RS 232 Communications Network Analyzer

Frontline’s “RS-232 ComProbe II” – A Portable, Rugged and Easy-to-Use Device for monitoring Asynchronous RS-232 communications

To keep pace with advances in technology, the NetDecoder™ analyzer has been upgraded to support the new "RS-232 ComProbe II". Most new laptops and PCs do not have PCMCIA interfaces and the PC industry has migrated towards USB ports. To help our customers monitor asynchronous serial communications via their PC's USB port, Frontline has introduced its new RS-232 ComProbe II. This new RS-232 ComProbe II is a flash drive-sized interface that plugs into a PC's USB port.

The RS-232 ComProbe II monitors and captures Asynchronous RS-232 communications. It does not lose timing and control signal information. With this new interface, Frontline has made its NetDecoder analyzer more rugged, easier to use, portable and transportable. It allows you to spend more time doing your real job.

• Captures, decodes, timestamps, filters and displays data, and detects protocol errors (indicated in red) simultaneously, all live and in real-time
• Data is also displayed in binary, octal, hex, and ASCII
• Familiar tree (Explorer style) protocol decode display with single-click protocol filtering
• Session notes and annotated bookmarks allow for quick identification of questionable messages
• Log data to single or multiple files
• Reduce downtime and increase uptime
• Improve network performance
• Improve network security
• Improve network maintenance
• Perform faster and more efficient network installations
• Rapidly develop industrial control and SCADA network products
• Perform better in conformance testing of your network products

The RS-232 ComProbe II provides customers a great deal of flexibility in tapping into Async RS-232 bus configurations to address different monitoring situations.

The RS-232 ComProbe II can be used:

• Directly in-line or
• Connected via a combination of a provided Y-cable (enabling a quick connection to permanent or semi-permanent tap into the communication line) and/or the 6 foot RS-232 extension cable.
• Some monitoring situations may require a pair of 25-pin to 9-pin adapters which are also included in the product.

An example of an in-line asynchronous RS-232 monitoring application is shown here.

The new RS-232 ComProbe II allows the user plenty of options for monitoring various serial communication setups. The I/O Settings dialog allows the user to configure the setup.

The RS-232 ComProbe II supports data rates up to 921.6Kbps. The user can pick one of the standard rates in the drop down box in the I/O Settings dialog. For non-standard rates, the user can simply type in the value in the box.

The RS-232 ComProbe II can monitor serial communications with 5, 6, 7 or 8 data bits and with 1, 1.5 or 2 stop bits. The device also supports all the standard parity types (None, Odd, Even, Mark, Space, and Ignore).

The user can also choose the bit order on their serial communication circuit. The choices are either LSB (least significant bit) first or MSB (most significant bit) first. LSB first is normal, while MSB first is considered "reversed" from normal. This option reverses the order of the bits within each byte.

The user can also choose to monitor either DTE only, DCE only or both DTE and DCE ends of the communication.

WARNING

Connecting one of the unused wires on DB-9 connector pins 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 to supply power over 0.5A to your device with the RS232 cable could cause serious damage to the RS-232 hardware.

For typical applications only 3 pins on the DB-9 connectors are actually used - pins 2, 3, and 5 for Tx, Rx, and Ground. A DB-9 pin diagram is shown to the right for reference.

Frontline's NetDecoder™ protocol analyzer is designed to diagnose and troubleshoot communication problems in industrial networks. The NetDecoder analyzer is a combination of software and hardware. The hardware is used as a license key to activate the software. Frontline's NetDecoder analyzer has the ability to monitor and provide detailed timing, data and messaging information for serial, fieldbus, and ethernet networks.

The NetDecoder protocol analyzer is used in many industries including Oil & Gas, Food and beverage, Electric power transmission, Water or sewer management, and Factory automation.

When something goes wrong with your industrial network, spending time and resources trying to diagnose and resolve the problem is very costly. With NetDecoder software combined with capturing hardware, you can learn about impending problems before they occur. It’s an intuitive, passive network monitor and trouble-shooting tool that offers high level views of your network activity and helps you understand your communications traffic.

Together with our hardware interfaces, Frontline’s NetDecoder protocol analyzer monitors and provides detailed timing, data, and messaging information for a wide range of communications protocols.

Information is show in multiple views and displays:

• Byte Level Display
• Frame Level Display
• Network Statistics
• Network View
• Dashboard View

Learn more about NetDecoder software and its Core Features to see how it can help you to more efficiently monitor and troubleshoot your industrial communication networks.