Configuring the ACP Dialog

The ACP tab configures the characteristics for the Control Protocol (ACP). Normally these will not need to change, however on some systems where the network is spread over a number of sub-nets or over a Wide Area Network (WAN) then changes to the default timeout values may need to change.

Number of Retransmissions

ACP is a connectionless protocol using User Datagram Packets (UDP), each ACP command sent by CommandCenter will be sent this number of times (defaulted to 3) before it is deemed to have failed by CommandCenter. The audit log can be configured to show details of commands being sent again due to this retry.

Default Timeout Value (mS)

This is the time given by CommandCenter after it sends a normal ACP command to wait for a reply from the Synapse frame (defaulted to 250mS)

File Timeout Value (mS)

This is the time given by CommandCenter after it sends a file packet used for uploading firmware to Synapse cards to wait for a reply from the Synapse frame (defaulted to 10000mS).

Force refresh ACP value on access

CommandCenter by default interrogates all the cards in the system at initialisation and from that point on holds the information locally so subsequent requests for the data are no longer delayed by the time taken to communicate to the device. CommandCenter is updated by receiving the Broadcasts from the frame, or where the forwarding address in the frame has been directed at CommandCenter. However in some circumstances the user may choose for the card values to be refreshed when the card is selected, this is normally required for frames that are outside the current Network subnet of CommandCenter or when Broadcasts are turned off and forwarding not used. By default this option is set to 'If out of subnet'.

Enable Polling

CommandCenter will poll the frame and cards of the system at regular intervals to make sure the devices still physically exist on the network. As ACP is a connectionless protocol, a frame can be removed and go un-noticed until the point that control is required. The polling is used to monitor the absence and presence of the devices in the system.

Poll Time

This is the time interval between polling messages being sent from CommandCenter. The default for this setting is 3 seconds, which will mean that each Synapse frame will be polled within this time.

Treat Frame and Card Departure As:

This option dictates the status severity in the event of CommandCenter finding that a card that previously was present is no longer part of the system. This is similar the configuring status severities of the system.

Auto-Correct Departure Errors

This option when checked means that any pre-existing warning/s or error/s in the event view for card departure will be automatically acknowledged or cleared when the card returns. It is intended for items that do not need any historical warnings or errors to be acknowledged by the user.

Treat Card Entering Boot-Mode As:

This option dictates the status severity in the event of CommandCenter finding that a card that previously was present has gone into Boot-Mode and so is no longer part of the system.

Auto-Correct Boot-Mode Errors

This option is the same as Auto-Correct Departure Errors but for the Boot-Mode events.

Indicate Frame Errors on Cards

As the frame controller is the means by which the card communicates to the outside world, the card is not a standalone entity. Enabling this option will reflect the card in an error state when no communication can be established with the frame.

Log Control Changes

The Event log can optionally display any control changes seen on the ACP network or not, these control events will be displayed in a light blue color, as well as the event description starting with the text 'Control -' . Only changes in values are seen in the log so repeated broadcasts of the same control value will not be logged to save on storage requirements.

ACP Multi-Cast Address

Assigning this address will prompt CommandCenter to subscribe to a multicast address. This option can be used in preference to using UDP broadcasts, as it will allow ACP updates to be sent across different sub-nets. If multicasting of ACP is required then the forwarding address of the frames should be enabled and configured to be the same address within the range 224.0.0.0 though 239.255.255.255. If the broadcast option is disabled on the frame it will also remove a lot of network traffic burden from the Synapse frames. Caution should be used when using this option as some third party control systems rely on the broadcasting of ACP to maintain the correct system status.

ACP Networking

Transport Layer - default is Auto-Detect or Select UDP or TCP.