Communicators are software components that implement a specific protocol for controlling a family of devices. Communicators in iControl are responsible for the process of discovery whereby an Application Server detects Grass Valley devices connected to its serial ports or on the LAN, and initiates services to control these devices.

iControl’s communicators are applications that handle the communications between an Application Server and Densité, GeckoFlex, or Imaging-series frames on the network. The three types of communicators (Imaging, Densité, and GeckoFlex) are configurable services in iC Navigator.

Imaging Communicators allow you to control signal processing and distribution performance modules housed in Grass Valley Imaging series (Symphonie, Quartet) frames. The Imaging series frames are connected to the Application Server using RS‑422 serial ports.

Densité Communicators and GeckoFlex Communicators allow you to control interfacing and distribution modules housed in Grass Valley Densité and GeckoFlex frames, respectively. Both kinds of frame are connected to the network via their Densité (or GeckoFlex) Controller Ethernet port.

To be able to use a communicator, the service must be configured and activated. If the service is not configured, you will not be able to control the devices even if they are connected. If the service is configured, but there are no cards connected, only the service will be displayed in the navigation pane.