CNO.
MON:LOC	Request time, height, lat & long.