Creating and Configuring IP Modem

Scenario: You want to configure the IP Modem device.

 

Reference: For background information, see the reference section.

 

Workflow diagram:

 

 

Prerequisites:

  • IP modem is installed and configured.
  • TCP port and IP address are configured in the Web Portal.
  • System Manager is in Engineering mode.
  • System Browser is in Management View.

 

Steps:

1 – Create and Start a GSM Modem Driver
  1. Depending on where to add the driver, select one of the following:
  • Project > Management System > Servers > Main Server > Drivers
  • Project > Management System > FEPs > [FEP Station] > Drivers
  1. In the Object Configurator tab, click New and select New GSM Modem Driver.
  1. In the New object dialog box, enter a unique name and description.
  1. Click OK.
  • GSM Modem Driver displays in the System Browser below the Drivers node and is selected.
  1. In the Operation tab, navigate to the Driver Status property and click Start.
  • The GSM Modem driver is created and started.

 

2 – Configure a GSM Modem Driver
  1. In the System Browser, select the GSM Modem driver and click the Driver Editor tab.
  1. (Optional) In the Driver Settings expander.
  1. In the Configuration Properties expander, proceed as follows:
  • In the Device Request Timeout field, enter 10000 (value in milliseconds).
  • In the Check Status Rate field, enter 30000 (value in milliseconds).
  1. In the Notification Integration expander, proceed as follows:
  • In the Batch Size field, set the value as 10 (default is 100). Batch size specifies the size in which the request is processed by the driver. The batch size displays the number of devices to which Notification interacts in one instant. For example, if there are 100 devices on which a message has to be displayed and a batch size of 10 is entered, Notification will send the message to batches of 10 devices each.
  • Enter a value into the Expected delivery time field (default is 5 seconds).
    NOTE: Notification does not guarantee the message delivery will be completed within the time entered in the Expected delivery Time field. This value is solely used to compute delivery statistics indicating whether message delivery to the GSM Modem server was on-time or late.
    On-Time or Late displays are based on the time it takes for Notification to deliver the message to the GSM Modem server. Not the time it takes to deliver the message to the actual recipient.
  • Enter a value into the Input Messages Polling Interval field (default is 5 seconds).
  • In the Acknowledgment reply action field, specify the optional action text to be appended with the notification message in different languages. Recipient users can acknowledge these messages using the id that is generated and displays along with the notification text. For example, to send the following notification message to an English user, "Fire in Second Floor, Room 203" and seek confirmation, enter the following text in the en-US field in the Acknowledgement reply action field "Reply {} to acknowledge and confirm.". In this case, the recipient will receive the following message, “Fire in Second Floor, Room 203. Reply XXX to acknowledge and confirm”. The {} is replaced with a numeric Reply ID. The recipient can send an acknowledgement to the received message using the reply id. In order to generate a reply ID for the corresponding message, ensure that the Acknowledgement reply action field has any one of the following characters within the curly braces, {}, {id}, {ID}, or {0}. For example, Reply {}, Respond {id}. If you do not specify any text in the Acknowledgment reply action field, then the text "Reply with {id}" is appended to the notification message and sent to the receiver. {id} is replaced with a numeric id.
  1. Click Save .
  • The parameters are configured for the GSM Modem driver.

 

3 – Create a GSM Modem Field Network
  1. Select Project > Field Networks.
  • The Object Configurator tab displays in the Primary pane.
  1. Click New and select New GSM Modem Field Network.
  1. In the New Object dialog box, enter a name and description.
  1. Click OK.
  • The GSM Modem Field Network node displays under the Field Networks node.
  • The GSM Modem driver is automatically associated to the field network. In the Network Editor tab, under the Network Settings expander, you can see that the values are preselected, and the driver is already assigned.
    NOTE: In case of using Cinteron and SmartStart devices as GSM devices, refer to the note mentioned in Step 3 - Create a GSM Modem Field Network in Creating and Configuring Serial Modem topic.

 

4 – Create an IP Modem Device
  1. Select Project > Field Networks > GSM Modem Field Network.
  1. Click the Network Editor tab.
  1. Click Create .
  1. In the New object dialog box, select the child type IP GSM Gateway Device and then enter a name and description.
  1. Click OK.
  1. In the Device Editor tab that displays, proceed as follows:
  1. In the Device Settings expander, enter a description.
  1. In the Configuration Properties expander, proceed as follows (For more information refer to the IP Modem Device section in Notification Supported HW/SW Device Configurations Guide):
  • Enter the IP address in the IP Address field.
  • (Optional) Enter a value into the SIM PIN Code field.
    Three incorrect SIM PIN code attempts lead to SIM block.
    The SIM PUK is required to unblock it.
    NOTE: You must contact the carrier (service provider) that issued the SIM card to obtain the PUK code.
  • From the Device Mode drop-down list, select Operational so that the driver processes the messaging command and the device configuration change command, and performs status checks for the device. You can also select:
    - Disabled: In this mode, the driver does not process the messaging command, or the device configuration change command, and can perform status checks for the device. The device remains in a disconnected state.
    - Administrative: In this mode, the driver processes the device configuration change command and performs status checks for the device. The device will be in a Disconnected/Connected state based on the connection state.
  • Select the IP Modem Device Id from the Device Type drop-down list that is to be integrated.
  • From the Supported Encoding drop-down list, select the supported UCS-2 and GSM devices.
    NOTE1: GSM 03.38 (7bit) uses 1 byte per character and shall be used for all Latin character languages (For example, English, German, French, Swedish).
    NOTE2: UCS2 (Unicode) uses 2 byte per character and shall be used for all non-Latin character languages (For example, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrillic).
  1. In the Test SMS Connection expander, you can send a test text message.
  • Enter the phone number in the Phone number field.
  • Enter the text message to be sent in the Message field.
  • Click Send to send the test message.
  • The sending result is displayed in the expander after the message is sent.
    NOTE: While test SMS connection, set device mode as disabled for the remaining Serial and IP modems.
  1. Open the Routing Configuration expander and configure the parameters (see Routing Configuration Expander).
  1. Click Save .
  • The user device type is automatically configured. In the Recipient Editor tab, under the User Device Types expander, you can see that the GSM Gateway Driver is set as the handling driver and modality is set as SMS.

 

5 – Configure Recipient User Devices
  • You have added one or more users as Recipient Users.
  1. In the Recipient User Devices dialog box, from the Type drop-down list, select Personal Mobile Phone or Work Mobile Phone as a recipient device for the corresponding recipient user.
  1. In the Address field, enter the mobile number.
    NOTE 1: In order to use message reply and escalation functionality, the mobile number configured in the recipient user device must have the following number format:
    +[country code][number]. For example, +17327572923.
    NOTE 2: The driver ignores all special characters in recipient user telephone numbers, such as (, ), -, /, and so on, except for a leading + sign that indicates an international number format.
  1. From the Preferred Delivery Method drop-down list, select SMS.
  1. Click OK.
  1. Associate the recipient with the message template (notification template).
  1. Associate the notification template with the incident template and initiate incidents.
  • Once the incident is initiated, the recipient user in the message template (notification template) receives an SMS message with the content as described in the corresponding message template.
  • For message templates with acknowledgment option, the recipient replies are collected by the Notification system.
  • The recipients reply as per the configuration details in the Acknowledgment Reply Action field of the Notification Integration section of the GSM Modem driver.
    Based on the recipients' replies, the appropriate status (Acknowledged or Not Acknowledged) displays in the Message Status section of the Browse snap-in.