Re: Tech question - interface between receiver and central station software

["mckenzie" <mckenzieatcleardotnet.nz>]

The FE100 connects to the Telemate PC via the terminal serial port - this
allows you to view incoming signals and set up the receiver and line cards.
You can also print out line statistics, etc via the report menu.  If you
have the FE100 database version, you can do simple monitoring as well
(limited to 500 clients, I think).

The FE100 itself decodes the signals from the panels and simply sends the
data via the automation serial port to your PC (or server) runnig Patriot.
Most Fe100s have been set up to emulate the Ademco 685 receiveroutput, but
yopu can choose other protocols as well, such as Surgard.

Patriot then works out what the signals are, firstly by using the account
and port number to determine who the signal is from in the database, then
looking at the Types template for that client to see how to interpret the
message - open/close, burg, etc, depending on what format is being sent by
the panel.

The FE100 does the hard work of decoding and handshaking with the panel.
Telemate does not need to run at all, but we keep it on anyway - mainly as a
tool to check line stats and bad signals.

To set up your own app, you will need some sort aof database (Patriot
started with Clarion, now uses SQL) and a means of capturing the serial
data.  there are many freeware and opensource data capture programs
available.  We use a real old one called Winlog now and again just to test
comms and mimic the serial printer.

You would then need some sort of front end to allow you to interact with the
database so you can attend the various signals, set up some templates for
the various formats, etc.  I have no doubt it is simple for someone to do (I
have no idea how to go about writing such a program), and that is how
Patriot and many other got started.  Could be fun..

You can run two automation packages together on the same serial port from
the FE100, as a means of testing it.

www.fratech.com.au
www.inner-range.com.au

If you get yourself a password to the site, you can download the documents,
although it is just simple serial data capture in the end.

Good luck

Graeme McKenzie
<bewareofcabbage@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1120235359.759796.130560@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> I work in a central station and know our receiver (Fratech FE100 I
> believe) which goes to a receiver computer running software called
> Telemate which shows basic information (client, zone/user, type etc).
> >From there I assume it connects to one of our main central station PC's
> running Patriot (www.patriot.co.nz)
>
> I understand how to read the raw data e.g. from Contact ID panels, but
> was just wondering how this was communicated to the central station PC,
> probably by serial cable.
>
> The reason I'm asking is I'm toying with the idea of writing a simple
> monitoring app of my own.  And the only thing I can't seem to find any
> information on is how a program can communicate with, and receive info
> from the receiver.
>
> If anyone has any info or links, it would be gratefully received.  Just
> curious. :-)
>