RCP8 Users Manual

USER’S MANUAL
Radar Control Processor

RCP8
M211320EN-D
PUBLISHED BY
Vaisala Oyj Phone (int.): +358 9 8949 1

P.O. Box 26 Fax: +358 9 8949 2227
FI-00421 Helsinki
Finland
Visit our Internet pages at www.vaisala.com
© Vaisala 2014
No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical (including photocopying), nor may its contents be
communicated to a third party without prior written permission of the
copyright holder.
The contents are subject to change without prior notice.
Please observe that this manual does not create any legally binding
obligations for Vaisala towards the customer or end user. All legally
binding commitments and agreements are included exclusively in the
applicable supply contract or Conditions of Sale.
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.1 About This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2 Version Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 Related Manuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 Documentation Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
CHAPTER 2
INTRODUCTION AND SPECIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 General Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.1 Mother Board or Single–Board Computer (SBC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1.2 I/O–62 PCI Card and I/O Connector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1.3 System Network Architecture Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.4 Case 1: Standard Serial Line Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.5 Case 2: Combined RCP8/RCW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.1.6 Case 3: Socket Interface Using AntExport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2 RCP8 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2.1 Antenna Control I/O and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2.2 Fail–safe Antenna Protection Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.2.3 Optional Shipboard Stabilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2.4 Radar Status/Control I/O and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2.5 Application Software for Test/Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.2.6 Vaisala I/O-62 PCI Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2.7 RCP8 Standard Connector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2.8 Physical and Environmental Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
CHAPTER 3
HARDWARE INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.1 Overview and Input Power Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 Initial Power–Up Prior to Connecting to Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3 RCP8 Chassis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.3.1 RCP8 Chassis Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.3.2 Power Requirements, Size and Physical Mounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3.3 Main Chassis Direct Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4 RCP8 Connector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.5 Host Computer Serial Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.6 Socket Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
CHAPTER 4
TTY MENU CONTROL AND MONITORING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.1 Starting the TTY Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
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4.2 The TTY Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

4.3 The TTY Help Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.3.1 TTY Help Support Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.3.2 TTY Help View Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.4 The TTY MONITOR Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.4.1 TTY Antenna Monitor and Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.4.1.1 Commands Recognized by the Angle Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.4.1.2 Alternate Display for Shipboard Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.4.1.3 Alternate Display of Antenna Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4.2 TTY Serial I/O Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.4.2.1 Commands Recognized by the Serial I/O Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.4.2.2 Alternate Displays of Raw SIO Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.4.3 TTY Inertial Navigation Unit Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.4.3.1 Alternate INU Monitor Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.4.4 TTY Status Line Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.4.5 TTY Control Request Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.4.6 TTY Internal LOG Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.4.7 TTY Analog Voltage Input Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.5 TTY RESET Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
CHAPTER 5
TTY SETUP MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.1 Using the SETUP Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.2 Summary of Setup TTY Configuration Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3 The SAVE and RESTORE Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.4 The SITE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.4.1 Front Panel Display Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5.4.2 Host Computer I/O Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.4.3 Customer-Specific Site Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.4.4 Data and Event Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5.4.5 Miscellaneous Site Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.5 The AXIS Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.6 The VSERVO Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.7 The PSERVO Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.8 The CONTROL Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.8.1 Output Line Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.8.2 Logic Equation Control Qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.8.3 Logic Equation Timer Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.8.4 Logic Equation Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.8.5 Logic Equation Configuration of Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.8.6 Analog Voltage Input Control Logic Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.8.7 The STATUS Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.8.8 The INU Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
CHAPTER 6
THEORY OF SERVO OPERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6.1 Overview of Servo Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6.2 Velocity Servo Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6.2.1 Tachometer Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.2.2 Nominal Drive Slope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.2.3 Velocity Feedback Slope and Dead Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
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6.2.4 Drive and Tach Sign Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

6.3 Position Servo Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.3.1 The Position Servo Response Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.4 Fail-safe Antenna Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6.5 Modification of Servos For Use on a Moving Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
APPENDIX A
COMMUNICATION FORMATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
A.1 Serial Data Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
A.2 Socket Data Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
A.3 Antenna Status Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
A.4 Antenna Control Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
A.5 BITE Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
A.6 Miscellaneous Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
APPENDIX B
ANTENNA STABILIZATION PROCEDURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
B.1 Shipboard INU and Pedestal Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
APPENDIX C
RVP8/RCP8 PACKAGING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
C.1 Main Chassis General Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
C.1.1 Main Chassis Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
C.1.2 Main Chassis Back Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
C.1.3 Main Chassis Back Panel Power Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
C.1.4 Main Chassis Back Panel PC I/O Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
C.1.5 Main Chassis Back Panel PCI Card Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
C.2 I/O-62 and Connector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
C.3 IFD Module (RVP8 Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
C.4 DAFC Module (RVP8 only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
APPENDIX D
DUAL-SYSTEM OPERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
D.1 Dual-System Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
D.2 Dual-System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
D.3 Dual-System Special Cabling and Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
D.4 RCP8 TTY Setups for Dual-System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
D.5 RVP900 TTY Setups for Dual-System Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
D.6 IRIS Configuration for Dual-System Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
D.6.1 IRIS Radar Status Menu Mode Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
D.6.2 IRIS Setup Utility Mode Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
D.6.3 IRIS Status Product Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
D.6.4 BITEX Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
D.7 IRIS Dual-System Switching Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
D.7.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
D.7.2 Starting the Switching Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
D.7.3 Menu Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
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D.8 Troubleshooting Using the Switching Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

D.8.1 Notation of Printed Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
D.8.2 Normal Switching Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
D.8.3 System B Disabled (Maintenance Mode) by Hardware A/B Switch . . . . . . . . 237
D.8.4 System A in Fault, System B Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
D.8.5 System B in Fault and Placed in Maintenance Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
D.8.6 Both Systems Faulted, No Operation Possible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
D.8.7 RCPB is Unreachable (As Viewed from System A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
D.8.8 RCP is Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
D.8.9 Operation Forced to A—Auto Switching and B Disabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
D.8.10 Non Operational, Both Systems Disabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
D.8.11 Non-Operational, System A is Menu Selected, but Faulted . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
D.8.12 Avoiding Non-Operational Conditions (Enable Auto Switch) . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
D.9 Dual-System Parallel Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
D.9.1 RCP8 Setups for “Flip” or Simultaneous Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
D.9.2 IRIS Setups for “Flip” or Simultaneous Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
D.9.3 IRIS TASK Scheduler: “Flip” Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
D.9.4 IRIS TASK Scheduler: Simultaneous Active/Passive Operation . . . . . . . . . . 250
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List of Figures
Figure 1 RCP8 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Figure 2 Front Panel Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Figure 3 Network Architecture– Case 1: Standard Serial Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Figure 4 Network Architecture– Case 2: Combined RCP8/RCW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 5 Network Architecture– Case 3: Socket with AntExport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Figure 6 Antenna and Bitex utility examples Bitex utility, introduction . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 7 Digital Velocity Servo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Figure 8 Digital Position Servo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Figure 9 Example of the Lower EL LIMITS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Figure 10 Modification of Velocity Servos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Figure 11 Main Chassis - Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Figure 12 Main Chassis -Back Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Figure 13 Main Chassis - Right Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Figure 14 Main Chassis Internal Cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Figure 15 RVP8 Receiver/Signal Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Figure 16 RCP8 Radar Control Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Figure 17 RVP8 I/O-62 Connector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Figure 18 RCP8 I/O-62 Connector Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Figure 19 RVP8/IFD Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Figure 20 IFD Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Figure 21 View of DAFC Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Figure 22 Dual-System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Figure 23 Connector J3 "CONTROL" Dual-System Link Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Figure 24 Cabling between Output Drive Signals and Internal Relays . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Figure 25 Radar Control Processor Setups - -RST Mode to Number Mapping . . . . 228
Figure 26 IRIS General Setups - Modes and Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Figure 27 IRIS PRODUCT Setups - Status Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Figure 28 Radar Control Processor Setups - Network Status Reports to the RCP . . 230
Figure 29 BITEX - Status Field Configuration Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Figure 30 Dual-System Switching Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Figure 31 Dual-System Normal Switching Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Figure 32 Dual-System B Disabled (Maintenance Mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Figure 33 Dual-System A in Fault, B Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Figure 34 Dual-System B in Fault and Place in Maintenance Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Figure 35 Dual-System Both Systems Faulted (No Operation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Figure 36 Dual-System RCPB is Unreachable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Figure 37 Dual-System RCP Status: Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Figure 38 Dual-System Operation Forced to A (Auto Switching and B Disabled) . . . 243
Figure 39 Dual-System Non-Operational, Both Systems Disabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Figure 40 Dual-System Non-Operational, A is Menu Selected, but Faulted . . . . . . . 245
VAISALA ________________________________________________________________________ 5
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6 ___________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
________________________________________________________________________________
List of Tables
Table 1 Direct Connections to RCP8 Main Chassis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

5.4.3 Klystron BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.4.3 Klystron Q-BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Table 2 Power Monitor BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Table 3 Power Monitor Q–BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Table 4 ARA ACU–3 BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Table 5 TSC TWT BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Table 6 TSC TWT QBITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Table 7 MELCO TKY01 QBITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Table 8 MELCO Serial Packet (Generator to RCP8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Table 9 Socket Header Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Table 10 Status Packet RCV01 Format (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Table 14 Control Packet XMT01 Format (Host to RCP8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Table 17 Generic BITE Packet (RCP8 To/From Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Table 18 Q–BITE Status Packet (Both ways) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Table 19 Internal BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Table 20 Auxiliary Status/Control BITE Packets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Table 21 WSR–88D DCU BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) When Connected via Serial Link
163
Table 22 WSR–88D DCU BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) When Connected via RCP9
ORDA Network Interface Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Table 23 WSR–88D DCU Self–Test1 BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Table 24 WSR–88D DCU Self–Test2 BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Table 25 WSR–88D DAU BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) When Connected via Serial Link
168
Table 26 WSR–88D DAU BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) When Connected via RCP9
ORDA Network Interface Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Table 27 WSR–88D DAU Q–BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Table 28 BITE Interrogate Packet (Host to RCP8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Table 29 Q–BITE Interrogate Packet (Host to RCP8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Table 30 BITE Individual Request Packet (Host to RCP8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Table 31 Time Packet (RCP8 to Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Table 32 Chat–Mode Packet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Table 33 RVP8 and RCP8 I/O-62 Card Jumper Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Table 34 RVP8 and RCP8 I/O-62 Card Jumper Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Table 35 RVP8/Rx Card Jumper Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Table 36 RVP8/Tx Card Jumper Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Table 37 J1 AZ INPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Table 38 J2 AZ OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Table 39 J3 RVP8: PHASE OUT; RCP8 CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Table 40 J4 EL INPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
VAISALA ________________________________________________________________________ 7
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Table 41 J5 EL OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Table 42 J6 RELAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Table 43 J7: RVP8 SPARE; RCP8 BITE 19:0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Table 44 J8: RVP8 SPARE; RCP8 ANALOG IN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Table 45 J9 RVP8: MISC I/O ; RCP8: PED/STATUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Table 46 J10 SERIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Table 47 J11 SERIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Table 48 J12 S–D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Table 49 RVP8 BNC Connector Pin Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Table 50 Table C–17: RCP8 BNC Connector Pin Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
8 ___________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Chapter 1 ________________________________________________________ General Information
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL INFORMATION
This manual provides technical information on the Radar Control

Processor (RCP8).
1.1 About This Manual

This manual is used primarily by engineers for troubleshooting or by users
interested in understanding the use, the configuration, and the data formats
used by the RCP8.
Chapter 2, Introduction and Specifications, on page 13, describes the major

features of the RCP8 processor and gives its technical specifications.
Chapter 3, Hardware Installation, on page 33, describes the hardware

installation and configuration of input and output signals, including the
motor drive and tachometer signals.
Chapter 4, TTY Menu Control and Monitoring, on page 45, presents the
operation of the RCP8 via its local TTY menus.
Chapter 5, TTY Setup Menus, on page 61, further describes the use of the
local TTY menus to setup the complete software environment, including
all parameters for the digital velocity and position antenna servos.
Chapter 6, Theory of Servo Operation, on page 135, is a mathematical

description of the digital servos, including extensions to moving platform
stabilization.
Appendix A Communication Formats on page 149, lists the serial line data
formats normally used by the host computer to control the RCP8 and the
antenna.
VAISALA ________________________________________________________________________ 9
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
Appendix B, Antenna Stabilization Procedure, on page 179, gives an

outline of the steps required to stablize a new antenna.
Appendix C, RVP8/RCP8 Packaging, on page 183, includes drawings and

specifications for the chassis and the Pin–Assignments for a standard unit.
1.2 Version Information

Manual Code Description
M211320EN-D This manual. Fourth version. September 2014
M211320EN-C Previous manual. Third version. November 2013
M211320EN-B Previous manual. Second version. March 2013
M211320EN-A Previous manual. First version.
1.3 Related Manuals

Manual Code Manual Name
M211315EN Software Installation Manual
M211316EN IRIS and RDA Utilities Manual
M211317EN IRIS Radar Manual
M211318EN IRIS Programmer’s Manual
M211319EN IRIS Product and Display Manual
M211321EN RVP8 User's Manual
M211322EN RVP900 User's Manual
M211452EN IRIS and RDA Dual Polarization User’s Manual
You can download the latest versions of the manuals from Vaisala product
website, http://www.vaisala.com. They can be read online using by
Adobe® Reader®, which is installed with IRIS.
Vaisala encourages you to send your comments and/or corrections to:
Vaisala Inc.
7A Lyberty Way
Westford, MA 01886
email: helpdesk@vaisala.com
10 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Chapter 1 ________________________________________________________ General Information
1.4 Documentation Conventions

Throughout the manual, important safety considerations are highlighted as
follows:
WARNING Warning alerts you to a serious hazard. If you do not read and follow
instructions very carefully at this point, there is a risk of injury or even
death.
CAUTION Caution warns you of a potential hazard. If you do not read and follow
instructions carefully at this point, the product could be damaged or
important data could be lost.
NOTE Note highlights important information on using the product.
The following conventions are used throughout this manual:
prompt Some features of the RCP8 operate by

displaying questions and waiting for you to
type an answer. The text of prompts is
displayed in bold, monospaced type.
command Commands are also printed in bold,
monospaced type.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 11
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
12 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Chapter 2 _______________________________________________ Introduction and Specifications
CHAPTER 2
INTRODUCTION AND SPECIFICATIONS
The RCP8™ provides a convenient interface between a modern weather

radar system and advanced application software. All of the radar I/O and
low–level antenna control are handled by the RCP8 which communicates
with a host computer via an Ethernet interface or a standard RS232 serial
line. The application software on the host computer monitors the serial line
for status information and issues high–level commands for control. The
flexibility of the RCP8 allows the unit to be connected to weather radar
systems from different manufacturers. It is fully compatible with Vaisala's
previous generation RCP02.
The RCP8 provides position and velocity servos for both the AZ and the
EL axes of the antenna, the status monitoring of the transmitter/receiver/
antenna servo systems and the control functions such as Radiate On/Off
and Servo On/Off. Even synchro signals can be input into the RCP8
directly. The Ethernet or RS232C interface can be connected to virtually
any workstation or PC and is fully compatible with Vaisala's RVP8 signal
processor and IRIS software system.
The features of the RCP8 are summarized in on page 14. Of special note
are the fail–safe features of the RCP8 which are designed to protect the
radar and antenna system in the event of a failure. The flexibility of the I/
O design is based on Vaisala's over 25 years of interfacing experience to
different weather radar systems.
An optional feature is antenna stabilization for moving platforms, such as

ships or airplanes. For shipboard use, the RCP8 accepts position, attitude
and speed information from an inertial navigation unit (e.g., the Honeywell
MAPS Hybrid system.) The antenna will then scan in Earth coordinates
regardless of the platform pitch, roll, or heading.
The speed of modern processors and the flexibility of the Linux operating
system allow the RCP8 and the Vaisala IRIS/Radar software to be installed
on the same PC with no hardware changes. This is called an RCP8/RCW
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 13
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
(Radar Control Workstation). This saves the purchase and maintenance

cost of an additional PC.
In this chapter:
General Architecture 2.1 General

Architecture on page 14
Network Architecture 2.1.3 System Network
Architecture Options on
page 19
RCP8 Specifications 2.2.1 Antenna Control I/
O and Features on page
23
2.1 General Architecture

The RCP8 is based on a standard PCI architecture under the open Linux
operating system. A typical unit is supplied in Vaisala's standard 4U 19
EIA rackmount chassis. Unlike a standard PC, the chassis is ruggedly
constructed with redundant power supplies, captive quick release
fasteners, PCI card guides and security hold–down bar. A standard system
contains the following components listed below and shown in on page 15:
- Motherboard or single–board Intel Pentium system with single or dual

processors.
- Vaisala I/O–62 general purpose I/O board.
- Vaisala RCP8 Connector Panel (connects to I/O–62).
14 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
RCP8 Configuration Example: Standard System

RCP8 Connector Panel
10/100/1000 Base T
Mouse
Utilities Monitor
Keyboard
0914-004
Figure 1 RCP8 Architecture
Depending on the application, other standard commercial PCI cards may

be provided by Vaisala or added by the customer for additional I/O
capability such as the following:
- 10/100–BaseT Ethernet card for additional network I/O (e.g., a

backup network).
- RS–232/RS–422 serial cards for serial angles, remote TTY control,
etc.
- Sound card to synthesize audio waveforms for alarm applications.
- GPS card for time synch.
- IEEE 488 GPIB card for control of test equipment.
The front panel of the RCP8 houses a bright, 2–line display that shows
diagnostic and error messages as well as the position information. An
example is shown below.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 15
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
0914-005
Figure 2 Front Panel Display
The front of the unit also contains a CDRW and 1.44 MB diskette for
backup, software installation and maintenance.
The RCP8 is configured using a local keyboard, mouse and monitor or can
be configured remotely over the network. The configuration menus are
TTY text–based menus which allow the configuration of the antenna
servos, host computer interface and the programmable control logics. The
TTY menus also provide status and monitoring for diagnostic purposes and
during the antenna stabilization process. Pin assignments to the Connector
Panel are made in the softplane.conf file. This eliminates the need for
jumpers and custom wiring.
The major hardware components are described in the sections below. 2.2.1
Antenna Control I/O and Features on page 23 contains detailed
specifications of the RCP8.
2.1.1 Mother Board or Single–Board

Computer (SBC)
The dual–CPU Pentium mother board or single–board computer (SBC)
acts as the host to the Linux operating system and provides all of the
compute resources for performing the antenna servo control as well as the
status and monitoring. Standard keyboard, mouse and monitor connections
are on the SBC or motherboard backpanel, along with typically two 10/
100/1000 BaseT Ethernet ports. The system does not require that a
keyboard, mouse or monitor be connected which is typically the case at an
unattended site. An SBC example is shown on the left.
16 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
0914-006
Motherboards and SBC's are available from many vendors, at various
speeds Typically the SBC is equipped with 128 MB RAM. The RVP8
chassis has a front bay for a >20 GB hard disk. CDRW is also provided for
backup and software maintenance. Note that the latest versions of the
RVP8 software and documentation can always be downloaded from
Vaisala's website for free.
The SBC also plays host for Vaisala's RCP8 Utilities which provide test,
configuration, control and monitoring software as well as built–in on–line
documentation.
2.1.2 I/O–62 PCI Card and I/O Connector

Panel
0914-007
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 17
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
Standard Serial Line Interface
Local Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor RCP8
Mouse
Utilities Monitor
Keyboard
Local Host RCW

RS232C Serial Interface
Utilities
Remote Workstation
Utilities
LAN or WAN TCPIP Netowrk
0914-008
The Vaisala I/O–62 is a short format PCI card that provides extensive I/O
capabilities for the RCP8. Note that the identical card is used in the Vaisala
RVP8 Digital Receiver and Signal Processor. A typical installation would
have one I/O–62 and an RCP8 Connector Panel shown above. The I/O–62
has a single 62–position, high–density D connector. This is attached to the
rackmount RVP8 Connector Panel via a standard 1.6 m (6 foot) 1:1 cable.
Typically the Connector Panel is installed in the same rack as the RCP8.
The I/O–62 is configurable in software, i.e., there is no need to open the

chassis to configure jumpers or switches. This means that when a spare
board is added, there is no need to perform hardware configuration or
custom wiring. The physical I/O lines are summarized in the system
specifications, 2.2.1 Antenna Control I/O and Features on page 23.
If more I/O is required, then a second I/O–62 can be installed. This makes
for easy expandability of the system.
ESD Protection Features
18 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Since the I/O lines are connected to the radar system, there is a potential
for lightning or other ESD type damage. This is addressed aggressively by
the I/O–62 in two ways:
- Every wire is protected by a Tranzorb diode which transitions from

an open to a full clamp between ±27 to ±35 VDC. Additionally, the
Connector Panel uses Tranzorb diodes on every I/O line for double
protection.
- High–voltage tolerant front–end receivers/drivers are used. All
components connected to the external pins can tolerate up to ±40V.
For example, the TTL and wide range inputs use protectors that
normally look like 100 Ohm resistors, but open at high voltage.
These features make the RCP8 very robust to transient surges.
Run Time FPGA Configuration
The Vaisala I/O–62 card is built around a 100K—Gate FPGA which, in

addition to driving the I/O signals on the 62–position connector, also
coordinates the PCI traffic. These chips are SRAM—based, meaning that
they are configured at run time. This allows the FPGA code to be
automatically upgraded during each RVP8 code release without needing to
physically reprogram any parts.
The board's basic I/O services use up only 40% of the complete FPGA. The
leftover space makes it possible to add smart processing right on the I/O–
62 board to handle custom needs. Some examples include generating
custom serial formats, data debouncing, and signal transition detection. In
general, I/O functions that would either be tedious or inappropriate for the
host computer SBC can likely be moved onto the I/O–62 card itself.
The following two pages summarize the electrical characteristics of the I/

O for both the the I/O–62 and the connector panel.
2.1.3 System Network Architecture

Options
The RCP8 provides considerable flexibility for network operation. This
allows remote control and monitoring of the system from virtually
anywhere on the network, subject to the user's particular security
restrictions.
There are three basic types of workstations/computers to consider:
- RCP8 itself– this can be equipped with a local keyboard, mouse and
monitor.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 19
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
- Host Computer Radar Control Workstation (RCW)– this is

running the user's application software (e.g., the Vaisala, Inc. IRIS/
Radar™ software and utilities).
- Remote Workstation– a networked workstation used for remote
control and monitoring. This may be running only X—Windows or
additionally the user's application software or the IRIS application
software.
The RCP8 provides two types of physical interfaces:
- RS232C serial line interface– typically running at 9600 baud.

- Ethernet socket interface– at 10/100/1000 BaseT. The Vaisala
AntExport software provides a socket interface to other workstations
on the network.
- Native connection– here the RCP8 is used to run application software
locally. The local connection is via a FIFO interface.
Combining the different types of workstations and the physical interfaces,

Vaisala supports three different ways of connecting the RCP8 to a
network:
- Case 1: Standard Serial Line– the connection. between the RCP8

and the Host RCW.
- Case 2: Combined RCP8/RCW– To eliminate the need for a
separate host computer, the RCP8 and RCW can be run on the same
computer. Note that Vaisala can only guarantee the performance of
this configuration if the RCW is running the Vaisala IRIS software.
However, user's are free to run their own application software directly
on the RCP8.
- Case 3: TCPIP Socket– Ethernet connection between the RCP8 and
the Host RCW. (Support is pending for this feature)
These three cases are discussed in the following sections.
20 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
2.1.4 Case 1: Standard Serial Line

Interface
Standard Serial Line Interface
Mouse
Utilities Monitor
Keyboard
Local Host RCW

RS232C Serial Interface
Utilities
Remote Workstation
Utilities
0914-009
Figure 3 Network Architecture– Case 1: Standard Serial
Interface
This architecture is used for most applications. Note that this is the
identical architecture used for the previous generation RCP02. The access
by the remote computer assumes that there is sufficient band–with to
export an X—Window from the RCW. This typically requires at least 128
KBit/sec. Note that satellite links may have this band width, but their
latency will lead to slow X—Window export. In this case, it is better to use
the Case 3: Hybrid Serial/Socket approach.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 21
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
2.1.5 Case 2: Combined RCP8/RCW
Combined RCP8/RCW
Local Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor RCP8/RCW
Mouse Running
Utilities Monitor IRIS/Radar
Keyboard
and perhaps
AntExport
Remote Workstation
Utilities LAN or WAN TCPIP Netowrk
0914-010
Figure 4 Network Architecture– Case 2: Combined RCP8/RCW
Because of the speed of modern computers, the RCP8 and IRIS/Radar

software can be run on the same machine. In this case, access from a
remote workstation is done by X—Window export. In the case of a slow
link to the Remote Workstation, AntExport can be run on the RCP8/RCW
to service a low–speed connection to a remote workstation.
22 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
2.1.6 Case 3: Socket Interface Using

AntExport
Socket Interface Connections
Mouse
Utilities Monitor
Keyboard
TCPIP LAN
Running
AntExport
Local Host RCW
Utilities
Remote Workstation
Utilities
0914-011
Figure 5 Network Architecture– Case 3: Socket with AntExport
In this architecture the RCP8 runs AntExport to provide a socket

connection between the RCP8 and the Host computer. Note that any
computer on the network can, in theory, function as a direct controller of
the RCP8.
2.2 RCP8 Specifications
2.2.1 Antenna Control I/O and Features

- Approach: Digital position and velocity servos with interactive
software parameter tuning.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 23
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
- AZ/EL Position Input: TTL 16–bit binary angle, 14–bit BCD or 90V
60Hz synchro (nominal).
- AZ/EL Position Output: TTL 16–bit binary angle.
- AZ/EL Tachometer Input (if available): ± 70V signed analog input
voltage.
- Servo drive error: ± 10V analog output to AZ/EL servo amplifiers
- Servo Control/Status: On/Off control via TTL or switch closure
output. On/Off status via wide range input.
- Antenna: Local mode switch input, switch closure or TTL.
- Alternate Control Relay Signal: 12V output to external relays to
switch to alternate control such as handwheels when the antenna is in
local mode or shutdown state.
2.2.2 Fail–safe Antenna Protection

Features
- Elevation Soft Limits: Automatic software override brings antenna
to a gentle stop at the specified limits.
- Elevation Shutdown Limits: Antenna is placed in shutdown state if
the upper or lower limit is exceeded.
- Elevation Limit Switch Inputs: EL Hi/Low TTL or switch closure.
Antenna is placed in a shutdown state if a limit switch is encountered.
- Tachometer Check Watchdog: The calibrated tachometer is
compared to the differenced position for consistency. Shutdown is
invoked if the check fails. Protects against loss of tach or position
sensors.
- Antenna Response Watchdog: Based on an internal model of the
antenna inertia and damping moments, the response of the antenna to
drive output requests is checked for consistency. Shutdown is invoked
if the check fails. This protects the antenna from a jammed or broken
gear, or if equipment such as a scaffold is inadvertently hit by the
antenna.
- Antenna Maximum Speed Watchdog: Shutdown is invoked if the
specified maximum speed of the antenna is exceeded.
- Antenna Max Acceleration Limit: Based on the internal antenna
model, this check limits the drive output to stay within a specified
acceleration limit.
24 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
2.2.3 Optional Shipboard Stabilization

- Approach: Stabilization algorithms scan the antenna in earth
coordinates using AZ and EL velocity and position servos that are
adjusted for the pitch, roll and heading (and rates of change) of the
platform.
- Platform Motion Sensor Input: Pitch, roll heading and rates and
absolute platform position and velocity from inertial navigation
system such as the Honeywell MAPS system on SDLC serial line or
Seatex, Inc. Seapath 200 system on RS232C serial line. GPS update
and at–sea alignment are highly recommended for any INU system.
- Range of Operation: Typical 0 to 65ºelevation (earth relative) for up
to 15º of attitude change. Note: Antenna pedestal should be capable
of ~ -20º of elevation.
- Typical Performance: 0.1º of accuracy for elevation angles in the
range 0 to 65º for inclinations, up 15º over 10 second periods. Exact
performance depends on servo drive performance.
- Built–in Display Features: Selectable earth or pedestal relative AZ/
EL position and/or velocity.
2.2.4 Radar Status/Control I/O and

Features
- I/O Configuration: The softplane.conf file is used to configure the I/
O pin assignments to the Connector Panel. This virtually eliminates
the need for jumpers and custom wiring typical of legacy systems.
- Standard Status Wide Range Inputs: Servo Power, Antenna Local
Mode, Lower and Upper EL Limit switches, T/R power, T/R Local
Mode, Radiate Standby, Radiate on, Magnetron Current, Wave Guide
Pressure, Airflow, Interlock, external Reset input signal, Trigger
Blanking input signal and pulse width (up to four coded in two bits).
- Standard Control Outputs: These are wide range inputs or switch
closures to ground. Standard parameters are Servo power, T/R power
On/Off, Radiate On/Off (TTL or switch closure), Cabinet Relay,
Trigger Blanking, equipment Reset signal, and pulse width (up to four
bits).
- BITE I/O: Up to 60 TTL lines configurable in groups of 10 to be
either input or output lines. These are used for BITE/IO. Note that 100
additional lines can be added by adding a second I/O-62 card.
- Programmable Control Logics: User programmable status/control
logic actions in a flexible C–like programming interface. For
example, if the antenna radome is opened, the system can
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 25
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
automatically sound an alarm for a programmable time and

immediately de–radiate and stop the antenna.
2.2.5 Application Software for Test/

Monitoring
- antenna Utility: For control and monitoring of the antenna and
standard status and control parameters. Includes sun tracking feature
for antenna alignment check.
0914-012
Figure 6 Antenna and Bitex utility examples Bitex utility,
introduction
- bitex BITE Examiner Utility: For status monitoring and control of

BITE (built-in test equipment). Graphical backgrounds and control/
status widgets can be customized by the user, including quantitative
BITE from analog inputs.
26 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Socket Interface Connections
Mouse
Utilities Monitor
Keyboard
TCPIP LAN
Running
AntExport
Local Host RCW
Utilities
Remote Workstation
Utilities
0914-013
2.2.6 Vaisala I/O-62 PCI Card

- Short format PCI card with 62-position D connector. Multiple cards
may be installed.
- Includes D/A, A/D, discrete inputs and outputs (TTL, wide range,
RS422, etc.) See summary table below.
- Expandable I/O allows the addition of a second I/O-62 and Connector
Panel.
- I/O pin assignment mapping by softplane.conf file allows easy
reconfiguration of the pin assignments without need for custom
wiring.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 27
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
- ESD protection using Tranzorb™ silicon avalanche diode surge

suppression and high-voltage tolerant components.
Vaisala I/O-62 Summary of Electrical Interfaces

Qty Description
40 Lines configurable in groups of 8 to be either
inputs or outputs. The electrical specifications are
software defined within each group as follows:
- Single-ended TTL input or output with
software–configured pull-up or pull-down
resistors for inputs.
- Wide range inputs (±27VDC, threshold
+2.5VDC), often used for lamp voltage status
inputs.
- RS-422/485 @ 10 MBit/sec (requires two
lines each).
RS-422 receivers can be configured in

software to have 100-Ohm termination
between each pair.
8 A/D convertors configurable as 0, 4, or 8
convertors, ±2V, 12 bits @ 10 MHz, These lines
are shared with some of the 40 I/O lines listed
above.
2 D/A convertors, ±10V 1 MHz update rate, output
can drive a 75-Ohm load.
2 SPDT relays on the board. These are often used
for switching high power relays. Contacts are
diode protected.
2 RS-232C full duplex lines (Tx and Rx)
4 12V 75-Ohm trigger drivers.
2 Power/Ground pairs of 12V power (filtered, fused)
for external equipment or remote backpanel use
(up to 24 W total). Polyfuse technology acts like a
circuit breaker with auto reset in the event of an
overload.
8 Ground wires for signal grounds from the remote
back panel.
2.2.7 RCP8 Standard Connector Panel

- Mounts on front or rear of standard 19 EIA rack and connects to I/O-
62 via 1:1 62-pin 1.8-m cable (provided).
- 3 internal relays and 4 12V relay control signals for switching external
devices.
- Programmable pin assignments made in softplane.conf.
28 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
- Diagnostic power supply and self test LED's for troubleshooting.
RVP8 Connector Panel Summary

J-ID Label Type Description
J1 AZ INPUT DBF25 Up to 16–bits of parallel
TTL binary or BCD
angle
J2 AZ OUTPUT DBF25 Up to 16–bits of parallel
TTL binary angle in
earth coordinates.
J3 CONTROL DBF25 16 assignable digital
control/status lines and
two RS422 differential
lines. Default control
assignments are Pulse
Width (2 bits) Radiate
On, Radiate Off, Reset.
Default status
assignments are Pulse
Width (2 bits), Radiate,
Servo Power, Transmit
Power, Reset.
J4 EL INPUT DBF25 Up to 16–bits of parallel
TTL binary or BCD
angle
J5 EL OUTPUT DBF25 Up to 16–bits of parallel
TTL binary angle in
earth coordinates.
J6 RELAY DBF25 3 internal relays, contact
rating 0.5 A continuous.
The switching load is
0.25 A and 100V, with
the additional constraint
that the total power not
exceed 4VA.
4, 12V relay control
signals, up to 200mA.
(Note that external
relays should be
equipped with proper
diode protection to
shunt the back EMF).
J7 BITE 19:0 DBF25 20 additional TTL I/O
lines each configurable
to be input or output.
Used for BITE Status
and Control
J8 ANALOG IN DBF25 10 differential analog
inputs, up to ±20V max
multiplexed into A/D
convertor sampling
each at >1000 Hz.
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RVP8 Connector Panel Summary

J-ID Label Type Description
J9 PED/STATUS DBF25 AZ/EL Tachometer
Differential inputs (±2 to
70 VDC) and AZ/ EL
Drive outputs (±10
VDC). Additional status
inputs: Wave Guide
Pressure, Airflow,
Interlock, Mag Current,
Local Mode, Standby, El
Upper and Lower Limit
Switches.
J10 SERIAL DBF9 RS232C
J11 SERIAL DBF9 RS232C
J12 S–D Modular 3 x 4 matrix connector
for AZ and EL synchro
and reference inputs
(nominally 90V and 60
Hz).
J13 TP1 BNC Programmable scope
test point. 75 Ohms
J14/15 SPARE BNC
J16 TP2 BNC Programmable scope
test point. 75 Ohms
J17/18 SPARE BNC
2.2.8 Physical and Environmental

Characteristics
Packaging
- Motherboard Configuration 4U rackmount with 6 PCI slots

- Single Board Computer Configuration 4U rackmount with 14 PCI
slots
- Dimensions of standard 4U chassis
43.2 wide x 43.2 long x 17.8 cm high
17 wide x 17 long x 7.00 inch high
- Redundant Power Supplies. Three hot–swap modules with audio
failure alarm.
Input Power
- Main Chassis 60/50 Hz 115/230 VAC Manual switches for voltage

selection.
30 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Power Consumption
- Standard RCP8 120 Watts
Environmental
- Temperature 0C (32F) to 50C (122F)

- Humidity 0 to 95% non–condensing
Reliability
- MTBF>50,000 hours (based on actual RCP02 field data).
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 31
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32 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Chapter 3 _______________________________________________________ Hardware Installation
CHAPTER 3
HARDWARE INSTALLATION
In this chapter:
Overview and Power 3.1 Overview and Input

Requirements Power Requirements on
page 33
Initial Power-up 3.2 Initial Power–Up
Prior to Connecting to
Radar on page 34
RCP8 Chassis 3.3 RCP8 Chassis on
page 35
Connector Panel 3.4 RCP8 Connector
Panel on page 38
Host Computer 3.5 Host Computer
Interface Serial Interface on page
41
3.1 Overview and Input Power Requirements

This section describes how to install the RCP8 hardware. Topics include
mechanical installation and siting, electrical specifications of the interface
signals, system-level considerations and the standard connector panel that
is provided. There are three major modules supplied with the RCP8. These
are:
0914-014
Main Chassis Usually mounted in 19 EIA rack.
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Input Power 60/50 Hz 115/230 VAC Manual Switches
0914-015
I/O-62 Connector Panel
Usually mounted in 19 EIA rack within 1 m of Main Chassis
Much of the RCP8 I/O is configured via software. This makes the unit very
flexible. Also, since there is virtually no custom wiring, it is very easy to
insert spare modules and circuit cards. The software configuration of the I/
O is described in the softplane section of the Software Installation Manual.
This section, in conjunction with Appendix C, RVP8/RCP8 Packaging, on
page 183, describes the physical installation of the hardware.
WARNING The Main Chassis redundant power supplies are NOT auto-ranging like
the IFD. These are factory configured for the expected voltage, but should
be VERIFIED by the customer before power is applied to the system.
3.2 Initial Power–Up Prior to Connecting to

Radar
WARNING The RCP8 initial power-up should be done with no connections to the
radar to avoid possible damage to the antenna system before it has been
configured with the various safety parameters.
The very first time that the RCP8 is powered–up, caution must be
exercised to assure that no damage is done to the antenna system. The
reason for this is that the RCP8 needs to go through an antenna
stabilization procedure as described in Appendix B, Antenna Stabilization
Procedure, on page 179 before the fail-safe features can be activated.
The initial power-up procedure is as follows:
- Verify that the input line power to the RCP8 is correct as described in
C.1.3 Main Chassis Back Panel Power Section on page 191.
- Install the RCP8 in its rack on the slides provided by Vaisala per 3.3.2
Power Requirements, Size and Physical Mounting on page 36.
- Install the Connector Panel in the rack and cable it to the I/O-62 card
in the RCP8 using the 1.8 m (6 foot) cable provided by Vaisala per 3.4
RCP8 Connector Panel on page 38.
34 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
- mouse and monitor per 3.3.3 Main Chassis Direct Connections on

page 37. These shall be used for local diagnostic and configuration
work. They can be disconnected after the installation is completed.
- Disconnect ALL I/O from the connector panel for the initial power–
up. The various connectors will be installed later, one-at-a-time, and
then configured and tested using the procedure described in Appendix
B, Antenna Stabilization Procedure, on page 179.
- Turn on the monitor.
- Push the power–on button on the lower right of the front panel.
When the RCP8 is powered-up, the Linux operating system will boot-up
and the RCP8 software process will start automatically, first running a set
of diagnostic self-tests.. The progress of the boot can be monitored on the
local display. The front panel display will show the final results of the
diagnostics with Status:OK and a moving arrow that indicates that the
RCP8 is happily running.
At this point you you should prepare, but not connect the various cables
described in the following sections, then you are ready to go through the
alignment procedure described in Appendix B, Antenna Stabilization
Procedure, on page 179. You should first review the various TTY control
and monitoring commands in Chapter 4, TTY Menu Control and
Monitoring, on page 45 setup commands described in Chapter 5, TTY
Setup Menus, on page 61 since these will be used extensively in the
alignment procedure.
3.3 RCP8 Chassis
0914-016
3.3.1 RCP8 Chassis Overview

The RCP8 main chassis can assume a variety of forms depending on the
customer requirements. Appendix C, RVP8/RCP8 Packaging, on page 183
describes a standard Vaisala system. A typical unit supplied by Vaisala
contains at least the following:
- A dual CPU on either motherboard or SBC in a passive PCI backplane
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 35
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
- I/O-62 Card and Connector Panel
Note that additional I/O-62 cards and Connector Panels can be added to
expand the I/O capabilities of the system, along with standard PCI cards.
The system is also shipped with an integrated hard disk drive (HDD), 1.44
MB floppy (FDD) and CDRW unit. There is an LED display panel on the
front of the chassis that is used to report system status and display AZ and
EL angle information. Redundant hot swap power supply modules are
used.
3.3.2 Power Requirements, Size and

Physical Mounting
WARNING WARNING: The Main Chassis redundant power supplies are NOT auto-
ranging like the IFD. These are factory configured for the expected
voltage, but should be VERIFIED by the customer before power is
applied to the system.
There a three redundant power supplies
The standard Vaisala chassis is a 19 EIA 4U rackmount unit, 17 (43 cm)

deep. The chassis is usually mounted in an equipment rack on rack slides
(provided as standard). The Connector Panel is usually mounted on either
the front or the rear of the same rack. The standard cable provided to
connect the I/O-62 card in the main chassis to the connector panel is 6 feet
long (1.8 m).
36 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
3.3.3 Main Chassis Direct Connections
0914-017
The direct connections to the RCP8 chassis are made either to the back of
the unit to PCI cards (e.g., left) or to the remote connector panel. The direct
connections are summarized in the table below.
Note that the appearance of the system is different depending on whether

an SBC or motherboard is used. The card at the right shows the typical
appearance of the SBC version. C.1.4 Main Chassis Back Panel PC I/O
Section on page 192 shows the typical appearance of the motherboard
version
Table 1 Direct Connections to RCP8 Main Chassis

IFD I/O Summary
Connector Label Style Description
SBC or Motherboard Connections
Network RJ-45 10/100/1000 BaseT
TCP/IP
Keyboard PS/2 Standard PC
Keyboard
Mouse PS/2 Standard PC Mouse
Monitor VGA Standard PC Video
Monitor
Serial DBM9 Standard COM1 and
COM2 connections
are available on most
systems. COM1 is
typically used for
connection to an
external host
computer. The default
baud rate is 9600.
I/O-62 Connections
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 37
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Table 1 Direct Connections to RCP8 Main Chassis (Continued)

IFD I/O Summary
Connector Label Style Description
<no label> DB-62F Vaisala-supplied cable
to IO62/CP remote
panel
3.4 RCP8 Connector Panel
0914-018
Most of the connections between the radar and the RCP8 are made using
the RCP8 Connector Panel which connects to the I/O-62 by 1.8m (6 foot)
cable. The panel is usually mounted on the front or the back of the same 19
EIA rack that contains the RCP8 chassis. The I/O-62 cable may be plugged
into either the front or the back of the connector panel to optimize the cable
run.
The Connector Panel uses a DC–DC converter to convert 12V unregulated

input from the PCI card into regulated +5V, +3.3V, and ±12V to run the
main electronics on the panel. The LEDs on the panel are described below:
- EXT LED indicates that the 12V input power is present

- INT LED indicates that +3.3V is present
- GO LED indicates that the panel is properly communicating with the
PCI card. It will blink slowly when communication is absent and very
rapidly during the BRIEF times that the backpanel firmware are being
updated with an rdaflash command. It will be solid when the panel is
being used by the RCP8 software.
The pin assignments to the panel are actually configured in software using
the softplane.conf file. The labels reflect the default settings for the
softplane.conf file which is described in the Software Installation Manual.
The discussion in this section describes the default configuration as well as
how the connector pin assignments can be re–mapped to serve other
functions.
The specification table in 2.2.7 RCP8 Standard Connector Panel on page

28 provides a summary of the I/O for each connector. Detailed pin–out
38 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
assignments for the default configuration are given in C.2 I/O-62 and
Connector Panel on page 196. Descriptions of the various signals are
provided below.
J1 & J4- AZ/EL Input: TTL parallel angles
This connector has 20 digital inputs or outputs. In the default

softplane.conf file it is configured for input of 16–bit binary or 16–bit
BCD angles. Whenever antenna angle data are required, the RCP8 reads
the azimuth lines up to ten times in a row (spaced by 0.5 µsec) until two
successive values compare as equal. This de-bouncing is done so that
unsynchronized input data will be latched in a valid state. If after ten
retries, the lines were never observed in a consistent state, then the last
observed state is used. Sampling for elevation is identical.
If fewer than 16 bits are used for the binary angles, then the high order bits
should be connected (LSB on pin 1). If a wiring error is made, it is fairly
simple to correct it in the softplane.conf file (e.g., LSB and MSB
reversed).
The BCD format is as follows.
- Hundreds digit: Bits 12–15

- Tens digit: Bits 8–11
- Ones digit: Bits 4–7
- Tenths digit: Bits 0–3
For example, if the tenths digits are not used, bits 3–0 would be left
unconnected however, the wiring of the other BCD digits would remain
unchanged.
Remember, the higher-order digits must all be wired, even though the
elevation position may be constrained to a limited angle, for the elevation
axis. If this is not done, the negative angles will be read incorrectly. An
elevation of -0.1º must be input as 359.9º.
J2 & J5- AZ/EL Output: TTL parallel anglesAngle: TTL output
This connector has 20 digital inputs or outputs. In the default

softplane.conf file it is configured for output of a 16–bit TTL binary angle.
Detailed pin assignments are given in C.2 I/O-62 and Connector Panel on
page 196 This feature could output the parallel angles to a signal processor
such as the RVP7 or RVP8.
J3- Control:
16 lines can be used as differential RS422 or as single–ended TTL input or

output. In the default softplane.conf file it is configured for various
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 39
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standard Status and Control I/O. Configuration can be made in groups of 4

with regard to RS422 vs Single–ended, I/O sense and input termination of
single–ended lines. See the pin assignments in Appendix B, Antenna
Stabilization Procedure, on page 179 for details.
J6-RELAY: Control for external equipment
Note that the default softplane.conf file makes no assignments to this

connector. Often, external equipment in the radar will require relay control
(e.g., power on, radiate on, environmental systems, reset lines, slow
polarization switch). This connector has connections for 3 internal relays
that are on the connector panel itself. The maximum current through the
relay contacts is 0.5 A continuous. The switching load is 0.25 A and 100V,
with the additional constraint that the total power not exceed 4VA.
If larger current and voltage loads are required, then the connector panel
relays can be used to switch external relays provided by the customer.
Another alternative to power external relays is to use the additional 4, 12V
relay signals (up to 200mA) that are also supported on this connector.
WARNING Hazard: External relays must be equipped with proper diode protection
against back-EMF or damage to the I/O-62 and or the connector panel
might result.
J7 BITE: Configurable 20 lines of TTL I/O
This connector supports 20 lines of TTL each of which can be configured

as either input or output. The default softplane.conf file configures these to
be inputs. The inputs are multiplexed into the BITE message to the host
computer and can be used internally by the RCP8 in control logic
equations.
J8 SPARE: Analog Inputs
Note that the default softplane.conf file makes no assignments to this

connector. Ten differential analog inputs, up to ±20V max multiplexed into
a single A/D convertor sampling each at >1000 Hz. This can be used for
monitoring environmental systems at the radar site. Results are put into the
Q–BITE (quantitative BITE) message to the host computer. In addition,
the RCP8 can threshold the Q–BITE numerical values and use the logical
results in control logic equations.
J9- PED/STATUS: RS422 I/O, D/A and A/D
14/7 additional I/O-62 digital lines, 2 each dedicated (non–multiplexed) A/

D inputs (±70 V with pot adjust) and D/A outputs (±10V). For the digital
lines, configuration can be made in groups of 4 with regard to RS422 vs
40 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
single-ended, I/O sense and input termination of single-ended lines. In the

default softplane.conf file, this connector is configured for the differential
AZ/EL tachometer inputs, AZ/EL drive outputs and several status
variables.
J10-11: RS232C I/O
In the default softplane.conf file, these are not used. The two connectors
can be used for serial angle input. The most common format is the RCV01
format (see A.1 Serial Data Format on page 149), although custom formats
from antenna/pedestal manufacturers such as Orbit, Andrew and Scientific
Atlanta can also be supported. Note that J11 also has +12 V, -12 V and +5
V regulated power supply outputs for external equipment.
J12: S-D- AZ and EL synchro input
For systems that have AZ/EL synchro position sensors, the RCP8 can
accept direct synchro inputs. The nominal voltage and frequency are 90V
@ 60 Hz. S/D conversion is performed in the I/O-62.
J13,J16: TP1 & TP2- Programmable test point scope outputs
The default softplane.conf file makes no assignments to the test points and
other BNC connectors.
An exciting feature of the RCP8 is the programmable test points. These are
usually used to connect to an oscilloscope. The user can then specify what
is output to the test points in the form of an analog voltage for display on
the scope. This can be useful for example to observe the results of logic
equations.
The advantage of using the test points is that technicians can leave them
permanently connected to a rackmount oscilloscope and then select what
is displayed. This saves time and reduces cabling errors when switching
test cables.
J14, J15, J17, J18: SPARE- spare BNC connections
The default softplane.conf file makes no assignments to the test points and
other BNC connectors.
3.5 Host Computer Serial Interface

The RCP8 typically connects to a host computer via the COM1 RS232C
serial line. The default baud rate is 9600. The connector on the RCP8 is
located on the main chassis. On some systems, a null modem may be
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 41
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
required to connect to the host computer. On most systems, this is referred

to as /dev/ttyS0.
The serial line protocol is documented in A.1 Serial Data Format on page
149. It supports the following:
- Standard status packets from the RCP8 to the host computer (e.g.,
antenna angles and angular speed for AZ and EL, Interlock, Local
Mode Switch, etc.). Several formats are supported. The antenna utility
on the host computer provides the user interface for display and
testing.
- Standard control packets from the host to the RCP8 (e.g., position and
velocity servo requests, Radiate On, etc.). Several formats are
supported. The antenna utility on the host computer provides the user
interface for display and testing.
- Arbitrary BITE packets from the RCP8 to the host based on the
auxiliary status input bits. The bitex utility on the host computer
provides the user interface for display and testing.
- Arbitrary Control Packets from the host to the RCP8 to set the
auxiliary control output bits. The bitex utility on the host computer
provides the user interface for display and testing.
- Q-BITE packets from the RCP8 to the host computer. The bitex utility
on the host computer provides the user interface for display and
testing.
3.6 Socket Interface

The RCP8 can be configured to listen on a network port. It does this via a
program called AntExport. It is also ready to run some commands on the
RCP8 itself. The RCP8 comes with some built–in Vaisala supplied utilities
such as setup, antenna and bitex. These utilities are described in the IRIS
Utilities Manual.
How AntExport Works
AntExport is a daemon program which can be configured to run all the

time. When it receives a socket connection request it will establish a bi-
direction connection to the RCP8. The remote client is normally another
computer running the Vaisala antenna library. This remote library contains
internal state storing current information about the antenna. This state will
be slaved to the RCP8 state. To see if it is running on your RCP8, try typing
$ ps –aef | grep DspExport
42 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
During development, it can always be started up manually by typing

AntExport at a shell prompt. It can be started with the –v option for move
detailed logging. It defaults to using port 30745. If you wish to use another
port, start it with an option such as –port:12345. The command line option
–help lists these options.
Source Examples
The source code for AntExport and for the antenna library is supplied on
the RCP8 release cdrom. This can be optionally installed as part of the
upgrade procedure as discussed in the Software Installation Manual. You
will find AntExport in ${IRIS_ROOT}utils/antenna, and you will find the
antenna library in ${IRIS_ROOT}libs/antenna. In the library, you will find
example code which talks to AntExport in file ant_iosubs.c, ant_rcv.c and
iant_pwrp.c. Search for the string SOCKET.
Socket protocol
The socket interface basically transmits to the remote system all

commands changing state on the local system. These are all in the form of
a sync character, followed by a single byte count, followed by an ASCII
command.
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44 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Chapter 4 _____________________________________________ TTY Menu Control and Monitoring
CHAPTER 4
TTY MENU CONTROL AND
MONITORING
The TTY menus cover two important features of the RCP8:
- System configuration- discussed in Chapter 5, TTY Setup Menus, on

page 61.
- Local control and monitoring- discussed in this section.
The initial test and configuration of the RCP8 is made using the TTY
menus on the local keyboard, mouse and monitor. These menus can also
be accessed remotely over the network.
In this chapter:
Starting the TTY Menus 4.1 Starting the TTY

Menus on page 45
Main Menu 4.2 The TTY Main Menu
on page 46
Help Commands 4.3 The TTY Help Menu
on page 47
Monitor Commands 4.4 The TTY MONITOR
Command on page 48
Reset Command 4.5 TTY RESET
Command on page 59
4.1 Starting the TTY Menus

There are different ways to start the TTY menus, depending on your
hardware configuration.
$ rcp8 –int
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
To start the menus :
$ antx
This special mode is supported by the Vaisala IRIS software and uses spare
bandwidth, on the existing host computer serial or network interface, to
allow the user to converse with the RCP8 from an XTERM window. After
the initial stabilization and setup, this is the preferred method of using the
TTY menus since the "chat" mode can be started up remotely and does not
require additional hardware or cabling.
In either case, hitting "Enter" will get you to the RCP8 TTY menu prompt:
RCP>
4.2 The TTY Main Menu

The Main menu represents the top level of communication between the
RCP8 and the user in the TTY Setups. All setup, monitor, and control
functions can be accessed through this menu.
The example on the following page represents the Main menu as it appears
on the TTY screen:
RCP> help
Available Commands:
Axis <AZ><EL> General Axis Setup

Control <Lines><Logic> Control outputs
Help <Support><Listall><View> Help text (also ’?’)
INU Inertial Navigation Unit
Monitor <Ang><INU><SIO><Sta><Con> Live TTY monitor
Pservo <AZ><EL> Position Servo Variables
Reset <#Seconds> Reset from Shutdown
Restore <Factory><Saved><Undo> Restore settings
Save Save settings
Site <Disp><Host><Custom><Misc> Local Site setups
Status Status Input Lines
Vservo <AZ><EL> Velocity Servo Variables
To make a selection, type the appropriate command followed by any

additional keywords or numerical values. Remember, many of the
commands may require additional information.
The DELETE and BACKSPACE keys may be used to correct

typographical errors however, all invalid selections will result in a
diagnostic message followed by a beep. To simplify typing, all commands
and keywords may be abbreviated to a short, unambiguous prefix.
46 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Many of the commands relate to the setup and calibration of the RCP8, as
described in Chapter 5, TTY Setup Menus, on page 61. The remainder of
this section describes the control and monitoring features, i.e., the
following commands:
- Help <Support><Listall><View>
- Monitor <Ang><INU><SIO><Sta><Con>
These provide access to the monitoring and local control functions of the
RCP8.
4.3 The TTY Help Menu
4.3.1 TTY Help Support Command

The following example demonstrates how the "HELP" command is
invoked using "support" as the identifying keyword.
RCP> help support

Vaisala Technical Support Avenues
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
E–Mail: helpdesk@vaisala.com
US–Mail: 7A Lyberty Way, Westford, MA 01886 USA
Internet: www.vaisala.com
Phone: (978) 692–9234 (Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm EST)
FAX: (978) 692–9575 (All hours)
4.3.2 TTY Help View Command

This version of "HELP" is used to view internal status and configuration
that is not easily visible from other RCP8 commands.
RCP> help view

Board Configuration and Status
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
RCP8 Radar Control Processor V11.6 IRIS–8.11.6P2
Settings were last saved using V11.6
RCP8 started at: 11:57:30 13 FEB 2008
Current time is: 11:57:46 13 FEB 2008
Physical hardware inventory:

Found PCI Card I/O–62 – Rev.B:1 Serial:2273 Code:30 (/dev/
rda/io62–0)
\––> IO62CP Backpanel – Rev.B:1 Serial:2019 Code:4
( Supply Currents – Panel: 918 mA, Relays: –8 mA )
Parallel execution threads:

CS–Tick – PID:3830 Priority:12 Policy:RealTimeRR
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 47
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Servos – PID:3830 Priority:12 Policy:RealTimeRR

Watchdog – PID:3830 Priority:11 Policy:RealTimeRR
Host–RCV – PID:3830 Priority:11 Policy:RealTimeRR
Host–XMT – PID:3830 Priority:11 Policy:RealTimeRR
Host–NET – PID:3830 Priority:11 Policy:RealTimeRR
Shared library build dates:

RCP8/Core: Tue Feb 12 16:39:52 EST 2008
RCP8/Open: Tue Feb 12 16:39:55 EST 2008
RCP8/Site: Sat Feb 9 12:59:15 EST 2008
AZ Axis – Pos: 0.00 Off: –0.00 Vel: 0.0

EL Axis – Pos: 0.00 Off: –0.00 Vel: 0.0
The various sections of the listing include:
- The board and code revision levels, and the date and time that the code
was compiled. The date is useful in distinguishing beta test versions
that may be released from time to time.
- An inventory of all of the PCI cards that are being used.
- A list of all the threads currently running.
- Current angle offsets that are being added to the parallel or synchro
angle inputs. This value generally comes from the "Axis" setup
command; but in some cases it may be supplied by external
equipment.
4.4 The TTY MONITOR Command

The "MONITOR" command provides a live display of changing
parameters within the RCP8. Several different types of displays can be
selected, but all consist of a line of information that is continually retyped
on the same position of the TTY screen. For terminals operating at 2400
baud or faster, the effect is similar to that of a stationary format display
where each value is kept up-to-date.
User commands may be input while the monitor display is running. The
effect is as if the TTY cursor were located to the right of the text and the
characters appeared in the usual manner. Since the entire status line is
continually being retyped, the implementation of these echoed characters
is somewhat more complicated. The DELETE and BACKSPACE keys can
still be used to correct errors and the ENTER key terminates the input.
When a valid command is input, the screen will scroll up a line and the
status display will continue to be printed on the following line. A history
of the commands that have been typed is thereby preserved. With this in
mind, a blank line is one of the more useful commands. This no-operation
command allows the display to scroll in an upward motion. It also creates
48 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
a sequential record of observations on the TTY screen, thus allowing the

information to be written down at a later time. This is an important feature
for calculating the initial measurements of the antenna dynamics as
required for the position and velocity servos.
Invalid commands will erase all command characters; the TTY will beep,
and no scrolling will occur.
After many commands are typed, the initial heading will eventually scroll
off the top of the screen. Entering the "." command will automatically
retype the heading line, and the status display will continue under it as
before. The "." command can prevent the misinterpretation of an unlabeled
line of numerical information.
To exit from the monitor command, use the ESC key or the "QUIT"
command. Either one will cause an immediate return to the Main menu.
Alternate data displays are usually available within each monitor

command. Use the "ALT" command to toggle through the different
displays, and the "MAIN" command to quickly return to the default
presentation. If you exit from a monitor while an alternate display was in
use, you will automatically be returned to that display upon reentering.
4.4.1 TTY Antenna Monitor and Control

The RCP8 can display most of the important real-time antenna parameters
on the local TTY screen and can request antenna motion through a simple
command interface. This local control and monitoring capability is
primarily intended for use during the initial installation and testing of the
RCP8. The features, however, are so simple to use, it could also form the
basis of a "front panel" for the manual antenna control.
The local antenna monitor is entered by typing "monitor angles" from the
Main menu.
NOTE Note: The "MONITOR" command may be abbreviated to its unique first
letter. The term "angles" is the default value of an optional keyword;
typing a single letter "m" would also work.
An initial heading is printed, followed by repeated lines of numerical text

in the following manner:
RCP> monitor angles

AZ–Pos AzTach Az–Vel AzDrv EL–Pos ElTach El–Vel ElDrv Time
–––––– –––––– –––––– ––––– –––––– –––––– –––––– ––––– ––––
141.21 34.81 8.37 32.7 12.01 0.00 0.00 0.0 3.42
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 49
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The displayed values are interpreted as:
AZ-Pos / EL-Pos
The Azimuth (AZ) position is unsigned and displayed in a 0 to 360º range.

The Elevation (EL) position is signed and operates from -180 to +180º.
AZTach / ELTach
The AZ and EL tachometer levels represent 12-bit, A/D converter samples

scaled to a range from - 100 to + 100.
AZ-Vel / EL Vel
The AZ and EL velocity are computed as the end-product of the

tachometer samples with a calibration slope for each axis. If there is no
hardware tachometer then the position is differenced to obtain a virtual
tachometer. Note that for the virtual tach, the internal dynamic antenna
model is used for interpolation.
AZDrv / ELDrv
The AZ and EL motor drive represents 12-bit, D/A converter values scaled
to a range from - 100 to + 100.
Time
The seconds counter increments from zero to 10 with 0.01 second

resolution. These values are included so the elapsed time, between
displayed lines, can be easily measured. It is useful when manually
calculating the antenna dynamic parameters.
4.4.1.1 Commands Recognized by the Angle Monitor

The following commands are available within the angle monitor:
Angle Monitor Commands:

azd / eld <#> Set AZ/EL drive (D–Units)
azp / elp # Set AZ/EL position (degrees)
azt / elt <#> Set AZ/EL velocity (Tach–Units)
azv / elv <#> Set AZ/EL velocity (deg/sec)
Alt Switch among alternate presentations
Main Back to primary presentation
Reset <#> Reset from Shutdown (Unsafe sec)
. Reprint header labels
The following commands are used to set up particular drive levels, or

alternatively to start up one of the internal servos, for both the azimuth and
50 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
the elevation axes. The range of - 100 to +100 represent the digital value
that is applied to the output D/A converters.
- Use the "ad" or "ed" commands, followed by a number in the range of

- 100 to +100, to output a given motor drive.
- Use the "ap" or "ep" commands, followed by the desired angle in
degrees (º), to move the antenna to a fixed position.
The host computer serial interface will continue to control the RCP8 until
a command that moves the antenna is typed on the TTY screen. The RCP8
will remain under the terminal's control until until the local monitor mode
has been exited.
NOTE Important: The terminal may be used as a monitor however, do not input
those commands that will seize control from the host computer.
If commands are used to move the antenna, checks are usually performed
that restrict the antenna's travel to ensure the soft limits (lower and upper)
are not exceeded. The checks are done by executing the position servo
"silently" in the background using the two soft limits as target points. If the
present motor drive does not rest in between the calculated drives, then the
drive is automatically overridden by either one of those values. This is a
safety measure designed to prevent the antenna from running into its stops.
4.4.1.2 Alternate Display for Shipboard Platforms

The following alternate format is useful when moving platform
stabilization is performed. This allows the user to compare the Pedestal and
the Earth angles as the orientation of the platform changes.
Ped AZ/EL Earth AZ/EL Earth Vel Roll Pitch Head

––––––––––––– ––––––––––––– ––––––––––––– –––––– –––––– –––
–––
294.70 –0.98 359.72 9.43 –0.01 4.00 –7.99 –7.76 65.88
Ped AZ/EL
This represents the Pedestal position angles in degrees (º).
Earth AZ/EL
This represents the Earth position angles in degrees (º).
Earth Vel
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This represents the Earth AZ and EL angular velocities in degrees/seconds

(º/sec).
Roll/Pitch/Head
This represents the Roll, Pitch, and Heading angles of the moving platform
in degrees (º).
4.4.1.3 Alternate Display of Antenna Dynamics

The following alternate format prints several derived parameters
pertaining to the dynamic properties of each antenna axis. Only one axis is
displayed at a time. The azimuth axis printout is shown below, but the
alternate display for the elevation axis is identical.
AZ–Pos AzTach AzDrv T–Cal/Vel/Ratio T–Dot T–Err I–Mom

Time
–––––– –––––– ––––– –––––––––––––––––––– –––––– ––––– –––––
––––
359.95 –11.67 –2.3 –13.72 –3.25 1.013 2.86 –1.0 2.81
5.29
AZ-Pos
The represents the Pedestal position angle in degrees (º).
AzTach
The represents the Pedestal tachometer levels, scaled to - 100 to + 100 T-

Units
AzDrv
The represents the Pedestal drive signals, scaled to - 100 to + 100 D-Units.
T-Cal / Vel / Ratio
The tachometer calibration values consist of a one-second averaged

tachometer calibration level (T-units) and a computed actual velocity
based on various positions (º/sec). Both of these numbers define the map
from the tachometer T-units to velocities (º/sec). The slope ratio, implied
by the current values to the stored slope from the axis menu, is displayed.
This ratio should be very close to 1.000 for all rates of rotation. The
antenna must be in motion for these values to be valid.
T—Dot / T—Err / I-Mom
52 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
The time derivative of the tachometer (i.e. the acceleration) is displayed in

T-units/sec followed by the extrapolated tachometer error in T-units, based
on a 2.5-second integration of an internal antenna model. This tachometer
error is the basis of an unresponsive antenna check that is continually
executed in the background. The antenna's instantaneous moment of
inertia is displayed in D-units and T-units/sec. The antenna must be
accelerating for these values to be valid.
Time
The seconds counter increments from 0 to 10 with 0.01 second resolution.

These values are included in order to easily measure the elapsed time
between display lines.
4.4.2 TTY Serial I/O Monitor

This display is provided as an aid to debug the serial interface with the host
computer. The TTY screen displays the I/O activity and the interpretation
of the commands being sent to the RCP8. The serial I/O monitor is entered
by typing "monitor sio" from the Main menu.
RCP> monitor sio

Ch/Rec In Time Err Ch/Rec Out AZ–Pos AZ–Vel EL–Pos EL–
Vel
–––––––––––– –––– ––– –––––––––––– –––––––––––––– –––––––––
–––––
154867 11002 0.2 3 698660 11342 0.00 P 0.00 0.00 P 0.00
Ch/Rec In
The character input count represents the total number of characters

received. The valid record count represents the number of properly
formatted packets received.
Time
The time represents the time since the last valid record was received (sec).
Err
The error count represents the total number of improperly formatted

packets received.
Ch/Rec Out
The character output count represents the total number of characters and
packets transmitted.
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 53
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AZ-Pos/AZ-Vel
This represents the requested azimuth position and azimuth velocity and
are always displayed regardless of the servo type. The letter "P," in the
center of the two values, represents the position servo.
Other letters that may appear include:
- "V" — velocity servo,

- "D" — direct motor drive, and
- "X" — disabled.
EL-Pos/EL-Vel
This represents the requested elevation position and velocity and has the
same format as for azimuth.
4.4.2.1 Commands Recognized by the Serial I/O

Monitor
If command characters are typed by the user while the TTY screen displays
the status text, these characters will be echoed at the right side of the
screen. The commands that are available within the Serial I/O Monitor are:
SIO Monitor Commands:

Alt Switch among alternate presentations
Ri/Ro Host computer record In/Out monitor
Main Back to primary presentation
Zero Clear SIO counters
. Reprint header labels
4.4.2.2 Alternate Displays of Raw SIO Records

The "Ri" and "Ro" subcommands may be used to view the incoming and
outgoing raw serial traffic with the host computer. This can be very helpful
when debugging interface problems at either end. The data are shown in
hexadecimal format, one (variable length) record per line. Note that the
only data shown are character sequences that 1) begin with a byte with
MSB set but not equal to 0xFF, 2) end with 0xFF, and 3) have MSBs clear
in all intermediate bytes. Examples are shown below.
Incoming Records from Host Computer

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
80 00 00 00 00 00 0A 00 0F 00 00 00 00 FF
80 00 00 00 00 00 0A 00 0F 00 00 00 00 FF
C0 01 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF
80 00 00 00 00 00 0A 00 0F 00 00 00 00 FF
C0 4D FF
54 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
80 00 00 00 00 00 0A 00 0F 00 00 00 00 FF
Outgoing Records to Host Computer

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 24 30 FF
80 00 00 00 00 7F 7F 00 00 10 00 00 00 34 33 FF
C0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 FF
C0 01 7F 7F 7F 7F 7F 7F 3F 00 00 00 FF
80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 4B 36 FF
C0 4D FF
80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 34 65 FF
4.4.3 TTY Inertial Navigation Unit Monitor

This display provides a view of the data stream arriving from an optional
Inertial Navigation Unit (INU). The INU monitor is entered by typing
"monitor inu" from the Main menu.
RCP> monitor inu

Roll Pitch Head R.Dot P.Dot H.Dot Time Date
–––––– –––––– –––––– ––––– ––––– ––––– –––––––– –––––––––––
–1.04 4.74 345.96 0.6 3.1 8.3 00:27:58 1–Jan–1998
Roll / Pitch / Head
These represent the attitude angles in degrees (º).
R.Dot / P.Dot / H.Dot
These represent the rates of change of attitude angles in degrees (º) /

second.
Time / Date
The time and date, using whatever time zone has been set for the INU.
4.4.3.1 Alternate INU Monitor Presentations

You may switch to the following alternate presentation by typing "alt":
Latitude Longitude Height N.Vel E.Vel Z.Vel Char/Err Rec/Err

––––––––– ––––––––– –––––– ––––– ––––– ––––– –––––––– –––––
––
42 31.0N 71 2.4W 40.9 10.0 3.0 0.5 0 0 161 0
Latitude / Longitude / Height
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 55
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
These represent the physical location. Latitude and Longitude are in

degrees and minutes, with N/S and E/W indicating the sign. Height is in
meters relative to sea level.
N.Vel / E.Vel / Z.Vel
These represent the linear velocities in meters/second the North, East, and
Up directions.
Char/Err and Rec/Err
These are the counts of the number of characters and records received, and
the number of character and record errors that have been detected. A
character error is a framing or parity error, whereas a record error results
from an invalid CRC checksum in a record of data. The record count
should increase at a rate of approximately 100 records/second when INU
data are being received correctly. You may use the "zero" subcommand to
clear these counters so that changes are easier to spot.
4.4.4 TTY Status Line Monitor

This display provides a concise view of all of the status input lines that are
sensed by the RCP8. The status line monitor is entered by typing "monitor
status" from the Main menu.
RCP> monitor status
Hardware Electrical Inputs
Locl Pw1 Pw0 Rad Srv T/R Stby Intr Mag Air WGp Res ElLO ElHI
IRIS
On
The characters "—" will be printed under each status input that is not being
used. For the used inputs, the word "ON" will be printed if the line is
asserted, and blank space will appear if the line is not asserted.
You may switch to the following alternate presentation by typing "alt".

Now, the internal status of each condition is displayed. This is different
from the condition of the hardware input line in that the status may be
coming from another source, or may be spoofed from the requested
control.
RCP Internal Status
Locl Pw1 Pw0 Rad Srv T/R Stby Intr Mag Air WGp Res ElLO ElHI
IRIS
56 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
ON 000
Lastly, if auxiliary status lines have been enabled, then you may switch to
the following bit presentation by typing "alt". In the following example,
four bytes of optional status have been selected via the "site custom" menu.
High inputs are shown as a "1", and low inputs are shown as a "." (rather
than as "0", to make the string more readable at a glance).
Auxiliary Status Inputs

S[31:24] S[23:16] S[15:08] S[07:00]
–––––––– –––––––– –––––––– ––––––––
11111111 11111111 11111111 1111111.
The "Monitor Status" command uses the "/" subcommand to toggle

between the requested and qualified versions of the primary and auxiliary
status bits, as well as the direct hardware inputs themselves. The
distinction between requested and qualified status bits exists because the
status bits can appear on the left side of logic equations (See 5.8.2 Logic
Equation Control Qualifiers on page 118).
4.4.5 TTY Control Request Monitor

This display provides a concise view of all of the control functions that
might be handled by the RCP8. The control request monitor is entered by
typing "monitor control" from the Main menu.
The primary control functions that have been externally requested (usually
from the host computer) are shown in the following display:
Requested Primary Control Bits

Pw1 Pw0 Rad Srv T/R Res IRIS
––– ––– ––– ––– ––– ––– ––––
ON 000
The qualified state of each control function can be viewed by the "/"
subcommand.
The display now shows the actual control state, which may be different
from the requested state if any internal logic equations are overriding the
request (See 5.8.2 Logic Equation Control Qualifiers on page 118
Qualified Primary Control Bits

Pw1 Pw0 Rad Srv T/R Res IRIS
––– ––– ––– ––– ––– ––– ––––
ON ON 000
Note that "/" works as a toggle between the requested and qualified states
of whatever control variables are being shown. This makes it easy to
compare the bits, and to verify that custom logic equations are
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 57
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
implemented correctly. The "alt" subcommand may be used to switch to

the following display of requested auxiliary control bits:
Requested Auxiliary Control Bits
C[63:56] C[55:48] C[47:40] C[39:32] C[31:24] C[23:16]

C[15:08] C[07:00]
........ ........ ........ ........ ........ 11......

1....... ........
from which the "/" subcommand can switch to the qualified states:
Qualified Auxiliary Control Bits
C[63:56] C[55:48] C[47:40] C[39:32] C[31:24] C[23:16]

C[15:08] C[07:00]
........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........

1....... ........
Lastly, the sixteen local logic variables are shown in the following "alt"
display.
Local Variables
V[15:08] V[07:00]
........ ........
4.4.6 TTY Internal LOG Monitor

This display allows you to view the RCP8's internal log of data and events.
The control request monitor is entered by typing "monitor control" from
the Main menu. If log entries already exist when the command is typed,
you will see a message resembling:
RCP8 System and Event LOG
----------------------------------------
There are 27 saved entries – DELETE ?
You may type "Yes" to delete the old entries if they have already been
seen, or if they are known to be unimportant. But beware — deleted entries
can not be recovered and will never be seen again. In general, you should
simply type <Enter> to view and preserve the saved entries. If you want a
permanent record of the log, be sure that you can archive the printed lines
58 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
from the X–Terminal that is running, for example, "antcheck –chat". After
printing these old log entries you will see the message:
Flush this saved LOG and enter live update mode? n
Typing "Yes" will delete the entries that were just printed, and the monitor
will enter its live update mode in which new log entries are printed (and
discarded) immediately. Typing any key during live update mode will
return to the top level "RCP>" prompt.
The depth of the log is eighty entries; when the log fills up, additional
entries can not be added and are discarded. If this has happened, you will
see an initial message such as:
WARNING: There have been 58 missed LOG entries
Each entry of the printed log begins with a banner such as:
-------- # 27 Time: 4626.554 sec --------- (Angle Glitch)
This indicates that we have the twenty-seventh log entry, the time of the
entry (in seconds since the RCP8 was booted), and the type of entry. One
or more additional lines will follow with the specific data for this type of
log entry.
4.4.7 TTY Analog Voltage Input Monitor

The command "Monitor ADC" may be used to view the sampled voltage
on each of the eight analog input lines. An internal loop-back measurement
of the AZ and EL drive output voltages is also included. A sample printout
is shown below; all values are displayed in Volts.
RCP> monitor adc

Analog Input Lines (Volts relative to GND)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AzRef ElRef
––––– ––––– ––––– ––––– ––––– ––––– ––––– ––––– ––––– –––––
0.92 4.04 –3.12 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.22 0.00
4.5 TTY RESET Command

The RCP8 continually performs antenna consistency checks to guard
against faults that might damage the mechanical system. Whenever such
conditions are detected, the RCP8 will immediately enter a shutdown state
and a flashing error message will appear on the front panel display.
The following list represents the three ways a shutdown state can be exited:
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 59
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
- Turn the power on and off

- use a suitable command from the host computer (e.g., "reset" in the
antenna utility, or
- type the local TTY command "reset."
The "RESET" command provides a restore capability that is more graceful

than cycling the power. This can also be executed remotely using antcheck
–chat.
WARNING Warning: The cause of the shutdown must be determined and corrected
before attempting to restore system operation.
The local "RESET" command may be followed by an optional numerical

value between zero and 10. This value represents the number of seconds
that a shutdown will be inhibited following the reset, with a default value
of one second. This brief lockout period is designed to assist with the
antenna's reposition so the shutdown condition can be remedied—rather
than a repeat of the shutdown—immediately following the reset. For
example, if the antenna has contacted a limit switch, the user can issue brief
drive commands and attempt to move the antenna away from its limit.
The RCP8 will only shut down when it has control of the antenna. When
the external LOCAL status input forces the RCP8 into local mode, it will
not shutdown even if the velocity limits are exceeded or if the tachometer
signals are inconsistent with angular positions. Once control is returned to
the RCP8, the operator must ensure that no shutdown criteria is pending
prior to the switch-over.
The "RESET" command always places the controller into its momentary
"unsafe" condition regardless of whether the RCP8 is shutdown at the time
the command is received. This allows the command to be used when
attempting to exit from stuck conditions; including those times when the
RCP8 has not actually shutdown.
NOTE Note: The "local" status places no restrictions on exiting from the
shutdown state — only on entering it. Therefore, the "reset" command is
always effective.
The "RESET" command causes a soft internal reset, i.e., the shutdown
state is cleared and the RCP8 continues running smoothly. In some cases,
however, the RCP8 may require a more drastic restart in this case, Vaisala
recommends that you reboot the system. Alternatively the following
commands can be used:
60 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Chapter 5 _________________________________________________________ TTY Setup Menus
CHAPTER 5
TTY SETUP MENUS
This section describes how to configure the RCP8 software parameters to

match the particular specifications of each radar site. These parameters are
stored on the hard disk drive in a file called /usr/sigmet/config/rcp8.conf.
This ASCII file is convenient for backup and restore. For diagnostic work
and trouble shooting, Vaisala may request that a copy of this file be
emailed to us.
This section serves as a general reference for the Antenna Stabilization

Procedure described in Appendix B, Antenna Stabilization Procedure, on
page 179. Note that Vaisala recommends that only trained personnel be
permitted to perform antenna stabilization. Training should include basic
knowledge of the theory of servo operation (Chapter 6, Theory of Servo
Operation, on page 135) as well as the procedures for using the RCP8 TTY
menus (this Chapter). Vaisala offers training to those customers who wish
to perform antenna stabilization.
WARNING Disclaimer: In no event shall Vaisala be liable for any damage to the
antenna/pedestal system that may occur during stabilization
configuration performed by the customer.
In this chapter:
Using the SETUP Menus 5.1 Using the SETUP Menus on

page 62
Summary of TTY Setups 5.2 Summary of Setup TTY
Configuration Parameters on page
63
The "SAVE" and "RESTORE" 5.3 The SAVE and RESTORE
Commands Commands on page 74
The "SITE" Command 5.4 The SITE Command on page 74
The "AXIS" Command 5.5 The AXIS Command on page
100
VAISALA _______________________________________________________________________ 61
User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
The "VSERVO" Command 5.6 The VSERVO Command on page

111
The "PSERVO" Command 5.7 The PSERVO Command on page
116
The "CONTROL" Command 5.8 The CONTROL Command on
page 118
The "STATUS" Command 5.8.7 The STATUS Command on
page 132
The "INU" Command 5.8.8 The INU Command on page
132
5.1 Using the SETUP Menus

The configuration parameters are setup in an interactive fashion with the
use of the TTY. To change a parameter setting, refer to the summary
dialogs on the following pages to determine the general category in which
the parameter appears. Then, choose that category from the Main Menu.
Additional information and prompts will be typed as appropriate. The
parameter values will be displayed for each category and the RCP8 will
pause for the input.
For each question, the parameter values are displayed then paused to allow
the user to respond:
- If the current value is correct, press ENTER.

- If a new value is required, enter the new value. Be careful to enter the
numeric values in the proper physical units. For example, do not input
the time in seconds if the question is expecting the time in minutes.
The RCP8 will then display the expected units with each question.
Once ENTER is pressed, the RCP8 echoes the new value to verify that
it has been correctly entered. If the new value is correct, press ENTER
again to proceed to the next parameter.
- Type "up" or "u", and the SETUP menu will return to the previous
question.
- Type "quit" or "q" to exit a submenu and return to the top level
"RCP>" prompt.
When all of the questions have been answered, or if the "QUIT" command
is entered, the RCP8 will run the new values and return to the command
prompt. The user may select another SETUP menu command or the user
may run the RCP8 with its new settings to verify that the changes are
correct. When you are satisfied with the changes, use the "SAVE"
command to make the settings permanent.
62 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
NOTE Note: The ESC key retains its general meaning and provides a single
keystroke method of exiting the SETUP menus, as well as all other menu
levels, within the RCP8.
5.2 Summary of Setup TTY Configuration

Parameters
Below is a list of all configuration parameters and their factory default
values.
"HELP VIEW" Command Summary Dialogs
(Help View) – Board Configuration and Status
--------------------------------------------
RCP8 Radar Control Processor V12.4 IRIS–8.12.4A
Settings were last saved using V12.3
RCP8 started at: 16:56:22 24 JUN 2009
Current time is: 16:56:25 24 JUN 2009
No SIGMET PCI cards are being used
Parallel execution threads:
CSTick PID:17643 Priority:12 Policy:RealTimeRR
Servos PID:17643 Priority:12 Policy:RealTimeRR
Watchdog PID:17643 Priority:11 Policy:RealTimeRR
HostRCV PID:17643 Priority:11 Policy:RealTimeRR
HostXMT PID:17643 Priority:11 Policy:RealTimeRR
HostNET PID:17643 Priority:11 Policy:RealTimeRR
Shared library build dates:
RCP8/Core: Thu Jun 18 17:08:37 EDT 2009
RCP8/Open: Thu Jun 18 17:08:57 EDT 2009
RCP8/Site: Thu Jun 18 17:08:32 EDT 2009
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AZ Axis – Pos: 0.00 Off: -30.00 Vel: 0.0
EL Axis – Pos: 0.00 Off: -0.00 Vel: 0.0
"SITE DISPLAY" Command Summary Dialogs
(Site Display) – Front Panel Display Setups
--------------------------------------------------
Available Front Panel Display Templates
TB ) --AZ-- --EL-- Title Bar

EP1) 123.45 Earth 23.46 AZ/EL Earth
Positions
EP2) 123.45 Pos 23.46
EP3) 123.45 AZ/EL 23.46
PP ) 123.45 Ped 23.46 AZ/EL Pedestal
Positions
PV ) 12.00 Ped.V 0.00 AZ/EL Pedestal
Velocities
EV1) 12.00 Geo.V 0.00 AZ/EL Earth
Velocities
EV2) 12.00 Vel 0.00
CMD) 12.00 V Cmd P 10.50AZ/EL Servo
Commands
RTS) Rad:On T/R:-- Radiate, T/R, and
Srv:On Servo
HRP) 123.4H -12.3R 23.1PHeading, Roll,
Pitch
LL ) 148 24.5W 42 35.2N Longitude /
Latitude
TM ) 17:22:35 3–Feb–1996Time and Date
SS1) Status:OK Status
SS2) Status:OK –<-->–
VAR) 0000 0000 0000 0000Local Variables
DRCP) Di/-- Ok/Ok --/On Dual/Redundant
Au State
Enc) Encdr A:Ok E:Ok Shaft Encoder cal
status
XX ) Blank Line
Top display line template: XX
Bottom display line template: XX
64 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Show hundredths digit in AZ position: NO
Show hundredths digit in EL position: YES
Show hundredths digit in AZ velocity: NO
Show hundredths digit in EL velocity: NO
Front panel display update time: 0.200 sec
User shutdown #1 text: 'User–Shutdown #1 '
"SITE HOST" Command Summary Dialogs
(Site Host) – Host Computer Setups
-----------------------------------------
Connection type for host computer I/O: Network
Multicast address : 224.0.0.3
Port number: 30785
Network interface : lo
Data format transmitted by host computer: XMT02
Dead–Host–Computer detection time: 5.0 sec
Data format received by host computer: RCV03
RCP8 transmission rate: 30.00 records/sec
Process incoming servo control packets: YES
RCP8 transmits Time–of–Day records: YES
Time between Time–of–Day records : 30 sec
RCP8 transmits internal BITE packets: YES
ID of internal BITE packets: 0x01
RCP8 transmits AUX status BITE packets: YES
Xmt ID of status BITE packets: 0x04
RCP8 receives AUX control BITE packets: YES
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Rcv ID of control BITE packets: 0x03
RCP8 transmits analog voltage Q–BITE packets: YES
ID of analog voltage Q–BITE packets: 0x05
Simulate the incoming channel voltages: YES
Maximum signal generator power level: 0 dBm
Default user interface: Local–TTY
"SITE CUSTOM" Command Summary Dialogs
(Site Custom) – Customer–specific Setups
-----------------------------------------
Output serial TAG lines: NO
Use WSR–88D DCU Interface (Antenna/Pedestal): NO
Use WSR–88D DAU Interface (BITE/Status): NO
Use Kavouras TCU Interface (Radiate/BITE): NO
Use Andrew–Canada serial pedestal interface: NO
Use Applied Systems TWT Transmitter: NO
Use Orbit serial pedestal controller: NO
Use CAN–Bus serial control/status: NO
Use dehydrator connected in serial port: NO
Use klystron connected in serial port: NO
Use Power MOnitoring: NO
Use ARA ACU–3 Antenna: NO
Use TSC TWT Interface: NO
Use TDRS pedestal angle input: NO
Use TDRS pedestal control output: NO
Use Melco TKY01 Serial Q–Bite: NO
Use Dual/Redundant system configuration: NO
66 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Generate trigger sector blanking output: NO
Enable Shaft Encoder Simulator: NO
Automatically calibrate Shaft Encoder: NO
"SITE MISC" Command Summary Dialogs
(Site Misc) – Miscellaneous Setups
-----------------------------------------
External reset 'unsafe' duration: 1.0 sec
Lower EL limit switch causes shutdown: NO
Upper EL limit switch causes shutdown: NO
Primary I/O-62 PCI card (-1:None) : -1
Reset all PCI cards on RCP8 shutdown: YES
Provide IRIS RPC network status server: NO
Pedestal has an auxiliary second antenna: NO
Echo error signals to the chat interface: YES
"STATUS" Command Summary Dialog
(Status) – Antenna/Transmitter/Receiver Status Input Lines
-----------------------------------------------------------
------
LOCAL input is enabled: NO
STANDBY input is enabled: NO
INTERLOCK input is enabled: NO
MAGNETRON–CURRENT input is enabled: NO
AIRFLOW input is enabled: NO
WAVE–GUIDE–PRESSURE input is enabled: NO
PULSE–WIDTH–0 input is enabled: NO
PULSE–WIDTH–1 input is enabled: NO
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RADIATE input is enabled: NO
SERVO–POWER input is enabled: NO
LOWER–LIMIT–SWITCH input is enabled: NO
UPPER–LIMIT–SWITCH input is enabled: NO
T/R–POWER input is enabled: NO
T/R–LOCAL input is enabled: NO
IRIS–MODE–0 input is enabled: NO
SYSTEM–RESET input is enabled: NO
NOISEGEN–ON input is enabled: NO
SIGGEN–ON input is enabled: NO
SIGGEN–CW input is enabled: NO
SIGGEN–FAULT input is enabled: NO
SIGGEN–LEVEL input is enabled: NO
"CONTROL LINES" Command Summary Dialog
(Control Lines) – Antenna/Transmitter/Receiver Control

Output Lines
-----------------------------------------------------------
---------------
RADIATE control protocol: Pulse
RADIATE On/Off pulse duration: 0.75 sec
"CONTROL LOGIC" Command Summary Dialog
(Control Logic) – Boolean Control Equations
--------------------------------------------------
Enable logic override of control lines: NO
68 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
EQ00: # Vert RX to Noise Source one second pulse
\--: t0_single_1 = c32
EQ01: c64 = t0_single_1
EQ02: # Vert RX to Antenna one second pulse
\--: t1_single_1 = !c32
EQ04: # Horz RX to Noise Source one second pulse
\--: t2_single_1 = c33
EQ06: # Horz RX to Antenna one second pulse
\--: t3_single_1 = !c33
EQ08: # Waveguide Switch to H+V one second pulse
\--: t4_single_1 = cPolSimul | cPolVert
EQ10: # Waveguide Switch to H only one second pulse
\--: t5_single_1 = cPolHoriz
EQ12: s10 = sTrigBlankSector
EQ13: sPolOkay = true
EQ14:
"CONTROL VARMISC" Command Summary Dialog
(Control VarMisc) – Miscellaneous Boolean Variables
----------------------------------------------------------
Timer #0 trigger mode: Single

Timer #0 period/delay: 1.00 sec
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Timer #6 trigger mode: Unused
Minimum velocity for 'antstop': 0.50 deg/sec
Minimum time for 'antstop': 2.00 sec
"CONTROL VARADC" Command Summary Dialog
(Control VarADC) – Analog Input Test Variable Definitions
-----------------------------------------------------------
-----
A/D Logic Variable #0 is defined: NO
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"CONTROL VARANT" Command Summary Dialog
(Control VarAnt) – Antenna Pos/Vel Test Variable Definitions
-----------------------------------------------------------
--------
Antenna Logic Variable #0 is defined: NO
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"AXIS" Command Summary Dialog
(Axis AZ) – AZIMUTH Axis Parameters
------------------------------------------
Use internal antenna simulator: YES
Max simulated acceleration: 18.0 deg/sec/sec
Angle input signal source: Parallel
Angle input format is BCD: NO
Number of bits for angle input: 16
Maximum angle update period: 40.0 ms
Multiplicative angle scale factor: 1.0000
Angle offset from true orientation: 30.00 deg
Use tachometer voltage to estimate velocity: YES
Tachometer calibration -- Level: 50.00 T–Units
Tachometer calibration -- Speed: 20.00 deg/sec
Enforce soft limits of position travel: NO
Enforce shutdown limits of position travel: NO
Force shutdown if tach/pos are inconsistent: NO
Force shutdown for unresponsive antenna: NO
Moment of Inertia: 2.00 (D–Units / T–Units/sec)
Enforce model–based acceleration limits: NO
Use drive compensation for unbalanced antenna: NO
Maximum output drive voltage: +/- 10.00 Volts
Drive voltage is positive for positive motion: YES
72 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
Tach voltage is positive for positive motion: YES
Drive is normal(0), or always Neg(-1)/Pos(1): 0
Drive output offset: 0.00 D–Units
Tachometer input offset: 0.00 T–Units
"VSERVO" Command Summary Dialog
(Vservo AZ) – AZIMUTH Velocity Servo parameters
-------------------------------------------------------
Motor positive sustaining drive: 5.00 D–Units
Motor negative sustaining drive: -5.00 D–Units
Nominal positive drive slope: 0.800 D/T–Units
Nominal negative drive slope: 0.800 D/T–Units
Velocity feedback slope: 25.000 D/dT–Units
Velocity feedback deadzone: 0.10 T–Units
Apply velocity error integral correction: NO
Generate stepper motor drive control signals: NO
Maximum absolute velocity: 95.00 T–Units
Velocity shutdown safe margin: 4.00 T–Units
Velocity shutdown check time: 1.00 sec
Tach zero–delay–smoother window: 0.150 sec
Model order within the window: 3
Drive slew rate limit for Zero-->Max: 0.10 sec
"PSERVO" Command Summary Dialog
(Pservo AZ) – AZIMUTH Position Servo parameters
------------------------------------------------------
Hysteresis outer zone: 0.080 deg
Hysteresis inner zone: 0.050 deg
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Servo type: Legacy
First position break point: 1.00 deg
Second position break point: 5.00 deg
First interval slope: 10.00 (T–Units)/deg
Second interval slope: 2.00 (T–Units)/deg
Third interval slope: 1.00 (T–Units)/deg
"INU" Command Summary Dialog
(INU) – Inertial Navigation Unit (INU) Setups
----------------------------------------------------
Use platform stabilization algorithms: NO
Serial INU Simulation: NO
5.3 The SAVE and RESTORE Commands

Use the "SAVE" command to store the current RCP8 parameters in the
non-volatile RAM. This will automatically preserve the settings the next
time the RCP8 is powered up. The "SAVE" command prints an
informational message that counts the actual number of bytes that were
changed.
The "RESTORE" command is used to replace the current working

parameters with a completely different set. With the "factory" argument,
the command restores conservative default values for all parameters. This
can be useful to return to a known baseline. With the "saved" argument, the
command restores the parameters from the most recent "SAVE" command.
The "undo" argument allows you to change your mind if the "factory" or
"saved" option has inadvertently overwritten the actual desired settings.
5.4 The SITE Command

The SITE command is used to configure parameters for the local site. The
following options represent the possible sub-menus:
- "Display" option — defines how the vacuum-fluorescent, front panel

display is configured and represents the default menu if the SITE
command is invoked with no argument.
74 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
- "Host" option — defines the communication choices and data

protocols that are used with the host computer.
- "Custom" option — selects and configures customer specific features.
- "LOG" option — setup internal data and event logger
- "Miscellaneous" option — defines a few other things.
5.4.1 Front Panel Display Setups

These setup questions are accessed by typing "Site Display" at the "RCP>"
prompt.
Front panel display update time: 0.200 sec
This shows the time in seconds, between updates, of the front panel
display. Set the time to a rate that is comfortable for viewing.
Front panel display brightness (0–7): 4
The brightness of the display is controlled in this setup. For maximum tube
life, choose the minimum brightness that still permits easy viewing.
Top display line template: TB
Second display line template: EP2
Third display line template: EV2
Bottom display line template: SS2
The RCP8 permits a flexible reconfiguration of the front panel display, so

the parameters, which are most relevant for each site, can always be
viewed. For example, if the RCP8 is on a moving ship, the user may wish
to display both the pedestal and the Earth angles, as well as the Roll, Pitch,
and Heading of the ship. For terrestrial radars, it may be desirable to use
the available display lines for angular velocities, status bits, and
monitoring of host computer commands.
There are four 20-character lines available on the front panel display. Each
line can assigned to carry any of the following templates and may be
arranged in any order.
TB ) --AZ-- --EL-- Title Bar

EP1) 123.45 Earth 23.46 AZ/EL Earth
Positions
EP2) 123.45 Pos 23.46
EP3) 123.45 AZ/EL 23.46
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PP ) 123.45 Ped 23.46 AZ/EL Pedestal

Positions
PV ) 12.00 Ped.V 0.00 AZ/EL Pedestal
Velocities
EV1) 12.00 Geo.V 0.00 AZ/EL Earth
Velocities
EV2) 12.00 Vel 0.00
CMD) 12.00 V Cmd P 10.50AZ/EL Servo
Commands
RTS) Rad:On T/R:-- Radiate, T/R, and
Srv:On Servo
HRP) 123.4H -12.3R 23.1PHeading, Roll,
Pitch
LL ) 148 24.5W 42 35.2N Longitude /
Latitude
TM ) 17:22:35 3–Feb–1996Time and Date
SS1) Status:OK Status
SS2) Status:OK –<-->–
VAR) 0000 0000 0000 0000Local Variables
DRCP) Di/-- Ok/Ok --/On Dual/Redundant
Au State
XX ) Blank Line
- TB — selects a title bar to label the AZ and EL columns.

- EPn — selects one of several AZ/EL Earth Position displays. The
difference is in the text that appears in the center of the line. Use the
"Earth" choice (EP1) to avoid confusion if the pedestal angles are also
displayed. Use "Pos" if the Title Bar appears elsewhere on the display
or if the user has little trouble remembering which is AZ and EL.
Otherwise, use "AZ/EL."
- PP and PV — select pedestal position and velocity.
- EVn — selects one of several AZ/EL Earth velocities that contain
different text labels in the center.
- CMD — displays the present command from the host computer. The
letters "V" and "P" indicate if a position or velocity servo is requested
on each axis.
- RTS — shows the present state of "Radiate," "T/R Power," and
"Servo Power."
- HRP, LL, and TM — these are used only if INU data is available.
- SSn — selects one of several status lines. "SS2" includes an
entertaining "heartbeat" indicator.
76 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
- VAR — shows the continuous states of the sixteen local variables

V0–V15. This can be handy as a temporary live monitor of states
assigned to these variables via logic equations.
- DRCP — shows the "Disabled", "Okay", and "Active" summary
status of a Dual/Redundant system. The "A" and "B" systems are
separated with a slash "/". Lastly, the A/B/Auto mode is shown at the
right side.
- Enc — shows the shaft encoder calibration status for both Az and El.
Possible states are:
"Indx" – Uncalibrated, waiting for the first index pulse.
"Prox" – Uncalibrated, index pulse received, waiting for the proximity

pulse.
"Ok"– Calibrated.
"Fail" – The calibration failed.
Once a status template is assigned to any of the display lines, the RCP8 will
use that line to display urgent status, such as a shutdown condition. If a
status template has not been assigned, then the bottom display line will be
overwritten whenever any urgent messages is displayed.
Show hundredths digit in AZ position: NO
Show hundredths digit in EL position: NO
Show hundredths digit in AZ velocity: NO
Show hundredths digit in EL velocity: NO
You may display either one or two digits to the right of the decimal point
in the position and velocity readouts. Since the angle information for most
antennas is only accurate to 0.1 degree, the defaults are to not show the
hundredths digit.
The text to display for the two user-induced shutdown conditions can be
selected here. You may type any 20-character string to pop-up and blink
when these shutdowns are triggered.
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5.4.2 Host Computer I/O Setups

These setup questions are accessed by typing "Site Host" at the "RCP>"
prompt.
Baud rate for host computer I/O: 9600
This sets the baud rate for serial communication with the host computer.
Available choices include 1200, 2400, 9600, and 19200.
Data format transmitted by host computer: XMT02
Data format received by host computer: RCV02
The RCP8 can send and receive a variety of serial protocols. Use these
questions to match the transmit and receive protocols that coincide with the
host computer.
Process incoming servo control packets: YES
Answering "NO" to this questions disables the interpretation of "control"

packets that are received by the RCP8, while still allowing BITE
interrogation packets and "chat" packets to be treated normally. This
makes it easier to setup and analyze the antenna servos via chat mode from
the host computer. Previously the servos would resume responding to
external control packets whenever the antenna was not explicitly under
control of the chat interface, e.g., between monitor and setup command
sequences. As a reminder, the RCP8 front panel will display "Lockout" on
its status line whenever control packet commands are being ignored.
RCP8 transmission rate: 2.50 records/sec
Antenna data packets are transmitted by the RCP8 at this fixed rate.
Choose a rate that makes the best tradeoff between:
1. providing the host computer with up-to-date angles, and

2. relieving the host computer of unnecessary I/O "flooding."
RCP8 transmits Time-of-Day records: YES
Time between Time-of-Day records : 30 sec
The user has the option of transmitting the INU's time-of-day to the host
computer if the RCP8 is connected to an INU. Typically, this process is
executed every few minutes.
RCP8 transmits internal BITE packets: YES
ID of internal BITE packets: 0(decimal)
78 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
The transmission of internal BITE status packets (See Table 18 on page

160) is decided by this question. These should be enabled if the host
computer needs to monitor any of the information contained in these
packets.
RCP8 transmits AUX status BITE packets: YES
Xmt ID of status BITE packets: 1(decimal)
RCP8 receives AUX control BITE packets: YES
Rcv ID of control BITE packets: 1(decimal)
The transmission and reception of auxiliary status and control BITE

packets is selected here. See information at Table 20 on page 162.
These setup questions for the auxiliary control and status bits are organized
so that the associated host computer I/O is configured independently of the
(optional) assignment of hardware electrical lines to those bits. These
questions ask whether the RCP8 will send/receive auxiliary status/
command BITE packets to/from the host computer. The C[0:63] and
S[0:63] variables have many different uses within the RCP8, so all 64 bits
are always included in the 13–byte fixed–format BITE I/O packets. See
related questions under "Site Custom" (5.4.3 Customer-Specific Site
Setups on page 80).
Dead-Host-Computer detection time: 5.0 sec
This determines the required I/O inactivity time before the RCP8 disables
the antenna motion. Once the RCP8 is under the control of the host
computer, there is a possibility that the computer may "crash" or that the
program, which interacts with the RCP8, may cease to function for other
reasons. In such cases, it may be important to not allow the antenna servos
to operate in accordance with the last computer command. For example, if
the host computer requested a large antenna velocity prior to crashing, it
makes little sense to continue honoring that request.
Default user interface: REMOTE-HOST-CHAT
The local TTY I/O can either be with the plug-in TTY or with the host
computer via the chat-mode packets during the initial RCP8 power up.
This question sets the power-up default.
NOTE Note: The RCP8 will freely toggle between the TTY and the chat-mode
channels. The interface, that most recently received incoming characters,
is automatically assigned for the subsequent I/O.
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5.4.3 Customer-Specific Site Setups

These setup questions are accessed by typing "Site Custom" at the "RCP>"
prompt. They are used to select and configure customized features of the
RCP8 that are added as the product evolves.
Output serial TAG lines: YES
Serial port: /dev/ttyS0
Baud rate of the serial TAGs: 9600
Choose: None RCV01 RCV02 RCV03 RCV05
Serial TAG data format: RCV01
Normally the RCP8 outputs azimuth and elevation TAG angles as 16-bit
parallel TTL outputs on the back panel. Use these questions to configure
an optional serial output stream.
Use WSR–88D DCU Interface (Antenna/Pedestal): YES
Baud rate for DCU: 19200
Choose None Odd Even
DCU data parity: Odd
Bits in position binary angles: 13
ID of DCU BITE status packets: 0x09
ID of DCU Self–Test–1 BITE packets: 0x05
ID of DCU Self–Test–2 BITE packets: 0x06
Spare adjustment for Azimuth : 1.00000
Spare adjustment for Elevation: 1.00000
Additional time lag for Azimuth: 0.000 sec
Additional time lag for Elevation: 0.000 sec
Simulator port:
80 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
For NEXRAD systems, use this section to configure the DCU interface. Be
sure to set the angle source questions in the axis sections to "Custom" to
read these angles.
Use WSR–88D DAU Interface (BITE/Status): YES
Baud rate for DAU: 19200
Choose None Odd Even
DAU data parity: Odd
ID of DAU standard BITE packets: 0x07
ID of Quantitative BITE packets: 0x08
Simulator port:
For NEXRAD systems, use this section to configure the DAU interface.
Use Kavouras TCU Interface (Radiate/BITE): YES
ID of TCU standard BITE packets: 0x09
ID of Quantitative BITE packets: 0x0A
Simulator port: /dev/ttyS1
Simply choose the serial port, and ID for the BITE and Q–BITE packets
that will be associated with the TCU. Note that the serial baud rate, parity,
and stop bits are fixed at 9600/Odd/2 because they are fixed by the TCU.
The built-in simulator can be used for debugging the main code, and you
can watch the live I/O from a real TCU using the 'Monitor SIO' command
followed by 'Raw rTcu'.
The standard BITE packet for the TCU is 13 bytes long, and maps the 64
TCU status bits into the first 64 packet bits. The timeout bit (no TCU
communication) appears in the MSB of Byte #12. These seventy bits of
BITE status (10 words of 7 bits apiece) are mapped into status bits S64–
S133. If you want to use any of the TCU status bits in a logic equation,
those are the variables to grab.
The Q-BITE packet is 27 bytes long and holds 12 14–bit values. The first
two are the 'Max strike' and 'Current strike' counts from the TCU status
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packets, and the next eight are from the temperature report. The last two
slots (11 and 12) are unused for now.
The TCU is reset using the standard BITE resetting mechanism. A BITEX
reset that is directed at either the BITE or Q–BITE unit will send a reset
command to the physical TCU. In addition, a rising edge on Control
Variable C63 will also reset the TCU.
The TrPower and Radiate control/status bits are the only ones needed for
the TCU, giving you the states OFF, STANDBY, and RADIATE. When
you twiddle those two control bits the appropriate commands will be sent
to the TCU. Likewise, status from the TCU will set the TrPower and
Radiate status bits appropriately.
Use Andrew–Canada serial pedestal interface: YES
ID of Andrew BITE status packets: 11(decimal)
Map Andrew status into S[29:63] variables: NO
Apply boresite offsets to position angles: NO
Simulator port:
When the Andrew interface is enabled you may hookup the serial lines
either through a standard Linux TTY port such as "/dev/ttyS0", or through
the special "io62-tty0" serializer that is built into the IO62 card firmware .
The RCP8 also contains a (minimal) serial simulation of a real Andrew
ACU, which you can configure onto a TTY port for loopback testing.
Normally the RCP8 will receive high-speed parallel AZ/EL angles from
the Andrew ACU. However, if you set the axis angle source questions to
custom, it will then set the RCP8 to use the low-speed (5Hz) serial angle
status information from the ACU instead. This option can be handy for
testing.
Use Applied Systems TWT Transmitter: YES
Choose: 177 337 377
Model number of the transmitter: 337
Offset of 29 mapped status bits: 64
Offset of 5 mapped control bits: 64
82 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
ID of Standard STS BITE packets: 0×0C
ID of Quantitative BITE packets: 0×0D
Simulator port:
When the Applied Systems interface is enabled you may hookup the serial
lines either through a standard Linux TTY port such as /dev/ttyS0, or
through the special io62-tty0 serializer that is built into the IO62 card
firmware. The RCP8 also contains a serial simulation of a real Applied
Systems TWT, which you can configure onto a TTY port for loopback
testing. A blank device disables the simulation.
The different Applied Systems model vary in the status bytes returned.
Model 177 is: STX Digital Byte 1, Digital Byte 2, Digital Byte 3, Digital
Byte 4, Analog 1 (4 characters), Analog 2 (4 characters), Analog 3 (4
characters), EXT Checksum. Total = 19 bytes
Model 377 has a fourth Analog value, for a total of 23 bytes, while model
337 also has a fifth Analog value, for a total of 27 bytes.
The analog fields translate into a Q byte packet, as shown below.

Depending on the model, the last values are missing, and the packet will be
shorter.
Char Function
1 SYNC Byte (AF Hex)
2 Identification byte
(User Choice)
3–4 Analog 1 (14–bits)
5–6 Analog 2
7–8 Analog 3
9–10 Analog 4 (for Model
377 and 337 only)
11–12 Analog 5 (for Model
337 only)
13 END OF MESSAGE
(FF Hex)
Use Orbit serial pedestal controller: YES
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ID of Standard STS BITE packets: 0×0E
Fixed time lag of Orbit angles: 1.0 ms
Simulator port:
Used for the Orbit pedestal controller. A blank device disables the
simulation. Be sure to set the angle source questions in the axis sections to
Custom to read these angles.
Use CAN–Bus serial control/status: YES
Use CAN–Bus to radar control: YES
Force shutdown for unresponsive antenna: YES
ID of Standard STS BITE packets: 0×0F
ID of Quantitative BITE packets: 0×10
Used for the CAN-Bus interface to control and monitor the Vaisala
pedestal. Be sure to set the angle source questions in the axis sections to
Canbus to read these angles.
Use dehydrator connected in serial port: YES
ID of Standard STS BITE packets: 0×11
Monitor the status of the ADH–2A COM Automatic Air Dehydrator

through an RS-422 interface. Dehydrator status includes the waveguide
pressure, device temperature, duty cycle and alarms and warnings for fault
states.
Use klystron connected in serial port: YES
Control bit for fault log print: 30
Monitor the status of the Klystron transmitter in Vaisala WRK100 or

WRK200 weather radars. The klystron transmitters voltages, currents and
alarms are monitored. The status can be displayed on bitex. This software
84 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
thread retrieved the status and measurement information through a serial

interface (RS–422) and creates ITE and QBITE packets from it. Those
packet formats are shown below in on page 85 and on page 86.
Klystron BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)

Char Function Status bit Klystron_status_c
field
1 SYNC (C0 Hex)
(User choice)
3 Klystron status and fault conditions (Machine state)
D0 = Power On S134 iMachineState (bit 0)
D1 = Standby S135 iMachineState (bit 1)
D2 = Radiate S136 iMachineState (bit 2)
D3 = Fault Sum S137 iMachineState (bit 3)
D4 = Fault Latch S138 iMachineState (bit 4)
D5 = Reserved S139 iMachineState (bit 5)
D6 = Reserved S140 iMachineState (bit 6)
4 Klystron status and fault conditions (Faults)
D0 = HVPS Over S141 iActiveFaults[0] (bit 0)
Temp
D1 = Oil Level S142 iActiveFaults[0] (bit 1)
D2 = Solenoid PS S143 iActiveFaults[0] (bit 2)
D3 = HVPS Current S144 iActiveFaults[0] (bit 3)
D4 = LVPS S145 iActiveFaults[0] (bit 4)
D5 = HVPS (over cur/ S146 iActiveFaults[0] (bit 5)
und volt)
D6 = Filament PS S147 iActiveFaults[0] (bit 6)
5 Klystron status and fault conditions (Faults)
D0 = Ion Current S148 iActiveFaults[0] (bit 7)
D1 = Klystron Current S149 iActiveFaults[1] (bit 0)
D2 = Solenoid Current S150 iActiveFaults[1] (bit 1)
D3 = Over Duty S151 iActiveFaults[1] (bit 2)
D4 = Mod Over Temp S152 iActiveFaults[1] (bit 3)
D5 = Spare S153 spare
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Klystron BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) (Continued)

Char Function Status bit Klystron_status_c
field
6 Klystron status and fault conditions (Spare)
D0 = Klystron S155 iConnected
Connected
7 End of Message (FF Hex)
Klystron Q-BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)

Char Function Klystron_status_c
field
1 SYNC (AF Hex)
(User choice)
3–4 Solenoid current fSolenoidCurrent
(scale 100)
5–6 Klystron current fKlystronCurrent (scale
10)
7–8 Ion current fIonCurrent (scale 100)
9–10 Filament voltage fFilamentVoltage
(scale 100)
11–12 Filament current fFilamentCurrent
(scale 100)
13–14 Modulator current fModulatorCurrent
(scale 100)
15–16 HVPS voltage iHVPSVoltage (scale
1000)
17–18 Peak cathode voltage fPeakCathodeVoltage
(scale 100)
19–20 Peak cathode current fPeakCathodeCurrent
(scale 1)
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Klystron Q-BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) (Continued)

Char Function Klystron_status_c
field
21 End of Message (FF
Hex)
Use Power Monitoring: YES
Frequency of the radar (MHz): 5625
Number of sensors: 4
Ser.No of horizontal forward sensor: 0
Ser.No of horizontal reverse sensor: 0
Ser.No of vertical forward sensor: 0
Ser.No of vertical reverse sensor: 0
Control bit of rsenssor zeroing: 31
The purpose of the Power Monitor thread is to open a connection through

USB to the Rohde&Schwarz NRP–Z51 power sensors. The weather radar
may have 2 power sensors for each polarizations on the wave guides
measuring transmitted and received power level. When measurement is
completed, BITE and QBITE packets are created. The format of those
packets are shown below in Table 2 on page 87 and Table 3 on page 88.
Table 2 Power Monitor BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)
Char Function Status bit
stPowerResults_c
1 SYNC (C0 Hex)
2 Identification byte (User choice)
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Table 2 Power Monitor BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)

Char Function Status bit
stPowerResults_c
3 Power Monitor status/alarm bits
lAlarmH (bit 0) D0 = Horizontal Return Loss offset+0
lAlarmV (bit 1) Alarm
lAlarmSum (bit 2) D1 = Vertical Return Loss Alarm offset+1
lZeroing (bit 3)
D2 = Power Monitor Alarm sum offset+2
D3 = Sensor zeroing in progress offset+3
D4 = Reserved
D5 = Reserved
D6 = Reserved
Table 3 Power Monitor Q–BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)

Char Function stPoweResults_c field
1 SYNC (AF Hex)
2 Identification byte (User choice)
3–4 Power measurement HOR / TX fTransmittedPowerH (scale 10)
5–6 Power measurement HOR / RX fReflectedPowerH (scale 10)
7–8 Power measurement VER / TX fTransmittedPowerV (scale 10)
9–10 Power measurement VER / RX fReflectedPowerV (scale 10)
11–12 Return Loss HOR fReturnLossH (scale 10)
13–14 Return Loss VER fReturnLossV (scale 10)
15–16 TX Peak Power HOR fPeakPowerH (scale 0.01)
17–18 TX Peak Power VER fPeakPowerV (scale 0.01)
Use ARA ACU–3 Antenna: YES
Serial port: /usr/sigmet/config/rcp8_ara_acu–y
Baud rate: 19200
Choose: None Odd Even
Data parity: Odd
ID of BITE status packets: 0×08
Fixed time lag of angles: 1.0 ms
Poll for position every 20 ms
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Control bit for reset: 40
Simulator Serial port: /usr/sigmet/config/rcp8_ara_acu–x
If When the ARA ACU–3 interface is enabled and you supply a serial port,
you get the ARA_ACU3 thread visible on the help view screen. If you put
a string into the Simulator port, you get the ARA_ACU3–Sim thread. The
example above show how to configure the simulator to talk to the main
thread using FIFOs. You need to create these 2 files using the mkfifo
command.
There are 15 TSC TWT status bits output in the BITE packet, as follows.
For a detailed description of the bit meanings and the command set see the
ICD.
Table 4 ARA ACU–3 BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)

Char Function
1 SYNC Byte (C0 Hex)
2 Identification byte (User
Choice)
3 Status Bits EL1 AZ6
AZ5 AZ4 AZ3 AZ2 AZ1
4 Status Bits ELF AZF
EL6 EL5 EL4 EL3 EL2
5 Status Bits – – – – – –
Timeout
6 Spare byte
7 END OF MESSAGE (FF
Hex)
These same 15-bits are mapped to the specified status bits. The
fundamental period at which the RCP8 polls the ARA for position is set by
the Poll for position question. All other activity, like polling for status
happens once a second. Command output happens once a second unless
there is a change.
Use TSC TWT Interface: YES
T/R Serial port: /usr/sigmet/config/tsc_tr–y
Modulator Serial port: /usr/sigmet/config/tsc_mod–y
ID of BITE status packets: 0×06
ID of QBITE status packets: 0×07
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Offset of 10 mapped control bits: 20
Simulator T/R Serial port: /usr/sigmet/config/tsc_tr–x
Simulator Mod Serial port: /usr/sigmet/config/tsc_mod–x
This is the TSC TWT transmitter used in the NOAA G4 aircraft. If you
answer Yes to the initial question and supply either serial port, you get the
TSC–TWT thread visible on the help view screen. If you put a string into
either Simulator ports, you get the TSC–TWT–Sim thread. The example
above show how to configure the simulator to talk to the main thread using
FIFOs. You need to create these 4 files using the mkfifo command.
You can monitor the traffic transmitted and received from these two serial
lines using the monitor sio command. Once you are in monitor mode, then
type something like raw xtsc_tr rtsc_tr. Other available data is xtsc_mod
and rtsc_mod.
There are 23 TSC TWT status bits output in the BITE packet, as follows.
For a detailed description of the bit meanings contact Vaisala.
Table 5 TSC TWT BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)

Char Function
Choice)
3 Status Bits 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
4 Status Bits 13 12 11 10
987
5 Status Bits 20 19 18 17
16 15 14
6 Status Bits 23 22 21
7 Spare byte
Hex)
There are 4 TSC TWT qualitative values output in the QBITE packet, as
follows:
Table 6 TSC TWT QBITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)

Char Function
Choice)
3–4 Frequency code
(actually only 6 bits)
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Table 6 TSC TWT QBITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) (Continued)

Char Function
5–6 Receiver protector
leakage measurement
7–8 Transmitter power
measurement
9–10 Reflected power
measurement
Hex)
The TSC TWT simulator is fairly simple. For the T/R port, it sends a 9-byte
response containing all zeros, except for the first and last byte, and bytes 2
and 3 are copied from bytes 2 and 3 of the command (which have the same
meanings). Also the qualitative values are set to: Frequency code=50,
Receiver protect leakage=100, Transmitter power=150, and Reflected
power=200. If no command, or a bad command arrives, then the whole
payload iszero. For the Modulator port, it sends the string
<1R0011?0000>\n, where the ? is set to 0 or 1 based on the command
supplied. If no command, or a bad command arrives, then the payload is all
0.
For best performance on an ARA controller, get the option for parallel
outputs. If not, or if using a simulator, be sure to set the angle source
questions in the axis sections to Custom to read these serial angles.
Use TDRS pedestal angle input: YES
The TDRS pedestal has a serial interface used to get angle information.
Use TDRS pedestal control output: YES
IP Address: 191.165.99.99
Port number: 32767
The TDRS pedestal is controlled via a socket interface. You can set the IP
and port number here.
Use MELCO TKY01 Serial Q–Bite: YES
Baud rate: 19200
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Simulator port:
We can read serial QBITE packets in MELCO Turkey–01 format. This

message includes information from a generator. It produces a QBITE
packet, as follows:
Table 7 MELCO TKY01 QBITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)

Char Function
Choice)
3–4 Generator running
hours
7–8 Generator fuel level
9–10 Generator voltage V1
Hex)
The serial format sends this information in 3 separate packets, each

sending 4 bytes of payload, using a similar format. The Identification byte
is set to 0, 1, or 2.
Table 8 MELCO Serial Packet (Generator to RCP8)

Char Function
3–6 Data
Hex)
HPIB/USB interface hardware is installed: YES
HPIB device name: siggen
RF/IF Signal generator is on the bus : YES
Signal generator has pulse modulation : YES
Answer the first question Yes if a USB-to-HPIB interface module is

plugged into a USB slot of the RCP8 computer, in which case its Linux
device name is supplied on the next line. If a signal generator is attached
to the bus, then enter its HPIB address. Also tell whether it supports pulse
modulation by answering No if the siggen can only operate in CW mode.
Note that IEEE Std 488.2 specifies a command and query protocol that is
92 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
independent of the hardware manufacturer. For this reason, it it not

necessary to specify what brand of signal generator is being used (since the
same minimal command set works with all 488.2 devices).
The first class of instruments supported are RF/IF signal generators. The
RCP8 can both control and sense the signal generators output power level,
output On/Off switch, and pulse modulation selection. These parameters
are then directly accessible from the IRIS/Antenna utility.
The RCP8 keeps the signal generator in its normal local mode at all times,
and polls its settings every 0.5 seconds. This means that the signal
generators front panel is fully functional at all times. However, whenever
the RCP8 detects a change in the host computers requested settings, then
those changes are sent immediately (but just once) to the signal generator.
The correct settings are thus put into place; though the user is still allowed
to make further changes using the manual controls. The design philosophy
is that the signal generator should simply appear to operate normally,
except at those times when changes are requested by the host computer.
When an HPIB signal generator is not installed on the RCP8, the signal
generator status sent back to the host computer will be spoofed from
whatever siggen settings the host computer is currently requesting. Thus,
the RF–Level, On/Off, and Cont/Pulse status are all echoed back, and the
Fault status is FALSE (no fault).
For HPIB/GPIB support, you now need to install a new library for the
RCP8 to run. If you are installing a new system, this is covered in the
sigconfig script, or in the steps described in the Software Installation
Manual. If you are upgrading, you will need to install a new rpm. This is
supplied on our FTP site, and on the CDROM. Here is the command to
install:
# rpm –Uhv linux–gpib–lib–3.2.09–1.EL.i686.rpm
If you are using the GPIB feature, then you will also need to install the
kernel module. There is a common kernel module rpm, and a version
specific to the installed kernel. We provide driver RPMs for RHEL5:
# rpm –Uhv linux–gpib–kmod–common–3.2.09–1.EL.i686.rpm
# rpm –Uhv kmod–linux–gpib–3.2.09–1.EL.2.6.9_5.EL.i686.rpm
# rpm –Uhv linux–gpib–kmod–common–3.2.09–1.EL.i686.rpm
# rpm –Uhv kmod–linux–gpib–smp–3.2.09–

1.EL.2.6.9_5.EL.i686.rpm
# rpm –Uhv linux–gpib–kmod–common–3.2.09–1.el5.i686.rpm
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# rpm –Uhv kmod–linux–gpib–3.2.09–

1.el5.2.6.18_8.el5.i686.rpm
Generate trigger sector blanking output: YES
Hardware output line to use: None
Hardware input line to use: None
Include sector #1 in overall test: YES
Sector #1 uses pedestal angles: YES
Sector #1 lower azimuth: 0 deg
Sector #1 upper azimuth: 30 deg
Sector #1 lower elevation: 1 deg
Sector #1 upper elevation: 3 deg
Include sector #2 in overall test: NO
The RCP8 can generate a trigger blanking output whenever the antenna
falls within one of eight user-defined solid sectors in azimuth and
elevation. Choose the remapped output line that will hold the blanking
signal from: TrPwr SvPwr RdOff Reset IRS0 IRS1 IRS2 PW0 PW1 Rly
AZ0. Choose an optional remapped input line to OR into the result from:
TrPwr MagCr ILock Air WGPrs IRS0 IRS1 IRS2 PW0 PW1. For each
sector that is enabled, choose whether Earth or Pedestal angles are to be
used in the test, and the AZ and EL lower and upper limits.
The sector blanking latency is 3.5ms. This latency is defined as the

maximum time that can elapse between the antenna moving into or out of
a blanked sector, and the RCP8s mapped hardware output line actually
responding with that indication. The 3.5ms latency will only be realized
when the mapped output line is AZ0 (LSB of the parallel azimuth output).
All other output lines will run with a 29ms delay; as will any optional re-
94 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
mapped input line that is fed into the blanking criteria. As an example, at a
36deg/sec rotation rate, the 29ms delay might have produced a 1.04deg
shift in the location of the blanked sector. The 3.5ms delay would position
the edge more precisely by introducing only a 0.13deg shift.
Enable Shaft Encoder Simulator: YES
The RCP8 can simulate the shaft encoder signals at 500 Hz. This will only
work at relatively slow antenna speeds. It produces outputs using the
auxiliary control lines. The configuration is taken from the ax az and ax el
setups. Output signals are as follows, including recommended cabling:
Signal Control Backpanel J9 Backpanel J3

EL Index C78 14 1
EL A C76 15 2
EL B C77 16 3
EL Prox C79 17 8
AZ Index C74 1 4
AZ A C72 2 5
AZ B C73 3 6
AZ Prox C75 4 7
EL Limit Lo C71 – –
El Limit Hi C70 – –
To get the hardware signals in requires the following lines in the

softplane.conf file:
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_01_14.lRS422 = 0
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_01_14.iTerm = 0
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_01_14.pinPos =
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_01_14.pinNeg = sAux[100]
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splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_07_20.pinPos = sProxSwAZ
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_07_20.pinNeg =
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_08_21.pinPos = sProxSwEL
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J3_08_21.pinNeg =
To get the hardware signals out requires the following lines in the
softplane.conf file:
96 __________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_01_14.pinPos = cAux[74]
splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J9_01_14.pinNeg = cAux[78]
To simulate the limit switches, use the following logic equations:
EQ00: # Set the lower limit switch
\--: sLowerEL = c71
EQ01: # Set the upper limit switch
\--: sUpperEL = c70
Automatically calibrate Shaft Encoder: YES
This causes the RCP8 to initiate an automatic calibration of the shaft

encoders each time they newly become uncalibrated. You should only use
this on systems which have shaft encoders. If a calibration attempt fails, a
failed flag is set and the calibration attempt will not repeat. Resetting from
shutdown will clear the last failed state, and setting the lShaftForceCal
logic control variable will force a new calibration by clearing the calibrate
bit and failed bit for each axis. While running, the auto calibration will
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block normal control of the antenna, similar to the TTY monitor mode. The
front panel SS1 and SS2 display will show LockCal in this case.
The algorithm is to scan at 2 rpm in azimuth until calibrated. In elevation,

it will scan at 1 deg/second down until the lower limit switch (it should
disable shutdown while calibrating), then it goes up at 2 deg/second until
it is calibrated. The source code is in /usr/sigmet/rda/rcp8/open/
ShaftAutoCal.c. The elevation limit switch shutdown is disabled during
auto calibration. The elevation shutdown limits are disabled unties the
elevation is calibrated. The calibration will fail if the antenna travels more
than 1.5 times the expected distance, or more than 2 minutes elapses before
calibration. See 5.4.1 Front Panel Display Setups on page 75 for details on
the Enc front panel display option.
5.4.4 Data and Event Logging

An internal logging feature is provided in the RCP8 for recording unusual
data and events during normal operation. You may choose the types of
events to log, and then view the accumulated entries at any time. For now,
the options allow for logging angle glitches and invalid INU parameters;
but the RCP8 log is an expandable feature, and we expect to add many new
types of entries in the future.
Data and Event Logging Setups
LOG glitches in AZ/EL output angles: YES
Maximum valid AZ/EL change: 1.00 deg / 23.3 ms
LOG invalid/reduced INU data records: YES
The angle glitch logger checks the AZ and EL output angles that are
computed every 3.33ms, and makes a log entry if their change over an 8-
sample interval is more than the maximum specified value. The log entry
records the INU/Earth/Pedestal angle data for all eight samples, and then
inhibits additional entries for the next seven samples (so that successive
log entries will overlap nicely).
The following sample printout shows the AZ and EL Earth and Pedestal
angles, followed by the Roll, Pitch, and Heading INU angles. If moving
platform stabilization is not enabled, the printout is much simpler and only
lists the AZ and EL pedestal angles.
AZ: 315.13 315.13 EL: 2.07 2.07 RPH: 4.72 -5.20 230.56
AZ: 315.25 315.25 EL: 2.07 2.07 RPH: 0.00 0.00 0.00
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AZ: 315.25 315.25 EL: 2.02 2.04 RPH: 0.00 0.00 0.00
AZ: 185.84 315.25 EL: 2.37 2.04 RPH: 4.68 -5.17 230.64
AZ: 185.94 315.36 EL: 2.40 2.04 RPH: 4.68 -5.17 230.64
AZ: 185.94 315.36 EL: 2.37 2.01 RPH: 4.68 -5.17 230.64
AZ: 186.01 315.36 EL: 2.40 2.01 RPH: 4.63 -5.15 230.71
AZ: 186.12 315.48 EL: 2.42 2.01 RPH: 4.63 -5.15 230.71
When setting up the angle glitch logger, you should choose the maximum
valid angle change according to the maximum scan speed that is expected;
but it should never be less than the quantization of the incoming pedestal
angles themselves (lest false alarms be constantly triggered). Because of
this interaction, you are asked to express the maximum angle change
directly as the angular change over a fixed period of time, rather than as a
maximum speed. To compute this, simply multiply the maximum speed in
deg/sec by 0.0233 sec, and round this angle up so that it at least exceeds
the quantization of the incoming pedestal angles.
The INU data quality logger can be enabled to catch changes in the
reported Invalid and Reduced flags for the attitude and motion parameters.
Each log entry consists of the flag word, and the current Roll/Pitch/
Heading. A new entry is made whenever any bits in the flag word change.
This sample printout shows the Reduced/Invalid flags for Horizontal,

Vertical, Heading, and combined Roll and Pitch data. A zero indicates
okay. The actual Roll, Pitch, and Heading angles reported from the same
INU record are also shown.
Hor:0/0 Vrt:0/0 Hed:0/0 Rol:0/0 RPH:-10.42 0.03 249.32
5.4.5 Miscellaneous Site Setups

These setup questions are accessed by typing Site Miscellaneous at the
RCP> prompt.
Lower EL limit switch causes shutdown: YES
Upper EL limit switch causes shutdown: YES
If an elevation limit-switch closure is detected, the RCP8 drive circuitry

will automatically inhibit further motor current in that direction. In this
case, the RCP8 can shut down at the users request to prevent further
antenna motion until the cause of the switch contact can be ascertained.
Present year: 1996
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The INUs time-of-day format does not include the year, hence it must be
specified in this area. While the RCP8 is operational this value is
automatically incremented if the year changes This will ensure that the
correct time packets are sent to the host computer. It is necessary to save
the incremented value, using the SAVE command, to establish the
permanent change. All non-saved years will flash on the front panels TM
display.
5.5 The AXIS Command

This command defines many parameters pertaining to the azimuth or
elevation axes. All such definitions, that are not specifically related to the
velocity or position servos, are specified here.
Use internal antenna simulator: NO
This variable determines if the internal antenna simulator is normally OFF

or normally ON for this axis. The simulator is controlled in this area, rather
than from the host computer, to allow identical host computer code to be
used regardless if the simulator is operating or not.
NOTE Note: The simulator may be used independently on each axis. This can be
useful when testing only one of the real antenna axes.
Choose: Parallel Synchro A/B/Index Canbus Custom
Angle input signal source: ???
There are several choices for how to read the angles into the RCP8. We
discuss each in a separate section below. You must set both axes to the
same value.
Angle input signal source: Parallel
Angle input format is BCD: NO
Number of bits for angle input: 16
Maximum angle update period: 0.0 ms
The parallel antenna position inputs are TTL levels. The number of bits
used to represent an angle will vary from site to site, depending on the style
of encoder and associated circuitry used by the antenna. The RCP8
supports up to 16-bits of binary angle and 4-digit BCD angles. For the
binary angles, if all sixteen lines are not used the signals should be applied
starting from the most significant line. Unused lines are then masked
100 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

internally, and external connections are not necessary. For the BCD angles,
good to 1/10º, the lowest 14 bits are used.
The maximum period configuration is used to handle cases in which the

parallel angles are updated at a slower rate than the 600Hz RCP8 polling
rate. If you have a fast source, then type in 0. If the angles actually change
slower than this, the RCP8 will think that the antenna has stopped, then
suddenly moved. In that case, type in the longest expected period between
updates. The RCP8 will only insert angles when they change, or after this
period has elapsed.
Angle input signal source: Synchro
Synchro reference frequency: 60 Hz
Shutdown for invalid synchro voltages: YES
Calibration Gain #1: 1.00000
Calibration Gain #2: 1.00000
The RCP8 implements 3-wire synchros as an optional method for

measuring both position and velocity. The synchro voltages for both AZ
and EL are applied to the 12-pin Molex connector on the IO62/CP
backpanel. This connector uses the same wiring that was used for the
synchro inputs to the old RCP02; so, for upgrades, you can simply move
your existing cable from one to the other.
The Synchro-to-Digital (S/D) conversion is implemented entirely in FPGA

code on the I/O-62 card, and in software running in the RCP8. No
additional hardware is required to begin using synchro inputs on your
system. New setup questions in the Axis command might be set as follows:
The first two questions establish that a 60Hz synchro will be used for angle
(position) input on this axis. Moreover, the voltages on the two Ref and
three S1/S2/S3 lines will be checked for validity, and the RCP8 will
shutdown if these voltages drop below 10% or rise above 95% of full-scale
A/D values. Note that the present voltage levels can be checked in the Help
View menu. The angle offset from true orientation is set to zero in this
case, but you can use it to null out any fixed position error.
When synchros are used for position input you can still use tachometers for
velocity input in the usual way. However, if tachometers are not available,
an excellent alternative is to use the velocities that are generated by the S/
D conversion process itself. The S/D converter is implemented as a Type-
II tracking servo that provides zero position error at any velocity whenever
the acceleration is zero. The internal velocity that is maintained during this
process can be used by the RCP8 in place of a physical tachometer. When
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doing this, you choose the velocity that will correspond to 100 T-Units of
virtual tachometer level. Simply choose an upper bound that is equal to the
fastest spin rate you ever intend to use.
The following table lists the maximum RMS voltage that can be applied to
the backpanels Molex SYNCHRO connector for each value of plug-in SIP
resistor. The AZ channel voltages are set by SIP S1, whereas S2 sets the
EL voltage levels. These resistors are socketed, and can be changed by
removing the back cover of the IO62–CP panel
S1 or S2 Max Ref(RMS) Max S–S(RMS)

47K 56V 31V
68K 81V 45V
100K 118V 66V
150K 178V 99V
220K 261V 145V
Note that the Ref inputs have somewhat lower gain than the three S inputs.
This is because the precision of the S/D angle conversion is affected
primarily by the precision at which the three S voltages can be measured.
The backpanel therefore biases the gains so that the S voltages can be made
as large as possible, i.e., without the Ref voltages first filling the A/D
conversion range.
The appropriate resistor is the smallest value such that the maximum S-to-
S voltage of the synchro (which is angle dependent) still fits within the
table range. The reference voltage should then fit easily into its
corresponding maximum range. Dont worry if it doesnt; the important
thing is to match the S line voltages.
For example, a traditional 90Vrms 1:1 synchro would best use the 150K
resistor, whereas a 105Vrms unit would require the 220K value. Note that
you can check for proper A/D conversion levels of the synchro inputs using
the help view menu of the RCP8.
Due to 1% resistors being used in the RCP8 Synchro inputs, it is possible

to have small position errors, up to 1% over a 120 degree span. The
synchro gain corrections handle this. Because of the redundancy in the 3–
wire synchro signals it is possible to examine a collection of (S12,S23,S31)
measurements and deduce whether gain errors exist among the three terms.
The two setup questions to set calibration gains for synchro inputs on the
RCP8. They default to 1.00000 (no correction).
The monitor command contains an ALT display format in which synchro

information is shown in detail for each axis that uses those inputs.The
fields are:
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SyMag?: Magnitude of the synchro input, 0–to–1 range
SyUse?: Fraction of synchro usage history table in use, 0–to–1 range
Gains: The two estimated (suggested) gain terms
RCP> mo
AZ–Pos SyMag SyUse Synchro Gains EL–Pos SyMag SyUse Synchro
Gains Time
–––––– ––––– ––––– ––––––––––––––– –––––– ––––– ––––– –––––
–––––––––– ––––
120.90 0.93 0.00 –––––––,––––––– 0.00 0.00 0.00 –––––––,–––
–––– 9.77 res
120.89 0.93 0.00 –––––––,––––––– 0.00 0.00 0.00 –––––––,–––
–––– 1.39
62.38 0.94 0.17 1.00194,1.00111 0.00 0.00 0.00 –––––––,––––
––– 7.00
The idea is to estimate the gain terms from synchro information that has
been collected over the widest possible span of angles on each axis. In the
above example the reset command is first used to clear the history tables,
then the antenna was moved slowly over a 60–degree interval. The SyUse?
of 17% corresponds to the 60/360 span of collected samples. A pair of gain
terms will be suggested whenever SyUse? exceeds 5%. Take these gain
numbers and type them into calibration gain setups, and save.
NOTE Important: The synchro voltage input feature is only available on Rev.B
and higher backpanels. If you are running an RCP8 with a Rev.A
backpanel and would like to switch to synchro inputs, Vaisala will
upgrade your panel at no cost.
Angle input signal source: A/B/Index
Number of A/B ticks per Index pulse: 2048
Number of Index pulses per revolution: 6
Proximity sensor approximate angle: 110.0 deg
Reverse direction of A/B quadrature lines: NO
Sample lines from secondary I/O–62: NO
The RCP8 can accept angle input from A/B/Index (quadrature) shaft
encoders using a variety of styles of gearing and indexing. The first two
questions choose the number of quadrature transitions (ticks) per index
pulse and the number of index pulses per revolution. In this example, the
encoder unit produces 2048 ticks between each index pulse, and the
gearing is such that the encoder spins around six times for each full
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revolution of the antenna. The index pulses reset the measured angle to
zero, or to the closest multiple according to the gear ratio. If the index
pulse(s) correspond to nonzero angle(s), then use the standard Angle offset
from true orientationquestion to set the offset of the one closest to zero.
An auxiliary proximity sensor must be used to resolve the ambiguity of the

index pulses when the number of index pulses per revolution is greater than
one. The sensor can be positioned anywhere along the axis and we only
need to know its approximate angle. In the above example with 60-deg
sectors per index pulse, contacting the proximity sensor at 110-deg will
add some multiple of 60-deg to the present angle such that the result lies
between 80-deg and 140-deg. To define your sensors, simply assign
sProxSwAZ and/or sProxSwEL status inputs in softplane.conf.
There are fixed I/O-62 pin assignments for the angle encoder inputs:
Signal I/O-62 Pin(s) Backpanel J3

EL Index 5,26 1,14
EL A 6,27 2,15
EL B 7,28 3,16
AZ Index 8,29 4,17
AZ A 9,30 5,18
AZ B 10,31 6,19
You may choose either TTL or RS-422 electrical levels by assigning these
pins as status inputs in softplane.conf. Simply assign them to some unused
sAux[] lines, which also has the advantage that the inputs can be monitored
in logic equations for debugging.
Note that for test purposes, a simple pair of quadrature signals toggling at
2Hz can be created using the RCP8 itself:
EQ00: t1_single_1 = t0_clock_1 & !t2_single_1
EQ01: t2_single_1 = (!t0_clock_1) & t1_single_1
Angle input signal source: Canbus
The RCP8 gets angles via the canbus.
Angle input signal source: Custom
The RCP8 gets angles via one of the site custom interfaces. Many of these
are serial in nature.
Multiplicative angle scale factor: 1.0000
104 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Input angles are multiplied by this factor before being inserted into the
system.
Input offset from true orientation: 0.00 deg
Use this offset value if the pedestal angle positions reported to the RCP8
are biased. You may correct errors as large as ±180º.
NOTE When synchro inputs are used, you may toggle the input offset and input
sense to correct the errors in offset and direction of rotation that result if
the synchro lines have accidently been swapped.
Use tachometer voltage to estimate velocity: YES
Tachometer calibration — Level: 50.00 T–Units
Tachometer calibration — Speed: 12.00 deg/sec
Answering Yes to the first question informs the RCP8 that a real
tachometer is available on this axis, and that its voltage should be used in
all instances where velocity feedback is required.
The RCP8s internal velocity representation is, in many cases, in terms of

the A/D converter units from the antenna tachometers (T-units). These
units are arbitrary and need not correspond to any particular absolute
angular velocity. However, it is often necessary to convert the tachometer
units into absolute units to verify that the tach and position information are
mutually consistent. This conversion is necessary for moving platform
stabilization with an INU and for the benefit of host computer
communication.
Absolute velocity calibration is easily performed using the local TTY

angle monitor. Use the alt subcommand to choose the alternate display that
displays the tachometer calibration values. Start the antenna moving on
one axis using a velocity servo or a simple motor drive. For best accuracy,
ensure that the tachometer level is at least 50—half of the A/D converter
range filled. The displayed calibration ratio-with-saved should remain
approximately constant and be very close to 1.000. Enter a new pair of
calibration values if the ratio is not close to 1.000.
Use tachometer voltage to estimate velocity: NO
Virtual Tach — Full scale speed: 24.00 deg/sec
Virtual Tach — Differentiation window: 0.50 sec
Virtual Tach — Minimum travel: 0.05 deg/window
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Virtual Tach — Use antenna model predictor: YES
Answering No to the first question informs the RCP8 that a real tachometer
is not available on this axis, and that a Virtual Tachometer (based on
position inputs) should be implemented in its place.
The Virtual Tachometer runs every 10ms and operates in two steps:
- A quadratic fit is computed for the most recent W seconds of position

data (time window is adjustable up to 1.2 seconds). The result is a
nicely behaved instantaneous velocity estimate that is W/2 seconds
old (from the center of the window). The niceness comes from having
a large number (100W) of position points to work with, and from the
insensitivity to acceleration afforded by the quadratic fit. However,
the W/2 second delay makes this estimate not directly usable in
feedback loops.
- The delayed tachometer estimate is extrapolated forward using the
known history of drive voltages that have been sent to the motor
during the past W/2 seconds. The RCP8 uses a first order differential
equation model to predict the behavior of each axis. (The same model
that is used for background consistency checks). The equation with
initial conditions is numerically integrated over the W/2 second
interval to produce the tachometer estimate for the present moment.
There are four setup questions that configure the Virtual Tachometer. The
first sets the actual velocity in degrees/second that 100 T–Units will
represent. This number should be set 20% greater than the fastest
anticipated rate of rotation. Do not make it unnecessarily large, as this will
introduce quantization errors in the Virtual Tach units.
The second question defines the width of the position history window. The
0.5 second default will be appropriate in almost all cases. Making it larger
will produce smoother drive voltages at low scan speeds, but at the expense
of greater errors in extrapolating the phase delay. The fourth question
permits the extrapolation model to be switched OFF for testing purposes,
but it should always remain ON during normal operation.
The third question allows you to minimize the effects of noise in the least
significant bits of the antenna positions. It sets a minimum travel that must
be observed within the history window in order to produce a nonzero
Virtual Tachometer estimate. The minimum travel is similar to a constraint
on the standard deviation of the positions within the window. When
quantization errors are dominant, the minimum travel should be set to
approximately one half the weight of an LSB. The proper setting will
ensure that a tachometer value of zero is produced whenever the antenna is
genuinely at rest.
Enforce soft limits of position travel: NO
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Minimum soft limit of travel: -1.00 deg
Maximum soft limit of travel: 91.00 deg
Most weather radar antennas can operate only over a limited range of
elevation angles—typically from slightly below horizon to slightly beyond
zenith. Since mechanical stops are encountered, it is important not to run
the antenna into its limits at any appreciable speed. To enforce this, the
RCP8 can be programmed with two soft angle limits, beyond which the
antenna should not travel. These internal bounds will typically be set
slightly short of the actual mechanical stops and of any limit switches that
might be activated. The stops should never be contacted during normal
operation. Enter the two limits (lower/upper) in degrees (º).
NOTE Note: The angle span defined by these limits may be any clockwise sector
as large as 359º.
Enforce shutdown limits of position travel: NO
Minimum shutdown limit of travel: -3.00 deg
Maximum shutdown limit of travel: 93.00 deg
These travel limits represent the hard bounds between where the antenna
must lie. If the angle is observed to be outside of these limits, the RCP8 will
shutdown immediately. The shutdown limits are intended to catch
preposterous angles that might result from broken cables or faulty position
encoders. The limits should be set to the furthest downward (lower) and
upward (upper) positions that are realizable, preferably just before any
limit switches are contacted.
WARNING Note: The angle span, defined by these limits, may be any clockwise
sector as large as 359º.
Force shutdown if tach/pos are inconsistent: YES
Permissible fixed error: 1.50 deg/sec
Permissible relative error: 10.00 %
The RCP8 continually checks to ensure that the velocity measured by the
antenna tachometers matches those obtained by differentiating the antenna
position. If these quantities are dissimilar, then a failure may have occurred
that could lead to the damage of the mechanical system. For example, if a
velocity servo is running, and if the tachometer input signal were removed,
then the processor would assume that the antenna was not up to speed and
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would continue to output a large drive. If the antenna were indeed

spinning, this large drive could lead to difficulty.
Force shutdown for unresponsive antenna: YES
Permissible tach prediction error: 15.0 T–Units
Maximum duration of such error: 3.0 sec
One of the more damaging types of antenna failures can occur when the
motor, the gearbox, or the antenna itself becomes jammed. In such cases,
it is important that the servo system remove the motor drive immediately
to minimize consequential damages. To accomplish this type of safety
action, the RCP8 makes a decision to shutdown based on a comparison of
the actual antenna acceleration with the expected acceleration.
Moment of Inertia: 6.00 (D–Units / T–Units/sec)
This parameter defines the moment of inertia in a linear dynamic model of

the antenna motion. The moment of inertia can only be measured when the
antenna is accelerating. Representative values can be read from the Angle
Monitors alt display while applying ad or ed commands. This parameter is
used as part of the background calculation that checks for an unresponsive
or jammed antenna.
NOTE Important: The motor sustaining drives and the nominal drive slopes must
be properly set, before the moment of inertia, so each axis can be
measured.
NOTE Important: When virtual tachometers are in use, the associated antenna
model predictor must be disabled while the moment of inertia is being
measured on each axis.
Enforce model–based acceleration limits: YES
Maximum acceleration: 6.0 deg/sec/sec
Extension of bound toward zero drive: 50%
The RCP8 servos can operate under the constraint of bounding the
maximum acceleration (on each axis) that the antenna will experience.
This acceleration limiter is based on the RCP8s existing first-order linear
differential equation antenna model. When the limiter is enabled, output
drive levels are clamped within the range of voltages that would keep the
antenna acceleration within the configured bounds. This results in much
108 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

gentler and smoother large-scale motion of the antenna, without

compromising small-scale performance in any way.
WARNING Important: Since the acceleration limiter is based on the RCP8s internal
antenna model, all steps up to and including the proper measurement of
the moment of inertia must be complete before enabling this feature.
Acceleration limiting works by keeping the motor drive bounded within an

interval that is centered on the voltage that would maintain the present
velocity. If the simulated model of the antenna is tuned properly, this
algorithm limits both the maximum acceleration (increasing drive) and
maximum deceleration (decreasing drive) of the antenna.
The third question (Extension of bound...) gives finer control of the extent
to which the model-based acceleration limiter is willing to extend the
allowable drive interval down to include zero volts. To insure that the
antenna could always be stopped, even if the numerical model were badly
mistuned, the original implementation of the acceleration limiter always
extended the valid drive interval to include zero volts. This meant that zero
drive could always be applied to bring the antenna to a stop; but as a result,
the maximum deceleration limit would sometimes be exceeded. In some
cases this would lead to gear strain as the antenna coasted to a stop from
high speed under zero drive.
The third question allows the deceleration region to be controlled. If the

antenna can safely coast to a stop from any velocity, then the safest setting
is the old default value of 100%, i.e., the allowable drive interval is
extended all the way to zero. A value of 0% would enforce the deceleration
limit just as strongly as the acceleration limit, but should only be used if
the model is properly tuned and if the antenna could be strained by coasting
to a stop. The new default value of 50% is usually a reasonable
compromise.
Use drive compensation for unbalanced antenna: YES
Neutral droop position of antenna: 35.0 deg
Drive required 90–deg off neutral: 51.4 D–Units
The RCP8 can apply drive compensation to an antenna that is not

mechanically balanced. The result is that even a badly unbalanced axis can
be properly stabilized without requiring any readjustment of the antenna
counterweights. The new setup questions in the axis menu are:
The model being assumed here is that the center of mass of the unbalanced
antenna is offset some distance from the axis of rotation. Thus, when no
other forces are applied, the antenna will tend to droop to some neutral
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angle that puts that center of mass directly below that axis. In the above
example, the neutral droop angle is 35 degrees, i.e., no motor drive is
required to hold the antenna at that position.
Once we know the neutral droop angle N, the drive that is required to
compensate for the imbalance when positioned at some angle P is simply
D sin(P–N), where D is the drive that would be required to hold the axis
90-degrees away from the neutral point. The second setup question asks for
that value D.
As an example, suppose we have the unbalanced antenna mentioned above

that naturally returns to 35 degrees whenever no drive is applied. We wish
to compensate for this, and have manually determined that a drive level of
-28 D-Units is required to hold the antenna down when it is positioned at
two degrees. The drive that would be required at 90 degrees offset is
therefore -28 / sin(2-35) = 51.4 D-Units, which we then enter into the
second setup question.
Drive voltage is positive for positive motion: YES
Set this Boolean variable to either YES or NO if the numerically positive

drive levels result in upward or downward velocities. The correct setting
can easily be determined by setting up a small positive drive, using the
local TTY angle monitor, and noting whether the positions are increasing
or decreasing with time.
Tach voltage is positive for positive motion: YES
Set the Boolean variable to either YES or NO if the positive tachometer A/

D values, while the antenna is moving and while using the local TTY angle
monitor, correspond to upward (CW) or downward (CCW) velocities. The
displayed tachometer values should be positive whenever the position
increases with time. If the sign is incorrect, then toggle this variable.
Drive output offset: 0.00 D–Units
Use this offset value if the servo power amplifiers do not produce zero
drive when zero voltage is applied. Do not use this value to attempt to
compensate for asymmetric motor-drive requirements in the two
directions. Instead, use the separate positive and negative sustaining motor
drives and the separate nominal drive slopes.
Tachometer input offset: 0.00 T–Units
Use this value if there are DC offsets in the tachometer signals. The RCP8
automatically DC–balances its differential tachometer inputs, so residual
offsets may be the result of contact potentials in the wiring of the
110 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

tachometer. If necessary, adjust this input offset so that a stationary axis

produces a tachometer reading of zero.
5.6 The VSERVO Command

Once the velocity servo parameters is set to an initial-guess value, it is
important to exercise the servo on each axis to check for proper behavior.
When properly setup, the servo should rapidly, and without overshoot,
bring the antenna velocity to any requested rate as entered via the local
TTY at and et commands. The tachometer readings should be reasonably
stable—plus or minus 0.1 T-Units—and the output drive should exhibit
minimal oscillation around the mean level necessary to obtain the
requested velocity.
The following suggestions will assist to resolve problematic areas in the

servo setup.
- If the servo is completely unstable, recheck the tach sign to ensure the
positive velocities correspond to the positive position increments.
- If the tach sign is correct, then observe the drive sign. If velocity
overshoots are observed, the tachometer and drive filtering time
constants may be too long. If the antenna is sluggish and does not
quickly reach the desired velocity, then the feedback gain is too low.
- If the antenna chatters, or if the output drive oscillates around its mean
value, the feedback gain is probably too high.
- If the equilibrium velocities differ slightly from the requested rates,
such as request 50 but get 51, the nominal drive slope and/or
sustaining drives are incorrect.
Motor positive sustaining drive: 15.00 D–Units
Motor negative sustaining drive: –15.00 D–Units
These numbers indicate the drives that are required to just overcome the
friction of the motor during positive (CW or upward) and negative (CCW
or downward) motion. These are given in D-units, ranging from -100 to
+100. To determine the proper values, use the local TTY control ad and ed
commands. Start from initial rest and gradually increase the drive until the
motor suddenly starts to move. Then decrease the drive until the motion
stops due to friction. Enter the smallest drive values for which continuous
motion could be sustained.
Nominal positive drive slope: 0.800 D/T–Units
Nominal negative drive slope: 0.800 D/T–Units
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These parameters are used along with the sustaining drive levels to make
an initial guess of the drive required to maintain a given velocity in the
steady state.
The following values can be determined by using the local TTY control.
1. Output a drive level that results in a velocity that is approximately

75% of full speed.
2. Record the drive and tach readings from the TTY once a steady
tachometer reading has been achieved. The required slope is (Drive -
Sustain) / Tach, where Sustain refers to the sustaining drives that was
measured in the previous section.
If the motor amplifier has a different gain in each direction, two different
slopes are permitted—the first value for positive (CW or upward) motion
and the second one for negative (CCW or downward) motion.
NOTE Note: The slopes are used only as a first-order estimate. Extreme accuracy
is not necessary to operate the velocity servos.
Velocity feedback slope: 25.000 D/dT–Units
The tachometer error feedback slope controls the tightness of the velocity
servo. The velocity servo is stable for virtually all values of this parameter
however, if the value is too small, the motion will be sluggish with
relatively large errors in the final achieved velocity. If the value is too
large, the currents will thrash wildly as the servo attempts to maintain the
exact requested tachometer level. The appropriate value must be
determined empirically.
Connect an oscilloscope to the drive and tachometer signals and use the
local TTY control to select different servo rates— the at and et commands.
Choose the largest value of the parameter that will bring the antenna
rapidly to the requested velocities without excessive drive oscillation
around its equilibrium value. If a scope is not available, the user can also
make a fair judgement by observing the drive values that are displayed on
the TTY. The feedback slope has units of Drive/TachError; typical values
range from 10 to 200.
Velocity feedback deadzone: 0.10 T–Units
A deadzone is built in to the tachometer feedback path to ensure that the

uncertainty of the low bits, of the A/D converters, does not result in motor
chatter. Typical values are 0.1 to 0.5 T-units. If values above these limits
are necessary to control the chatter, then this is indicative of the excessive
noise on the tachometer inputs.
112 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Apply velocity error integral correction: YES New Value:
Characteristic time of the integral: 2.00 sec New Value:
Maximum resulting drive bias: +/-25.00 D–Units New Value:
The RCP8 velocity servos include a velocity error integral feedback term,
in addition to the proportional error feedback term and bias terms that have
always been available. The error integral effectively removes any
remaining steady-state velocity bias from the servo, and guarantees that
scans will run at precisely their requested speed. These questions to
configure the velocity error integral feedback term. The feature is switched
On/Off using the first question.
The second question establishes the characteristic time T0 of the integral,

which is defined as follows. Suppose that a fixed velocity error E was
sustained for a period of time. The proportional feedback term would
produce a drive D=SE, where S is the velocity feedback slope. Then, if that
same error E were applied to the integrator for T0 seconds, the same drive
term D would also result.
The gain of the integrator effectively is established by T0 ; larger times

produce smaller gains. One rule of thumb (Ziegler–Nichols) for a first
guess of S and T0 is to disable the integral feedback, and increase S until
reaching a value Su , at which the antenna goes into unstable oscillation
with an observed period Pu. Reasonable first settings will then be obtained
with S = Su / 2.2, and T0 = 2.2 Pu.
The integral can be clamped (the so called anti-windup feature) to prevent

it from drifting into large values when the antenna is not in equilibrium.
This clamp value is expressed as the maximum drive correction that can be
contributed from the integral term alone. If your antenna is well
characterized by its sustaining drives and nominal drive slopes, then this
clamp value can be reduced (since the nominal guesses do not need to be
adjusted very much). This will help reduce brief overshoots that can be
caused by the integral feedback.
Maximum absolute velocity: 95.00 T–Units
This value represents the tachometer level which corresponds to the

maximum antenna rotation rate that is considered safe. The lower-rate
limit will be the negative of the upper-rate limit. If the A/D converter
hardware components have been set properly, the maximum value should
be at least halfway through the converters full range—at least 50. If the
safe value is less than 50, then the A/D range should be altered to make
better use of the available 12 bits. The local TTY control, or an external
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manual control, can be used to cause the antenna to spin at the maximum
safe rate while the tach levels are noted from the local TTY angle display.
Velocity shutdown safe margin: 4.00 T–Units
Velocity shutdown check time: 1.00 sec
The RCP8 has provisions to shutdown whenever the observed velocity on

either antenna axis exceeds the internal maximum velocity limits that are
enforced by the velocity servo. In the event that the velocity overshoots in
the vicinity of these limits, the shutdown criterion can sometimes lead to
false shutdowns when no actual problem exists. Ideally, the velocity servo
will be setup to ensure that overshoots will not occur however, given the
influences of motor damping and wind gusts, this strict condition is
difficult to enforce.
To minimize false shutdowns due to temporary velocity overshoots, the

shutdown criterion is expressed in terms of a velocity tolerance and a time
limit. If this condition persist longer than the specified time, shutdown will
occur whenever the absolute value of the measured velocity exceeds the
sum of the maximum limit and the specified tolerance. As an initial guess,
the tolerance should be set slightly higher than the maximum sustained
velocity error that is ever observed, under normal operating conditions,
while taking into account wind loading and other operational effects. The
time should then be set slightly longer than the time by which the longest
transient overshoot exceeds the specified tolerance.
Tach filter time constant: 0.025 sec
The tachometer inputs can be filtered with a simple, exponentially-

weighted smoothing filter prior to applying to the velocity servo. This
filtering is intended to remove spurious components from the digital
tachometer samples. The filter time constant is typically set at
approximately one–third the reciprocal of the antennas upper-frequency
response limit.
The filter time constant is entered directly in seconds but the exact value
must be determined by trial and error from an initial approximation. If the
time constant is too large, the velocity servo will become unstable and will
oscillate around the desired velocities before settling. If the time constant
is too small, then no significant smoothing or spurious rejection will be
attained. The value should be increased until the velocity overshoots
become noticeable on an oscilloscope display of the tachometer signals.
The final time-constant value should be slightly less than this level.
Velocity overshoots can also be detected by the human eye by requesting
zero velocity and observing how the antenna comes to rest.
114 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

NOTE Important: The following drive filter time must be fine-tuned

concurrently with the tachometer filtering. Also, both should be tuned
whenever the Virtual Tachometer is in use.
Drive filter time constant: 0.025 sec
This drive filter behaves much like the tachometer filter, as described in the
previous paragraph, except this is applied to the output drive levels prior to
D/A conversion. The purpose of the filter is to smooth the motor drive
signal and to remove the high frequency feedback components that can be
generated by the velocity servo. Although these components most likely
would be filtered by the motor and mechanical system, the users power-
drive electronics might be adversely affected by sudden changes in the
motor current. The filter time constant should be set as large as possible,
consistent with preventing velocity overshoots as described in the previous
paragraph. The drive and tachometer filters will have similar time
constants however, from this common value, improved performance is
usually obtained if the tachometer constant is decreased and the drive
constant is increased.
Drive slew rate limit for Zero #rarr#Max: 0.200 sec
A slew rate limit can also be imposed on the output drive signals. The limit
is expressed as the number of seconds required for the drive to slew from
zero to 100. For example, a value of 0.2 seconds would restrict the rate of
change of the output drive to 500 D-Units/second. The slew rate limit is
useful in preventing abrupt changes in motor drive since, in some cases,
such fluctuations can bring about unwanted oscillations in the antenna/
pedestal mechanical system. The slew rate limiter is applied by the RCP8
software after the output filter.
The Zero-to-Max drive slew rate time can be set as large as 15 seconds.
This allows the RCP8 servos to work more gracefully with external motor
controllers that incorporate a velocity feedback loop of their own. In such
cases, the RCP8 velocity feedback slope should be set to zero, and internal
(model based) acceleration limiting should be disabled. Acceleration
limiting can be accomplished instead using the RCP8s drive slew rate
limiter, which can now work over a longer time span.
Note that the drive filtering and slew rate limiting are both overruled by the
detection of shutdown conditions, and the enforcement of soft limits of
travel. If the antenna is heading rapidly toward a soft limit, the drive will
be immediately adjusted in order to stop before that limit is reached.
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5.7 The PSERVO Command

The legacy position servo parameters can be set up using a few iterations
of the following procedures:
1. Make sure the velocity servo has been thoroughly checked, in

accordance with the previous section, since the position servo cannot
work properly with incorrect settings.
2. Set the inner and outer zones of the hysteresis as described below.
3. Set the first position break point to a small value P, such as 1.0º , and
attempt several values of first interval slope. Find the largest slope that
results in no overshoot when steps of P-degrees or less are performed.
Use the ap and ep Angle Monitor commands to test the slope values.
4. Choose a larger second position break point and find the largest
second interval slope that accomplishes larger steps without
overshoot.
5. Find the largest third interval slope that permits large steps of any size
to be travelled without overshoot.
After setting the position servo variables, it is important to exercise the

servo on each axis to check for proper behavior. Attempt to move the
antenna using the local TTY ap and ep commands. Verify that any position
step can be requested without overshooting the final mark. Also, verify that
very small steps cause antenna motion to occur. If the position feedback
curve is not correct, it is possible for the servo to work properly for some
step sizes but not for others. Therefore, a range of steps should be tested.
The procedure, described in the previous paragraph, is an attempt to tune

the antenna for maximum performance (i.e., the antenna will arrive at a
requested position as rapidly as possible.) On some systems, delays—
usually in the response to a drive voltage—can lead to small position
overshoots that can usually be eliminated by detuning the antenna
performance. Detuning is accomplished by lowering the slopes, for the
first and second endpoints, so the approximation to the braking curve lies
below the observed curve. This will usually eliminate any position
overshoot, with a slight performance penalty.
Hysteresis inner zone: 0.020 deg
Hysteresis outer zone: 0.050 deg
These represent the position errors, in degrees, within which the position
servo will not attempt to correct the antennas location. Two values are
specified — one for the lower limit and one for the upper limit. Whenever
the actual position error is less than the lower limit, the position servo will
not drive the antenna (i.e., it will request zero velocity from the velocity
116 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

servo.) Likewise, whenever the actual position error is greater than the
upper limit, the servo will always drive the antenna to correct it. There is
hysteresis between these limits which helps to prevent antenna chatter once
it has reached the desired position (the servos state between the limits is
whatever it was at the time the limits were entered.)
It is important that the inner limit be greater than half the weight of the least
significant bit that encodes the antenna position. For example, for 12-bit
binary encoding the inner limit must be at least 0.045º. If it were smaller,
the position servo might not realize that the final position had been reached
and would continually move the antenna around a single LSB interval. As
an initial guess, use an inner zone that is 10% larger than half the LSB
weight. The outer zone should then be set somewhat larger, perhaps by
50%.
Servo type: Legacy
There are two types of position servo loops, Legacy and Feedfwd. Legacy
has a desired speed which ramps to zero at the desired position, using
multiple slopes shown here:
First position break point: 1.00 deg
Second position break point: 5.00 deg
These represent the values of the two position-error break points, in a

piecewise linear definition, of the desired velocity-versus-position error.
First interval slope: 12.00 (T–units)/deg
Second interval slope: 3.00 (T–units)/deg
Third interval slope: 1.00 (T–units)/deg
These represent the three piecewise linear definition slopes of a desired

velocity-versus-position error.
The following three intervals are defined as:
1. Zero to first-break point,

2. first-break point to second-break point, and
3. second-break point to infinity.
Servo type: Feedfwd
The Feedfwd servo uses a feed forward servo to correct for the effects of a
stretching rubber belt used on the Vaisala pedestals, for example. Its tuning
parameters are:
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Period of mechanical resonance: 0.50 sec
This is a mechanical property of the antenna–pedestal combination.

Different for azimuth and elevation.
Drive constant: 0.5000 deg/sec/D–Unit
This is a property of the motor driver and gear ratio, defining how many
deg/sec drive is produced by a D-unit. This is different for azimuth and
elevation in the Vaisala pedestal.
Drive end wait factor (n*T/2+T/4): 1
At the end of the drive, wait for a period of time before reading the current
position to check it. T is the period of mechanical resonance, and here you
enter the n.
Maximum acceleration: 6.0 deg/sec/sec
This is the maximum acceleration the antenna-pedestal is capable of doing.
5.8 The CONTROL Command
5.8.1 Output Line Configuration

These setup questions are accessed by typing Control Lines at the RCP>
prompt. The command prompts the user with a series of similar questions
which choose the polarity of the control lines that are driven by the RCP8.
Each control line can be either active-high or active-low.
The following two choices are available for the Radiate ON and Radiate
OFF control lines:
1. Complementary levels that are either ON or OFF, according to the

current radiate request.
2. Pulse levels, in which Radiate ON pulses briefly to enable the radiate
and Radiate OFF pulses briefly to disable it. The time duration of the
pulses is adjustable.
5.8.2 Logic Equation Control Qualifiers

These setup questions are accessed by typing "Control Logic" at the
"RCP>" prompt. The questions are actually a series of up to 32 logic
equations that allow the user to qualify the RCP8 control functions in a
very general way. Control bits can be modified according to any logical
118 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

combination of control bits, status bits, and special internal local variables.
The result is that the RCP8 can be programmed to perform custom
safeguards and implement special feedbacks that are specific to each site.
Each equation consists of a control variable on the left that is assigned to

some logical combination of variables on the right. The syntax is that of an
ordinary "C" language statement using the operators "&" for AND, "|" for
OR, and "!" for NOT. Parentheses may be included anywhere, as needed.
New equations and subcommands are typed following the special "-->"
prompt that is printed below the current equation. An example of how a
few logic equations might appear is shown below.
EQ00: v0 = airflow | wavegp | magcur
EQ01: cservo = cservo & !v0
EQ02: relay = relay | c10
EQ03: ctrpower = true
-->
In the above example, EQ00 assigns the internal local variable "V0" to the
logical OR of the "airflow", "waveguide pressure" and "magnetron
current" status bits. V0 will be TRUE whenever any of those status lines
are true. The second equation then uses a TRUE sense of V0 to force the
"servo power" control line FALSE. Thus, servo power will only be on if it
is requested to be on, and if none of the three control lines are asserted.
Likewise, EQ02 allows the external local/remote relay to be forced on by
the auxiliary control line C10. Finally, EQ03 forces "T/R power" to be on
all the time, regardless of any other conditions.
The rules for constructing equations are as follows.
- The right side of the equation must consist of some logical

combination of any of the above control variables, plus any of the
status variables: spw0, spw1, sradiate, sservo, strpower, sreset, siris0,
siris1, siris2, local, standby, ilock, magcur, airflow, wavegp, elimlo,
elimhi, ngen_on, sgen_on, sgen_cw, sgen_flt, local_tr, shutdown,
s[0:63]. The numbered status variables S[0:63] refer to the optional
auxiliary status input lines.
- The left side of the equation must consist of one of the control
variables: cpw0, cpw1, cradiate, cservo, ctrpower, creset, ciris0,
ciris1, ciris2, ngen_on, sgen_on, sgen_cw, relay, shut1, shut2,
v[0:15], c[0:63]. Control variables that have status counterparts are
prefixed with the letter "c". Thus, "cradiate" is the request to radiate,
whereas "sradiate" is the detected radiate status. The numbered local
variables V[0:15] can be used as temporary storage for sub-
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expressions, and the numbered control lines C[0:63] refer to the

optional auxiliary control outputs.
- It is also possible to write logic equations in which status variables
appear on the left–hand side. The meaning given to such assignments
is that the working value of the status variable is modified from its
default "requested" value, i.e., the value being assigned from
whatever hardware line or external condition is normally attached to
the status bit. In this sense, the modification of a status variable is
identical to the modification of a control variable. In both cases, when
the variable appears on the right–hand side, it refers to its default
"requested" value.
- The special symbols TRUE and FALSE may be used on the right side
of an equation to indicate "always" and "never".
- The maximum number of different variables on the right side of an
equation is four. If you need to combine more than four variables into
an expression, then make use of multiple equations using local
variables to combine all of the bits together. For example, to force
servo power off whenever any of the first eight auxiliary status lines
is high:
EQ00 : V0 = S0 | S1 | S2 | S3
EQ01 : V1 = S4 | S5 | S6 | S7
EQ02 : Cservo = Cservo & !(V0 | V1)
- Control variables that appear on the right side of an equation refer to
the requested control state, whereas those appearing on the left-hand-
side reflect the final qualified state. Thus, the equation "cservo =
cservo & !v0" causes the requested servo state to be AND'ed with the
negation of local variable V0, and the result is the actual servo state.
This convention is very handy, and allows you to use control variables
on the right without ambiguity. For example, the pair of equations:
"EQ00: cpw0 = cpw1" and "EQ01: cpw1 = cpw0", would swap the
two pulsewidth control bits.
- Order of evaluation of each equation is from right-to-left. There is no
evaluation precedence among the "&", "|", and "!" operators. Thus,
"!V0 & V1" means "!(V0 & V1)", rather than "(!V0) & V1". Be sure
to use parentheses as needed to express your equations properly.
- Order of evaluation of the set of equations is from EQ00 to EQ31. The
order is important only when local variables are assigned in earlier
equations so that they can be used in later equations.
- The error message that is printed when an ambiguous variable name
is typed into a logic equation includes a list of all of the possible
matches. This can help you identify how to type the variable uniquely.
- The logic equation editor prints a warning upon exit if multiple
assignments are being made to the same variable. For normal status
and control variables this almost certainly indicates an error, since
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only the final assignment will have any lasting effect. For local
variables, however, multiple sequential assignments are meaningful
since an assignment on one line may be referenced on a subsequent
line. For now, the warning is printed even for local variables since
there is still a chance that that is not what you had intended to do.
Spurious local variable warnings can be eliminated by choosing a
unique set of numbered variables to use (i.e., by not reusing them
within the overall set of equations).
Comments and disabled equations are available:
- It is possible to add a line of comment text to each logic equation. Use

the "#" command, followed by the text (which may be up to 74
characters in length). If no non–blank text is found, then the comment
is removed. Whenever an equation includes a comment, the comment
text will be displayed in the line preceding the equation during the
editing process.
- It is possible to enable and disable control logic equations while
keeping the content of the equation intact. Use the "/" command
within the equation editor to toggle whether the current equation is
effectively "commented out". The text for disabled equations will still
be shown in the editor, but will be prefixed with the "#" character.
This feature is very handy when you want to temporarily disable some
trusted and debugged equations without the risk of retyping them
incorrectly later.
Some additional notes on the usage of variables should also be kept in

mind:
- A side effect of making assignments to local variables is that these bits

are also reported to the host computer via the RCP8's Internal BITE
packet. This opens many possibilities for designing customized status
bits that could be monitored and reported by the IRIS BITEX utility.
- The variables "shut1" and "shut2" cause a user-induced shutdown if
they are set to TRUE. Thus, you may now write logic equations that
force a shutdown of the RCP8 when certain conditions are present.
The two types of shutdowns are provided in case there is a need to
distinguish among different causes. Along with this, the status
variable "shutdown" is set TRUE whenever the RCP8 is shutdown.
For example, adding the equation "CSERVO = CSERVO &
!SHUTDOWN" will force the servo power off whenever the RCP8 is
shutdown.
- The four status variables "usr0", "usr1", "usr2", and "usr3" correspond
to the four input lines at pins 1–4 of header H9 on the RCP8 main
board. These are general purpose TTL inputs that you may assign to
any purpose you wish. For example, to include an additional status bit
in the RCP8's Internal BITE packet, include an equation such as "v13
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= usr0". Since the local variables states appear in the BITE packet, the
"usr0" line will show up in bit #6 of byte #12 as a result of this
assignment.
- The status variable "unsafe" is TRUE if the RCP8 is in the temporary
unsafe mode following a "reset" command. The status variables
"ovel_az" and "ovel_el" are TRUE whenever the velocity on the
corresponding axis exceeds the maximum value setup from the
"velocity" command.
- The eight control variables csgen0 through csgen7 represent bits zero
through seven of the signal generator level that is being requested by
the host computer. Having access to these bits makes it possible to
remap the level bits in cases where the signal generator is not
controlled via the default HPIB interface.
- The two control variables trig_normal and trig_blank can be used to
override the protected sector trigger blanking that is defined in the
"Site Custom" menu. These new variables operate as follows (see also
5.8.4 Logic Equation Examples on page 127):
- When trig_blank is FALSE and trig_normal is FALSE, the

trigger is blanked whenever the antenna is within one of the
designated sectors. This is the normal operating mode. You can
disable all eight of the sectors if you don't want to use the trigger
blanking feature at all.
- When trig_blank is FALSE and trig_normal is TRUE, the
trigger is always generated, no matter where the antenna is.
- When trig_blank is TRUE, the trigger is always blanked, no
matter where the antenna is. The assignment to trig_normal is
ignored in this case.
When a new equation is entered, the RCP8 immediately parses the input
text and converts the right-hand-side into an internal representation that
can be evaluated efficiently at run time. The original line of text is
discarded. Thus, when the equation is re–displayed, the RCP8 must
recreate a printed line of text from this internal compiled representation. As
a result, the equation that is echoed back will not always look the same as
the equation that was originally typed. It will be logically equivalent, of
course, but the exact syntax may be different. Some examples follow:
--> v0 = v1 & v2 & !v3
EQ00: v0 = v1 & v2 & !v3
Here, the output representation happens to be identical to the original

input.
--> v0 = v1 & (v2 | v3)
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EQ00: v0 = (v1 & v2) | (v1 & v3)
In this case, the equation is printed as an expanded version of the original.

Note that the Boolean operators "&" and "|" both distribute symmetrically
over each other, so that logical expressions can be factored and expanded
over either operator.
--> v0 = (v1 & v2) | (v1 & !v2)
EQ00: v0 = v1
Here, what appears to be a function of two variables is really only

dependent on one.
--> v0 = (!v1) & (!v2)
EQ00: v0 = !(v1 | v2)
In this case, the DeMorgan equivalent of the "AND of two negations" is

printed as the "negation of two OR's". This type of transformation will
often be observed, since the RCP8 attempts to minimize the number of "!"
operators in its synthesized expressions.
The following list of subcommands is printed at the beginning of the

equation list.
Subcommands
Del – Delete text of current equation
Ins – Insert free slot before current equation
Pack – Pack equations to consolidate free slots
! – Negate logic sense of equation
?<v> – Additional help
The first three subcommands are used to move and edit the list of
equations. "Del" deletes the text of the current equation so that the line is
blank. "Ins" inserts a blank equation at the current location by shifting the
current equation plus all subsequent equations ahead by one. "Pack"
removes blank equations and shifts all equations into the lower numbered
slots.
The "!" subcommand replaces the current equation with its logical
negation. Some examples are:
EQ00: v0 = v1 & v2
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--> !
EQ00: v0 = !(v1 & v2)
EQ00: v0 = v1 & !v2
--> !
EQ00: v0 = (!v1) | v2
Note that DeMorgan's theorem was used to reprint the second of these two
examples, because doing so removes an extra "!" from the equation.
Perhaps the simplest equation to negate is:
EQ00: cservo = true
--> !
EQ00: cservo = false
Here, the output variable is forced TRUE/FALSE each time the "!"
subcommand is used. This can be very helpful when testing individual
control lines for simple ON/OFF response.
Before the actual equation list appears (in response to the "Control Logic"
command), the following initial question is asked:
Enable logic override of control lines: NO New Value:
This first question allows the entire set of equations to easily be switched
ON/OFF, without having to change any of the equations themselves.
Answering "NO" will leave the control functions unmodified (direct
control from the host computer); whereas "YES" will apply all of the
logical constraints.
Unlike all other RCP8 setup menus, the logic equation editor is a live
menu. This means that each equation becomes active as soon as it is typed
in. It then becomes easy to test individual control lines, and to edit the set
of equations until the desired effects are obtained. Also, the "!"
subcommand becomes a simple shortcut to perform a quick ON/OFF
toggle test of any control line.
5.8.3 Logic Equation Timer Variables

A collection of software timer variables are supported for use with logic
equations. Eight control variables are available whose names have the
generic form "tn_mode_time", depending on how each timer has been
configured. For example, if timer #3 is configured to be a retriggerable
124 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

pulse generator with a period of 2.5 seconds, then the variable

"t3_retrig_2.5" would appear in the control variable list. You could
abbreviate the typed-in name to just "t3", but the full mode and time will
be echoed in each equation so that the exact behavior of the timer variables
is clear at a glance.
Timer variables can appear on both the left and right sides of logic
equations. On the right they act as normal Boolean variables having
TRUE/FALSE values that can be used in any logic equation. However,
when they appear on the left, the value being assigned from the right-hand
side acts as an input trigger to the timer. The timer's response to this input
can take several forms, depending on the mode that has been selected. The
available modes are:
- Retriggerable Pulse Generator ("retrig")

This timer generates a TRUE pulse whenever a FALSE->TRUE
(rising edge) transition is applied to its input. Each rising edge
continues to retrigger the output pulse, i.e., a fresh pulse period is
begun each time. For example, if a rising edge were presented once
per second to the timer "t0_retrig_1.5", then the timer output would be
a steady TRUE value. Since the 1.5-second timeout begins anew once
per second, the output pulse will never actually end. "Retrig" timers
are handy for keeping track of whether any FALSE->TRUE
transitions have occurred (perhaps irregularly) over a given period of
time.
- Change-Detecting Pulse Generator ("change")
This timer is like the retriggerable timer, except that either input edge
will cause the period to reset. Use it whenever you require an output
pulse in response to any change in measured conditions, e.g., you
could force "radiate" OFF briefly whenever the pulsewidth changed in
either direction.
- Single Pulse Generator ("single")
This timer generates a pulse similar to "retrig", except that an active
pulse will not be retriggered by additional input transitions. For
example, if a rising edge were presented once per second to the timer
"t0_single_1.5", then the timer output would be a rectangular wave
that is TRUE for 1.5 seconds and FALSE for 0.5 seconds. The 1.5-
second TRUE pulse is first triggered by an input edge. One second
later the timer is still active, so the next input edge is ignored. The
pulse finally ends 1.5-seconds later, remains FALSE for 0.5 second,
and then is triggered again by the next rising input edge.
- The active-low application of "single" is also useful, as in the
following two equations which prevent "radiate" from being switched
back on within 60 seconds of it being switched off. Note that if a
"retrig" timer were used here, then repeated attempts at radiating
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would keep resetting the 60-second interval even though the

transmitter had never actually turned back on.
EQ00: t0_single_60 = !cradiate
EQ01: cradiate = cradiate & !t0_single_60
- Delay Line Filter/Follower ("filter")
This output of this timer attempts to follow its input, but with filtering
and delay effects added. Whenever a TRUE input is presented, an
internal counter begins counting up until the timer period is reached.
At that point the timer's output is set TRUE. Likewise, a FALSE input
causes the counter to decrement until reaching zero, at which point the
timer's output is set FALSE. The net result is that the output follows
the mean value of the input, and thus, a "filter" timer can be used to
clean up a noisy logic signal, or combination of logic conditions.
- Decisive-Grant, Indecisive-Wait ("fickle")
The "fickle" timer copies its input immediately to its output, unless the
output has just changed recently (within the setup period of the timer),
in which case the previous output level is held. Use this timer to
cleanup requests for state changes so that "original" and "thoughtful"
requests get honored (passed through) right away, but once honored,
a given request can not be changed for some minimum amount of
time. The "fickle" timer can be used to protect against needless or
damaging cycling of equipment that should not be turned On/Off
rapidly. Air conditioner thermostats typically have such a timer to
prevent the compressor from frequently stopping and restarting if the
temperature dial is twirled up and down in an indecisive manner. After
remaining in a stable state for a while, new requests will be honored
right away (unlike the "filter" timer which always introduces a delay);
but once honored, that new setting will once again persist for a little
while.
- Leading Edge Retard ("retard")
The output of this timer attempts to follow its input, except that rising
input edges are delayed by the timer period, whereas falling input
edges are passed through immediately. The result is that the leading
edges of the input signal are delayed, but the falling edges are not. A
"retard" timer is useful when one wants to delay only the onset portion
of a signal, e.g., to holdoff transmitting for a few seconds after a
radiate request has been made. It is also useful when filtering signals
to remove short spurious TRUE inputs in which, contrasted with the
"filter" timer, an instant-off effect is also required.
- Trailing Edge Extend ("extend")
This timer is the counterpart to "retard", in that the falling input edge
is extended by the timer period and the rising input edge is passed
immediately. An "extend" timer forces a minimum time during which
the timer output will be TRUE in response to any (possibly
126 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

momentary) TRUE input. It is useful for stretching a short input

condition out to at least some minimum time, or for adding additional
"hold time" to the end of a signal.
Note that the output of an "extend" timer is logically equivalent to the
negation of the output of a "retard" timer whose input is also negated.
Although these two timer classes are merely inverted-logic duals of
each other, it is still conceptually useful to have both the "retard" and
"extend" concepts. An analogy is that "AND" and "OR" are both
useful logic concepts, even though an OR-gate is merely an AND-gate
with inverted inputs and outputs.
- Periodic Clock Oscillator ("clock")
This timer produces a free-running clock having a specified period.

The length of the timer's TRUE interval (and hence, the duty cycle) is
also adjustable. The "clock" timers usually appear on the right side of
equations, where they can supply any periodic input that the logic
might require, e.g., to make a light blink, or to perform a periodic
reset. But their phase can also be resynchronized to the start of their
TRUE output interval by the application of a rising input edge.
5.8.4 Logic Equation Examples

The following examples show how to implement custom logic
requirements using the logic equations and timer variables.
Example #1
Suppose that an operational site requires that the radar transmitter be

switched off whenever the antenna is not rotating. This is fine for normal
operation, but during maintenance periods there must also be a procedure
to allow transmitting while stopped. When such an override is requested,
an audible warning and flashing light must first occur for 20 seconds; only
then does the override actually take effect. At that point the horn becomes
silent, but the warning light must continue to flash for the duration of the
override.
An RCP8 external status input line "S0" will be used to request the
override. Assume that control line "C0" activates the horn, and that "C1"
activates the warning light. The necessary equations are:
EQ00: v0 = cradiate & antstop & s0
EQ01: t0_retard_20 = v0
EQ02: c0 = v0 & !t0_retard_20
EQ03: c1 = v0 & t1_clock_1.5
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EQ04: cradiate = (cradiate & !antstop) | t0_retard_20
EQ00 assigns local variable "V0" as a qualified override request. V0 will

be TRUE when there is a request to radiate while stopped, and when the
external override request line is also TRUE. EQ03 combines this condition
with a 1.5-second periodic clock to produce the flashing light. Meanwhile,
EQ01 passes V0 through a 20-second "retard" timer. When the timer
output eventually becomes TRUE, EQ04 allows the transmitter to radiate
even though the antenna is stopped. Meanwhile, EQ02 sounds the horn
only during the timer's initial 20-second delay period.
As soon as the antenna starts moving, V0 and the timer output immediately
become FALSE. The horn and light are extinguished right away, and the
override input is ignored. The first "&" expression in EQ04 then allows the
transmitter to be controlled in the normal On/Off manner.
Example #2
Logic equations can help supply the necessary control signals for backing
out of stuck situations. In this example, an antenna servo power unit
requires override signals to move away from the low and high elevation
physical limit switches. Assume that "C0" and "C1" enable motion in the
up and down directions. The following equations will allow the "reset"
command to activate these lines briefly:
EQ00: c0 = antstop & unsafe & elimlo
EQ01: c1 = antstop & unsafe & elimhi
The "unsafe" status variable is TRUE for a short interval of time following
an RCP8 reset. Resets from the host computer serial port always give a 1.0-
second unsafe interval, whereas those from the RCP8 command line take
the number of seconds as an argument, e.g., "reset 2.5". The "antstop" test
is added as an additional safeguard to insure that the antenna is motionless
when the override is attempted.
Example #3
Logic equations can be used to supply the host computer with BITE
information that would not ordinarily be available. The trick is to make an
assignment to one of the first fourteen local variables, as those will then be
transmitted via the RCP8's Internal BITE Packet. For example, adding the
equation:
EQ00: v13 = ovel_az | ovel_el
will send a "velocity overspeed" bit to the host computer in Bit #6 of Byte
#12 (See Table 18 on page 160 for the mapping of the local variable bits).
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Example #4
When writing sets of logic equations for the RCP8, keep in mind that
assignments to most types of variables can not be referenced as such on
subsequent lines. When control and status variables appear on the right
side of an equation, they always refer to their original requested value.
Assignments made on the left will modify the variable's effective working
value; but the original requested value still remains unchanged. This is why
it is never correct to make more than one assignment to the same control
or status variable, and why the pair of equations:
EQ00: cpw0 = cpw1
EQ01: cpw1 = cpw0
would swap the two pulsewidth control lines without the use of the
temporary intermediate variable that would normally be required for
sequential assignments. The only variables that can be referenced
immediately after being assigned are the local variables V[0:15]. Thus, the
pair of equations:
EQ00: v0 = v1
EQ01: v1 = v0
would not swap the two local variables, but instead, would leave both set
to the original value of V1 (probably not useful).
Example #5
As an example of how the trigger blanking variables might be used,

consider a hypothetical farmhouse that is close enough to the radar that if
the antenna is pointing at it, and the antenna is stationary, we would exceed
the allowable microwave radiation limit. However, we are also allowed to
average the power exposure over longer periods, so that if the antenna is
moving we can radiate at the farmhouse as we sweep past it. We don't want
to inhibit the trigger whenever the antenna stops; only when it stops within
one of the protected sectors.
In summary, we want to stop transmitting while the antenna is stationary

and is within one of the designated sectors, but we also want the radar to
transmit whenever the antenna is moving. This is accomplished using the
single equation:
EQ00: TRIG_NORMAL = !ANTSTOP
For a related application in which we want to stop transmitting whenever

the antenna becomes stationary, simply use:
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EQ00: TRIG_BLANK = ANTSTOP
Note that the built-in timers could also be used to permit brief antenna
stoppings without producing the trigger side effects right away.
5.8.5 Logic Equation Configuration of

Variables.
These setup questions are accessed by typing "Control Variables" at the
"RCP>" prompt. Their purpose is to configure the internal variables that
can be used within logic equations.
Choose: Retrig Single Filter Retard Extend Clock
Timer #0 trigger mode: Retrig
Timer #0 period/delay: 1.0
There are eight questions of this form, one for each of the eight available
timers. Choose the mode of each timer (See 5.8.3 Logic Equation Timer
Variables on page 124), and its associated period or delay (in seconds).
Minimum velocity for 'antstop': 0.50 deg/sec
Minimum time for 'antstop': 2.00 sec
The status variable "antstop" is set TRUE whenever the antenna seems to
be stopped, i.e., has been moving slower than a prescribed speed for more
than a prescribed time. These setup questions configure these speed and
time thresholds. Both the AZ and EL axes must appear to be stopped in
order for "antstop" to be TRUE. Likewise, "antstop" is set FALSE
whenever the antenna seems to be moving, i.e., the speed on either axis has
exceeded the threshold speed for more than the specified time.
5.8.6 Analog Voltage Input Control Logic

Variables
You may configure Boolean variables whose values are based on
comparison tests of the eight analog voltage input lines. In this way, the
analog inputs can be thresholded and used as additional inputs to logic
equations within the RCP8. Up to sixteen such variables may be defined,
i.e., you may have, on the average, two threshold tests for each input line.
130 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

To setup the analog input variables, use the "Control ADC" command to
define the following information for each voltage comparison test that you
need:
Analog Input Test Variable Definitions
--------------------------------------
A/D Logic Variable #0 is defined: YES
Description of A00 variable: 'HiTemp '
Input summation term #1: A0
Input summation term #2: –A4
Input summation term #3: Zero
Input summation term #4: Zero
Test for ( A0–A4 > 3.55 Volts )
This example defines a new Boolean status variable named

"a00_HiTemp". This variable name will appear in the "?v" list of available
status variables within the equation editor, and the variable may be used on
the right side of any logic equation. The descriptive suffix is intended to
make the variable meaningful and readable within the text of the logic
equations. You may choose any 8-character name that does not contain
spaces or punctuation other than '.', '–', and '–'. The descriptive suffix can
be omitted (not recommended) by entering a space at the prompt, but your
logic equations will then become less readable.
The comparison test operates by summing the voltages on one or more

input channels, and then testing whether that sum is greater than a specified
voltage. If the test passes, then the variable is TRUE; otherwise it is
FALSE. Moreover, the input channels can be either added or subtracted
when computing the sum.
In the above example, "a0_HiTemp" will be TRUE whenever the

difference of the voltages on channels 0 and 4 is greater than 3.55 volts. If
you wish to create variables with a negated sense, you may reverse the
signs of the comparison tests. For example, we could have created
"a1_LowTemp" by defining the variable as:
A/D Logic Variable #1 is defined: YES
Description of A01 variable: 'LowTemp '
Input summation Term #1: A4
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Input summation Term #2: –A0
Input summation Term #3: Zero
Input summation Term #4: Zero
Test for ( A4–A0 > –2.55 Volts )
These could then be combined in a logic equation as follows:
EQ00: # V0 will be TRUE when the temperature is normal
\—: v0 = !(a0_HiTemp | a1_LowTemp)
-->
5.8.7 The STATUS Command

This command prompts the user with a series of similar questions to
choose whether each of the various status input lines are received by the
RCP8 and what the polarity of those inputs are.
5.8.8 The INU Command

This command configures the optional Inertial Navigation Unit (INU). The
INU provides the RCP8 with navigation and attitude information that is
necessary for stabilizing a moving platform.
Use platform stabilization algorithms: YES
A "NO" response will disable all INU features and will inhibit all
coordinate transformations between pedestal and Earth frames (the two
frames are assumed identical.) None of the questions below will be
displayed.
A "YES" response will enable the separate pedestal and Earth coordinate
frames and prompt the user with the following additional questions:
Negate sign of Roll angles: NO
Negate sign of Pitch angles: NO
Negate sign of Heading angles: NO
Use these questions if it is necessary to change the sign of the attitude

angles.
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Roll offset from true orientation: 0.00 deg
Pitch offset from true orientation: 0.00 deg
Heading offset from true orientation: 0.00 deg
Use these questions if there are fixed offsets in the attitude angles.
Typically, this will occur if the INU is not bolted directly in line with the
ship's principal axes.
Lead time for velocity extrapolation: 0.050 sec
The stability of the Earth-frame velocity servo can sometimes be improved

by leading the time derivatives of the attitude angles by a small amount.
Typical values are between zero and 80ms.
Dead INU detection time: 5.0 sec
The RCP8 will stop performing coordinate transformations if the INU data
stream is absent for more than this length of time. During the dead time, all
INU angles and velocities are artificially set to zero.
Built-in INU Simulation: External
The RCP8 contains an internal INU simulator that is very useful during
program development as well as for testing simulated moving
environments. Typing the response "OFF" will disable the simulator and
suppress the remaining questions in this section. Typing the response
"EXTERNAL" will result in simulated INU SDLC data signals generated
at the INU backpanel connector. This simulated stream can be looped back
into the normal INU inputs for testing. Typing the response "INTERNAL"
will run the same INU data simulation, but will internally loop it back into
the RCP8 and will not generate any SDLC output signals.
The simulated motion is sinuosity on each axis and includes an adjustable

amplitude, a center value, and a period. The default values that are
displayed are simulating rather rough conditions in presumably bad
weather.
Amplitude of motion for Roll axis: 12.00 deg
Amplitude of motion for Pitch axis: 8.00 deg
Amplitude of motion for Heading axis: 80.00 deg
Sets the peak amplitude of simulated motion on each axis.
Center of motion for Roll axis: 0.00 deg
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Center of motion for Pitch axis: 0.00 deg
Center of motion for Heading axis: 0.00 deg
Sets the center of simulated motion on each axis.
Period of motion for Roll axis: 15.0 sec
Period of motion for Pitch axis: 13.0 sec
Period of motion for Heading axis: 60.0 sec
Sets the period of simulated motion of each axis.
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Chapter 6 ___________________________________________________ Theory of Servo Operation
CHAPTER 6
THEORY OF SERVO OPERATION
6.1 Overview of Servo Concepts

The RCP8 provides two independent, and nearly identical, motion servos
for the azimuth and elevation axes of the radar antenna. These servos are
implemented digitally within the RCP8 microprocessor. This chapter
describes the operational theory of the antenna servos and fail safe
algorithms as well as how the theory relates to the various setup
parameters, as described in Chapter 5, TTY Setup Menus, on page 61.
In this chapter:
Velocity Servo Theory 6.2 Velocity Servo

Theory on page 136
Position Servo Theory 6.3 Position Servo
Theory on page 139
Fail-safe Antenna 6.4 Fail-safe Antenna
Features Features on page 141
Modification of Servos 6.5 Modification of
For Use on a Moving Servos For Use on a
Platform Moving Platform on
page 145
The servo software takes, as input, the digital antenna position and analog
tachometer velocity and provides, as output, an analog drive signal for the
motor power amplifiers. The interface between the processor and the
tachometer and drive signals is made using 12-bit A/D and D/A converters.
The servo software is periodically scheduled at 10 millisecond intervals
and, in principal, has the capability of controlling antennas that have a
significant response—such as 20Hz. In practice, most weather radar
antennas are much more sluggish than this. Aside from the presence of
limit switches in the elevation axis, the two servos are identical both in the
configuration and in the operation.
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There are three ways the RCP8 servos can operate:
1. Open loop
2. Velocity servo
3. Position servo
The Open Loop is not really a "servo" at all. This simply applies fixed drive
levels to the motor to measure the antenna performance. At installation is
the only time when Open loop is run—when the antenna's characteristics
are measured to set up the actual control parameters. This is a manual
procedure that requires the local TTY and is described in Chapter 4, TTY
Menu Control and Monitoring, on page 45.
The velocity and the position servos are interrelated—each mechanism

uses parts of the other during normal operation. The velocity servo always
runs once either servo is activated. To achieve a particular velocity, the
servo is used directly. To achieve a particular position, a non-linear
position error is fed into the velocity servo from the position servo.
The position servo is implemented in the following two stages:
1. To convert the position error into a requested velocity, and

2. to convert the requested velocity into a drive signal.
Theoretically, it can be shown that this two-stage position servo can always
be made stable—the position will always be reached without overshoot or
oscillation. The non-linear feedback function can also be tailored to
achieve, not only stability, but a high performance as well. This means that
a requested position is reached in the shortest possible time.
6.2 Velocity Servo Theory

The block diagram of the velocity servo is illustrated in the figure below.
136 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

NOMINAL
DRIVE
Drive
pslope
pstall
V req
nstall
nslope
Requested 12–bit D/A
Velocity
Analog
TACHOMETER Motor
FEEDBACK Drive
Drive
1
Dead
Zone
V
1
eslope
12–bit A/D
Analog
Tachometer
0914-019
Figure 7 Digital Velocity Servo
6.2.1 Tachometer Input

The tachometer signal, from the motor gear box, is applied to a differential
receiver and a 30Hz analog, low-pass filter. The signal is then digitized to
12-bits and added to the processor. The differential receiver ensures that
any common-mode signal, on both of the tachometer leads (e.g. power-line
noise) will not be falsely interpreted as antenna motion. In the case when
there is no analog tachometer, a virtual tachometer based on the
differentiated position can be selected as described in 5.5 The AXIS
Command on page 100
The drive levels, that are computed by the processor, are applied to a 12-
bit D/A converter, scaled by the external analog amplifiers, then applied to
the motor power amplifiers.
NOTE Note: The D/A and A/D convertors are signed. Thus they generate and
accept both positive and negative voltage levels.
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In Figure 7 on page 137, on the previous page, the drive signal is defined
as the sum of two components:
1. A nominal level based solely on the requested velocity, and

2. a feedback term based on the difference between the requested and
actual velocities.
The two graphed transfer functions indicate how the drive levels are
derived for each of these components.
6.2.2 Nominal Drive Slope

The nominal component is an "initial guess" of the drive level that would
sustain a given velocity in the steady state. For a requested velocity of zero,
the upper-transfer graph indicates that no drive was applied. Without a
drive, the motor will eventually come to rest. For non-zero velocities, most
motors exhibit a dead zone in which the armature magnetization is
insufficient to overcome the starting friction. Therefore, the nominal drive
graph takes a discontinuous jump from zero. Due to the antenna's
imbalances, this dead zone can also be asymmetric for both directions of
motion.
These positive and negative starting drives are designated as "pstall" and
"nstall" on the graph. Once the motor is started, a nominal slope is
designated as "pslope" for the positive velocity and "nslope" for the
negative velocity. Both are used to predict the required drive for large
requested velocities.
6.2.3 Velocity Feedback Slope and Dead

Zone
The feedback component of the motor drive is based on the difference
between the requested and the actual (tachometer) velocities. The lower
transfer graph demonstrates that the output is essentially linear, with a
velocity error, except for the possible inclusion of a deadzone around zero.
The slope is designated as "eslope" on the diagram. The deadzone, between
– V and V , is used to minimize motor "chatter" that can result from
uncertainty in the LSB of the tachometer voltage samples. Typically, the
"eslope" is fairly large in order to achieve a tight velocity servo however,
this large value also magnifies the A/D errors. This small inactive region
(dead zone) in the feedback loop, typically two 1 or 2 T-units, will
eliminate the problem.
The sum of the nominal and feedback terms is clamped within the - 100 to
+ 100 drive unit range and is applied to the D/A converter to produce the
138 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

motor drive voltage. It is important to realize that the nominal term does
not need to be calculated with great accuracy. In traditional, hard-wired,
analog velocity servos, this term is not even used.
The term is included in the digital servo for the following reasons:
- It provides a simple way to take motor stall currents into account, and,
- it helps reduce the mean error that appears in the feedback term
necessary to maintain a given velocity.
Every feedback system requires a non-zero error component to maintain

control of a non-equilibrium position. By predicting the equilibrium drive
requirements, the nominal term helps to ensure that the mean steady-state
value of the velocity error will be zero.
6.2.4 Drive and Tach Sign Correction

There are two optional sign inversions that can be introduced in the
velocity servo loop: one for the tachometer input and one for the drive
output.
These two inversions must be set in the manner to ensure that :
1. the overall servo is stable, and

2. the positive requested velocities results in the positive tachometer
velocities.
If the first condition is not met, then flipping either sign will result in
stability. If this leads to a violation of the second condition, then both signs
must be reversed together. Therefore, both conditions can be met by a
suitable choice of multipliers. The need for the stability condition is
obvious but the need for the correct tachometer sign results from the
requirements that the position servo imposes when it is running.
6.3 Position Servo Theory

Unlike the velocity servo, the position servo is implemented as a simple
extension, as shown in Figure 8 on page 140 on the following page. To
reach a given position, the position error is used to calculate the velocity
that is necessary to correct it. This velocity is then fed into the velocity
servo, which continues to operate as described in the previous sections.
The elevation position servo will work properly over the complete 360-
degree interval from -90 to +270 degrees. Servo motion will always be
directed "over the top" when the antenna moves from one position to
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another. For example if the antenna is at +200 degrees, and a request is

made to move to -30 degrees, then the antenna will traverse the 230-degree
sector passing through 90-degrees. This is different from what would
happen on the azimuth axis, where the shorter 130-degree path would be
taken.
REQUESTED
VELOCITY Analog
Motor
Position DIGITAL Drive
Request
Error VELOCITY
Position
SERVO Analog
Tachometer
Digital
Antenna
Position
0914-020
Figure 8 Digital Position Servo
6.3.1 The Position Servo Response Curve

As illustrated in the figure above, the mapping between the position error
and the requested velocity, known as the Position Servo Response Curve,
is quite non-linear and takes account of:
- Stored kinetic energy in the antenna mass

- Non-ideal, power driver characteristics
- Inductive and regenerative motor effects
- Friction
The details of determining actual values for the curve are discussed in 5.7
The PSERVO Command on page 116, but the overall, concave downward
shape can be understood as follows: The angular velocity of the antenna
cannot be changed instantaneously, but rather is limited to a rate that may
depend on the velocity itself. The time integral, of such velocities,
produces roughly "quadratically shaped" positions. When approaching
from a far distance at high speed, the distance covered—in the time
required to reduce the velocity by half—will be roughly three-quarters of
the initial position error.
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6.4 Fail-safe Antenna Features

Radar antenna systems consist of the reflector, pedestal, gears, motors and
drive amplifiers. These are expensive components that must be protected
in the event of failures. The RCP8 has several features that are designed to
protect the antenna system from various types of failures.
In the event that a critical failure is detected, the RCP8 diverges into a
shutdown state in the following ways:
1. The drive output voltage is zeroed.

2. The drive control relay signal is set to low. If a drive control relay is
used, then the RCP8 drive outputs will be physically disconnected
from the servo amplifiers. Depending on the installation, this may
switch in an alternative drive system such as handwheels.
3. An error message is sent to the front panel display.
4. An error bit is set in the output to the host computer.
WARNING CAUTION: In the case where the alternative drive system may attempt to
move the antenna, it may be undesirable to automatically switch to the
alternative drive when a shutdown occurs. In this case, the RCP8 drive
relay signal should not be implemented and a manual switching approach
should be used instead.
When a shutdown occurs, the operator should investigate the reason for the
shutdown, either by viewing the front panel for a detailed message or by
viewing the Control/Monitoring menu. After the fault has been corrected,
a reset command can be issued, either from the RCP8 menus or over the
host computer serial line.
One of the most potentially damaging situations is when the antenna

operates out of the specified elevation range. There are several limits that
are typically imposed to protect against this. These limits are illustrated in
Figure 9 on page 143. The example shows the lower elevation limits for a
typical system. Upper elevation limits are analogous.
Elevation Limit Switch Shutdown Algorithm
Elevation limit switches can be set to force an antenna shutdown, as

described in5.4.5 Miscellaneous Site Setups on page 99. The algorithm
checks 40 times per second for limit-switch contact.
Elevation "Shutdown Limit" Shutdown Algorithm
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The Elevation Axis setup, as described in 5.5 The AXIS Command on page
100, allows the user to specify upper and lower elevation limits that, if
exceeded, will cause the antenna to shutdown. The limits are checked 100
times per second. There is no tolerance for this test.
Elevation "Soft Limit" Watchdog Algorithm
WARNING CAUTION: This algorithm should only be activated after the elevation
position servo has been configured and tested. Refer to Section 4.5.
In order to enforce the soft position limits on the elevation axis, the
velocity servo calls a few of the position servo subroutines on each
iteration. This is done in order to determine whether the currently
requested velocity, which may not have come from the position servo, is
such that the antenna could still be stopped before encountering the limit.
If the requested velocity is too great, then it is replaced by the velocity that
the position servo would have used in order to just reach the limit. This
safeguard ensures that the antenna speed is reduced in plenty of time to to
reach a controlled stop before encountering the specified soft limit.
When the soft limit algorithm is activated, it will ensure that the antenna is
brought to a safe stop at the soft limits, regardless of the servo mode (i.e.,
open loop, velocity, or position.)
NOTE Note: Analogous soft limits can be set for azimuth as well, but these are
rarely used since most antennas can rotate freely in azimuth.
Maximum Velocity Watchdog Algorithm
The RCP8 performs the following two types of checks on the velocity to
ensure that the antenna is operating within the safe limits:
1. A velocity request limiter that clamps any of the out-of-bounds

velocity requests from the host computer or indirectly from the
position servo at the maximum value.
2. A continuous check on the antenna velocity to determine that it is
operating within safe limits.
The following setup parameters, as described in 5.6 The VSERVO

Command on page 111, are defined as:
- Maximum Absolute Velocity — 80 Tach units

- Velocity Shutdown Safe Margin — 5 Tach units
- Velocity Shutdown Time Check — one second
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The watchdog will force an antenna shutdown if the velocity exceeds the
Maximum Absolute velocity, by more than the Safe margin, during a time
period longer than that of the Time check.
0o
–1.0 Application Software Lower Limit
RCP8 Lower Soft Limit

–1.5
RCP8 Lower Shutdown Limit
–1.7
Lower Limit Switch
–2.0
Physical Stop
–2.5
0914-021
Figure 9 Example of the Lower EL LIMITS.
Tach/Position Consistency Shutdown Algorithm
NOTE Note: This algorithm requires that the tach be calibrated in degrees per
second. If the tach gain potentiometer is adjusted, then the tachometer
calibration should be redone.
NOTE Note: If virtual tach is used rather than an actual tachometer, this
algorithm is disabled.
When the Tach is properly calibrated, the observed change in the antenna
position should match the integrated velocity. If these are inconsistent, this
could indicate failure of either the Tach or the position sensing and
continued operation could lead to antenna damage.
The following algorithm parameters, as described in 5.5 The AXIS

Command on page 100, are defined as:
- Permissible fixed error — 1.5º

- Permissible relative error — 10.00%
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The watchdog algorithm computes the expected difference in position by

integrating the velocity and comparing this to the observed position
difference over the prior one second. The algorithm will force a shutdown
of the antenna if the difference between the observed and the computed
antenna displacements exceeds the larger of the fixed and the relative error.
For the antenna displacements greater than 15 degrees—in one second—

the relative error of 10%, for an example, would be used as the standard for
the test, while for the displacements of less than 15 degrees, the fixed error
of 1.5 degrees would be used.
NOTE Note: The algorithm integrates over the prior one second interval and is
updated 16 times per second.
Unresponsive Antenna Watchdog Algorithms
When drive is applied to the antenna, then the antenna will generally
accelerate. Failure of the antenna to accelerate could be the result of one,
or more, of the following reasons.
- Servo amp. failure or servo amp. turned off.

- RCP8 drive output failure.
- Drive cable failure.
- Catastrophic gear failure of the antenna drive.
- Obstacle impeding the antenna motion, such as a person, a ladder, or
a stow pin inadvertently left in the antenna.
With the exception of the servo amplifiers simply being turned off, any of
of these events warrants an antenna shutdown. However, if the antenna is
scanning at its equilibrium velocity, the output drive will not cause the
antenna to accelerate since it is just balancing against frictional losses. This
must be taken into account to avoid false alarms.
The unresponsive antenna algorithm is based on a linear model of the

antenna velocity, with a constant moment of inertia, and frictional losses
that are proportional to velocity. Under this model, the expected change in
velocity can be calculated by numerical integration. The expected change
is then compared to the actual change in velocity.
The following Axis Setup parameters for this algorithm, as described in 5.5
The AXIS Command on page 100, are defined as:
- Permissible Tach Prediction Error — 15 Tach units

- Maximum duration of such error — two seconds
- Moment of Inertia — 4.00 Drive/Tach units
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The moment of inertia is computed whenever the antenna is accelerating

and is exhibited in one of the "alt" displays in the Control and Monitoring
menu. A representative value is then entered in the setup.
NOTE Note: This algorithm does not require the tach to be calibrated in degrees
per second. However, if the tach or drive potentiometers are adjusted, this
algorithm will need to be reconfigured.
The algorithm performs a numerical integration, over the previous 2.5

seconds, to obtain the expected change in velocity (in Tach units.) If the
difference between the expected velocity and the current velocity exceeds
the "Permissible Tach error" for a period greater than the "Maximum
duration," the Watchdog will force an antenna shutdown.
NOTE Note: The algorithm integrates over the previous 2.5 second interval and
is updated 8 times per second.
6.5 Modification of Servos For Use on a Moving

Platform
The RCP8 is most commonly used to control land-based weather radar
antennas. However, with the addition of base motion inputs, the RCP8 can
also carry out electronic stabilization of an antenna that is mounted on a
moving platform. The position and velocity servos are modified so the
antenna motion is referenced to the inertial (Earth) frame of reference. The
positions and the velocities are requested by the user and reported back to
the user, relative to the local horizon and local north, just as they would for
a stationary pedestal. The RCP8 manages all of the coordinate
transformations needed to convert between the Earth system of units and
the pedestal system of units.
To stabilize an antenna on a moving pedestal, it is necessary to know the

instantaneous roll, pitch, and heading of the pedestal base as well as the
time derivatives of those three quantities. Pedestal orientation is necessary
to convert between the two systems of coordinates. Less obvious, however,
is the need to know the rate of change of pedestal orientation.
The following describe the components that contribute to the net Earth
velocity of a scanning antenna:
1. The component results from rotation of the pedestal Azimuth and

Elevation axes themselves.
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2. The component is the result of projected motion of the entire pedestal

assembly.
3. The component is computable from the rate of change in the base
orientation angles.
The basic velocity servo, as described in 6.4 Fail-safe Antenna Features on

page 141, can be modified to work in Earth coordinates by adding a single
coordinate conversion module to the block diagram. The modified servo is
illustrated in Figure 10 on page 147. Rather than accepting requests for
particular pedestal speeds, the new servo responds to commands to move
at real Earth-relative velocities. The conversion module receives pedestal
attitude information from an inertial navigation unit mounted on or near
the pedestal. Based on these data, and on the current pedestal azimuth and
elevation, Earth velocity requests are converted into equivalent pedestal
velocity requests. The latter are fed into the two "old-style" velocity servos
that use tachometer feedback to compute appropriate motor drives.
The velocity conversion module requires the pedestal azimuth and the
elevation angles as input in order to project the Earth velocity into the
pedestal frame. As a secondary effect of these calculations, the Earth
azimuth and the elevation angles are also computed. When a position servo
is running on one or both axes, these computed Earth angles are used by
the position servo in the same way that pedestal angles were used in the
land-based case. Therefore, the position servo from Figure 8 on page 140
is unchanged with the exception of the Earth angles, which are substituted
wherever a pedestal angle previously appeared. Also, the angles can also
be wired to a nearby signal processor and simultaneously sampled with the
data from the radar.
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Heading Rate
Ship
Pitch Rate
Roll Rate
Heading
Attitude
Pitch
Information
Roll
Azimuth
Tachometer
Requested PEDESTAL
Earth Requested AZIMUTH Azimuth
AZ Velocity Pedestal Motor
VELOCITY
AZ Velocity Drive
Requested SERVO
Earth
EL Velocity EARTH FRAME
to PEDESTAL
Requested Elevation
PEDESTAL FRAME ELEVATION
Pedestal Motor
CONVERSION VELOCITY
EL Velocity Drive
SERVO
Earth Pedestal
To Position Azimuth Azimuth Elevation
Servo Tachometer
(if Running) Earth Pedestal
Elevation Elevation
0914-022
Figure 10 Modification of Velocity Servos
An interesting, complimentary addition to the RCP8 moving platform

servos is its ability to scan co-planes. By introducing an artificial bias to
the pedestal attitude information, a zero-degree elevation scan can be
transformed into a planar scan in any orientation, not simply along the
horizontal plane. This technique works equally well on either land or at
sea.
The INU data stream may include status bits which convey the validity of
the attitude angles. The RCP8 will "coast" for up to one second when it
receives an invalid INU Roll/Pitch/Heading bit, or until the invalid bit is
cleared, which ever occurs first. The last valid report of INU parameters
will be used for stabilization during this time (including computation of the
earth-relative output angles). Since it is unlikely that the antenna azimuth
and/or the ship attitude will move more than 30 degrees in one second, the
IRIS message "DSP AZ angles exceed 30 degrees" will not be triggered by
very short bursts of invalid INU data.
Note that the option of continuing to use the new INU parameters for the
one second interval (rather than coasting with the last valid ones) was
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specifically rejected for safety reasons, since there is a possibility that the
new angles are truly bad.
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Appendix A ___________________________________________________ Communication Formats
APPENDIX A
COMMUNICATION FORMATS
A.1 Serial Data Format

The RCP8 is controlled by a two–way, asynchronous RS–232 data line that
is typically run at speed of 19.2K baud. A host computer controls the servo
and the antenna while receiving feedback status. The information is then
transferred in packets consisting of two or more bytes—each packet begins
with a SYNC byte and ends with an END byte of FF(Hex). All SYNC
bytes have the MSB set and the value indicates the type of packet to follow.
The variety of packets currently available are 80(hex) for antenna, C0(hex)
for BITE, and B0(hex) for time. The packet layouts are described in the
following paragraph. Each packet–type has a specific direction of travel,
such as to or from the RCP8, but packets can arrive in any order within the
serial stream.
Several types of antenna communication formats are supported. Older

systems use the RCV01 and XMT01 formats but the newer systems can
use the RCV02 and the XMT02 formats. The RCV03 format is intended
for systems on moving platforms, such as ships or airplanes. One of the
challenges of these systems is to correct the radar's measured radial
velocity for the motion of the platform. To make this correction, the three–
dimensional velocity and orientation of the platform must be recorded.
Typically, the information comes from an inertial navigation system. For
shipboard system, an update rate of approximately 20 reports per second
can satisfy the velocity correction requirements at 19200 baud.
The following angles, with the exception of the latitude and the longitude,
are transmitted as 14–bit binary angles. The latitude and longitude are both
21–bit binary angles.
- azimuth and elevation

- train order
- pitch, roll, and heading
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In the XMT01 format, the angular speed is a signed number in units of

0.55º/sec. In all other formats, the angular rates are in signed 14–bit binary
angles per second. Therefore, the largest possible value is 180º/sec (30
rpm) and the step is 0.022º/sec. All velocities are in signed cm/sec with the
altitude in signed meters. If some of the information is not available at the
full resolution of the data format, the low bits are filled with zeros.
The azimuth and the elevation angles are corrected angles relative to the
north and are the angles that the antenna is pointed relative to the deck of
the platform. These calculations are derivable from the other angles but are
also reported to assist in the data analysis, especially if one of the sensors
or the stabilization fails.
The pitch is the angle between the fore–and–aft axis of the platform and
the horizontal is measured in the vertical plane. The pitch is positive when
the bow is down and the roll is the rotation angle about the fore–and–aft
axis in its pitched position. The pitch is measured in the plane
perpendicular to the fore–and–aft axis, which is generally not the vertical
plane, and the roll is positive when the deck is down on the port side.
NOTE Note: The pitch can be directly measured by a level on the fore–and–aft
axis but the roll cannot be directly measured by a one–axis tilt meter.
The heading is referred to as the direction the platform is pointed but is not
the same as direction of motion. The platform could be pointed one way
and drifting backwards.
The time stamp is a 14–bit counter incremented by the RCP8 once per
millisecond. The RCP8 should latch all the data for a packet at the same
time. This counter allows the host computer to accurately judge the time
between samples without the serial line latencies and fluctuations due to
the time sharing operating system.
The position of the platform is reported by the latitude, the longitude, and
the altitude. Since the altitude may not be implemented for systems on
ships, the setting will be zero.
A.2 Socket Data Format

The RCP8 can interface with other machines using a socket interface
instead of a serial line. We use the exact same serial data format with an
additional 16–byte header added, as shown in Table 9 on page 151. Note
that for the ASCII packet types, there are C–style #defines in the
antenna_lib.h file with names of the form ANT_PKT_TYPE*.
150 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

We use multicast UDP packets for this communication format. Typically

the IP address is 224.0.0.3, port 30785 but it can be configured. Note that
with socket data, multiple packets can arrive glued together as one, so the
packet size is used to separate. Also on a multicast address, the reader will
read everything written, so the first letter of the packet type is used to
determine direction, and it ignores everything starting with an "R". If you
are writing your own code to interface to this, be aware that on a computer
with multiple network cards, you must explicitly specify which one to
write out on. The destination address is not used at this time, you can fill it
with htonl(INADDR_ANY).
Table 9 Socket Header Format

Byte Function
1–4 4–char ASCII size of the packet in %04d format.
5–12 8–char ASCII packet type, 0 padded, choices are:
XMT01 Standard antenna XMTnn
packets
XMT02
XMT05
RCV01 Standard antenna RCVnn
packets
RCV02
RCV03
RCV05
XMTSA Scientific Atlanta controller
RCVSA
XCHAT Chat mode packet
RCHAT
RTIME Time packet
XBITEC BITE control/status packet
RBITES
XBINTROG BITE 'Interrogate' packet
RBINTROG
XBSAMPLE BITE 'Take Sample' packet
RBSAMPLE
XBSETVAL BITE 'Take Sample' packet
RBSETVAL
XBRESET BITE 'Reset' packet
RBRESET
12–16 4–byte destination address in network byte order
(INADDR_ANY fine)
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A.3 Antenna Status Formats

Table 10 Status Packet RCV01 Format (RCP8 to Host)
Char Function
1 SYNC Byte (80 Hex)
2 Azimuth Low 7 bits
3 Azimuth High 7 bits
4 Elevation Low 7 bits
5 Elevation High 7 bits
6 Status #1
D6 = Low air flow
D5 = Low Waveguide pressure
D4 = Servo power
D3 = Antenna Local mode
D2 = Interlock
D1 = Standby
D0 = Radiate On
7 Status #2
D6 = RCP8 is shutdown
D5 = LSB pulse width
D4 = T/R power On
D3 = T/R Local mode
D2 = Encoders calibrated
D1 = MSB pulse width
D0 = Magnetron current
normal
8 End Of Message (FF Hex)

Char Function
6 Azimuth Rate Low 7 bits
7 Azimuth Rate High 7 bits
8 Elevation Rate Low 7 bits
9 Elevation Rate High 7 bits
10 Status #1
D6 = Low air flow
D4 = Servo Power
D2 = Interlock Open
152 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


Char Function
D1 = Standby
D0 = Radiate On
11 Status #2
D4 = T/R power On
D3 = T/R Local mode
D2 = Azimuth encoder
calibrated
D0 = Mag. current normal
12 Status #3
D6 = IRIS Mode 2
D5 = IRIS Mode 1
D4 = IRIS Mode 0
D3 = Elevation encoder
calibrated
D2 = Signal Generator fault
D1 = Signal Generator On
D0 = Signal Generator CW
13 Signal generator level (0=max
power)
14 Time Stamp Low 7 bits
15 Time Stamp High 7 bits
16 END OF MESSAGE (FF Hex)

Char Function
3 Azimuth Low 7 bits (Earth
relative)
5 Elevation Low 7 bits (Earth
relative)
7 Train Order Low 7 bits
(azimuth of pedestal relative to
the ship)
8 Train Order High 7 bits
9 Elevation Order Low 7 bits
(elevation of pedestal relative
to the ship)
10 Elevation Order High 7 bits
11 Pitch Low 7 bits
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Char Function
12 Pitch High 7 bits
13 Roll Low 7 bits
14 Roll High 7 bits
15 Heading Low 7 bits
16 Heading High 7 bits
17 Azimuth Rate Low 7 bits
18 Azimuth Rate High 7 bits
19 Elevation Rate Low 7 bits
20 Elevation Rate High 7 bits
21 Pitch Rate Low 7 bits (LSB =
Zero)
22 Pitch Rate High 7 bits
23 Roll Rate Low 7 bits (LSB =
Invalid Roll)
24 Roll Rate High 7 bits
25 Heading Rate Low 7 bits (LSB
= Invalid Heading)
26 Heading Rate High 7 bits
27 Status #1
D6 = Low air flow
D4 = Servo power
D2 = Interlock open
D1 = Standby
D0 = Radiate ON
28 Status #2
D4 = T/R Power on
D3 = T/R Local mode
D2 = Azimuth encoder
calibrated
29 Status #3
D6 = Reserved
D5 = Reserved
D4 = Reserved
D3 = Elevation encoder
calibrated
D2 = Signal Generator fault
154 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


Char Function
30 Signal generator value (0=full
signal)
31 Time Stamp Low 7 bits
32 Time Stamp High 7 bits
33 Latitude Low 7 bits
34 Latitude Middle 7 bits
35 Latitude High 7 bits
36 Longitude Low 7 bits
37 Longitude Middle 7 bits
38 Longitude High 7 bits
39 Altitude Low 7 bits
40 Altitude High 7 bits
41 Velocity East Low 7 bits (LSB
= Invalid Lat/Lon)
42 Velocity East High 7 bits
43 Velocity North Low 7 bits (LSB
= Zero)
44 Velocity North High 7 bits
45 Velocity Up Low 7 bits (LSB =
Invalid Altitude)
46 Velocity Up High 7 bits

Char Function
1–15 These bytes exactly match the
RCV02 / RCV04 format
1–16 Dual–System Status
D6 = RCP8 is configured as a
Dual–System
D5 = Dual–System Mode MSB
D4 = Dual–System Mode LSB
D3 = This packet was sent
from Unit "A"
D2 = Information is known
about the "Other" unit
D1 = Unit "A" is the preferred
system
D0 = Unit "B" is disabled
Note: The 2–bit Dual–System Mode codes are:
00 : Unknown 01 : System "A" 10: System "B" 11 : Auto Switch
17 Dual–System Status
D6 = Unit "B" is okay
D5 = Unit "B" Activity Code
MSB
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Char Function
D4 = Unit "B" Activity Code
LSB
D3 = Unit "A" is disabled
D2 = Unit "A" is okay
D1 = Unit "A" Activity Code
MSB
D0 = Unit "A" Activity Code
LSB
Note: The 2–bit Dual–System Activity codes are:
00 : Inactive 01 : Warmup 10: Active Now 11 : Reserved
18 Dual–System Status
D6 = RCP8 is configured for
voluntary flipping
D5 = Unit "B" is offering to give
up control
D4 = Unit "A" is offering to give
up control
D3 = Unit "B" would be used if
it were available
D2 = Unit "A" would be used if
it were available
19 Polarization Status
D2:0 = Current Polarization
XMT control
0=Horizontal; 1=Vertical;
2=Alternating;
3=Simultaneous
D3 = Polarization switch is OK
to XMT
20 Spare
21 Spare
22 Spare
23 Spare
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A.4 Antenna Control Formats

Table 14 Control Packet XMT01 Format (Host to RCP8)
Char Function
6 Control Word #1
D6 = MSB of Pulse Width
D5 = Leave Pulse Width
unchanged
D4 = Spare
D1 = EL (1 = Scan, 0 =
Position)
D0 = AZ (1 = Scan, 0 =
Position)
7 Control Word #2
D6 = Reset RCP8 on edge
D5 = Noise Source On
D4 = LSB of Pulse width
D3 = Radiate On
complemented
D2 = Radiate On
D1 = Servo Power On
D0 = T/R Power On
8 Control Word #3 (all spare)
9 Signal generator level
(unsigned 0–127dB
attenuation)
10 AZ/EL Antenna speed (signed
7 bit, 0.55 degree resolution)

Char Function
6 Control Word #1
D6 = MSB of Pulse Width
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Char Function
D5 = Leave Pulse Width
unchanged
D4 = Spare
D1 = EL (1 = Scan, 0 =
Position)
D0 = AZ (1 = Scan, 0 =
Position)
7 Control Word #2
D6 = Reset RCP8 on edge
D5 = Noise Source On
D4 = LSB of Pulse width
D3 = Radiate On
complemented
D2 = Radiate On
D1 = Servo Power On
D0 = T/R Power On
8 Control Word #3
D6 = IRIS Mode 2
D5 = IRIS Mode 1
D4 = IRIS Mode 0
D3 = Radar Workstation A
okay
D2 = Radar Workstation B
okay
D1 = Data Processor A okay
D0 = Data Processor B okay
9 Signal Generator level (0–127
dB attenuation)
10 AZ Antenna Speed Low 7 bits
11 AZ Antenna Speed High 7 bits
12 EL Antenna Speed Low 7 bits
13 EL Antenna Speed High 7 bits

Char Function
1#endash1 These bytes exactly match the
3 XMT02 / XMT04 format
14 Control Word #4
D6 = Dual–System: Mode
MSB
D5 = Dual–System: Mode LSB
158 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


Char Function
D4 = Dual–System: Offer to
relinquish control
D3 = Dual–System: Unit would
be used if available
D2 = Spare
D1 = Spare
D0 = Spare
Note: The 2–bit Dual–System Mode codes are:
00 : No change 01 : System "A"
10: System "B" 11 : Auto Switch
15 Control Word #5
D2:0 = Requested Polarization
XMT control
0=Horizontal; 1=Vertical;
2=Alternating;
3=Simultaneous
7=Unchanged
D6:3 = Spare
16 Spare
17 Spare
A.5 BITE Formats

The BITE status packet consists of a packet from 3 to 20 bytes in length.
The first two bytes, and the last byte, are used for identification purposes.
The bytes in the middle must have their MSB zero, but can contain
arbitrary status in the lower 7 bits. This is typically used to report test
results in the individual bits, such as cabinet interlocks, airflow sensors,
and power supply checks.
Table 17 Generic BITE Packet (RCP8 To/From Host)

Char Function
2 Identification byte (00 Hex)
3 Status byte #1
4 Status byte #2
.
.
N–1 Status byte #N–3
N END OF MESSAGE (FF Hex)
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The Q–BITE (Quantitative BITE) status packets consist of from 3 to 128

bytes. The first two and last bytes are used for identification purposes. The
middle bytes must have the MSB set to zero and can contain an arbitrary
value in the lower 7 bits. Typically this is used to report back voltage/
power levels. This report should not be sent by the BITE every time the
status changes. This report is sent in response to the Q–bite interrogate
command. IRIS sends the interrogate command every 60 seconds.
The Q–BITE data stream consists of a series of integer values. Each value
is packed into a series of 7–bit characters, using between 1 and 5 depending
on the desired resolution. The low bits come first, and IRIS supports up to
32 bits per value. IRIS can easily be configured to display any such values
with appropriate units and scaling.
Table 18 Q–BITE Status Packet (Both ways)

Char Function
2 BITE Unit ID byte (selectable in the range 00–7F Hex)
3 Status byte #1
4 Status byte #2
.
.
N–1 Status byte #N–3
N END OF MESSAGE (FF Hex)
The RCP8 can optionally generate this "internal" BITE packet. These bits
convey additional status information that is not contained in any of the
other transmission formats. The shutdown status of the RCP8 (up to 32
different conditions) is contained in the first five bytes. The last five bytes
hold other miscellaneous information. The identification byte is selectable,
so that conflicts with other BITE packets can be avoided.
Table 19 Internal BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)
Char Function
Choice)
3 Shutdown Conditions 0–6
D6 = EL Velocity Exceeded
D5 = AZ Velocity Exceeded
D4 = EL Axis Unresponsive
D3 = AZ Axis Unresponsive
D2 = EL Tach Inconsistent
D1 = AZ Tach Inconsistent
D0 = Diagnostics Failed
160 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Table 19 Internal BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) (Continued)

Char Function
D6 = IP–SERIAL Conflicts
D5 = EL Upper Lim Switch
D4 = EL Lower Lim Switch
D3 = EL–UP Shutdown Limit
D2 = EL–LO Shutdown Limit
D1 = AZ–HI Shutdown Limit
D0 = AZ–LO Shutdown Limit
D6 = Reserved
D5 = Reserved
D4 = Reserved
D3 = Reserved
D2 = IP–DIGITAL–48 Conflicts
D1 = Output Remap Conflict
D0 = Missing IP–SYNCHRO
D6 = Reserved
D5 = Reserved
D4 = Reserved
D3 = Reserved
D2 = Reserved
D1 = Reserved
D0 = Reserved
D6 = Spare
D5 = Power–up error(s)
occured
D4 = RCP8 is shutdown (OR
of Bits 0–31)
D3 = User Shutdown #2
D2 = User Shutdown #1
D1 = Reserved
D0 = Reserved
8 INU Status
D6 = Invalid horizontal
position/velocity
D5 = Reduced vertical
position/velocity
D4 = Invalid vertical position/
velocity
D3 = Reduced roll and pitch
D2 = Invalid roll and pitch
D1 = Reduced heading
D0 = Invalid heading
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Table 19 Internal BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) (Continued)

Char Function
9 Antenna/Radar/Servo and INU
status
D6 = Reduced horizontal
position/velocity
D5 = No INU Data Stream
D4 = T/R Power On
D3 = T/R Local mode
10 Antenna/Radar/Servo status
D6 = Low air flow
D4 = Servo Power
D2 = Interlock Open
D1 = Standby
D0 = Radiate On
11 Local Variables V6, V5, V4,
V3, V2, V1, V0
12 Local Variables V13, V12, V11,
V10, V9, V8, V7
The RCP8 contains 64 auxiliary status and control variables, labeled

S[0:63] and C[0:63]. These bits may be sent to and from the host computer
in the form of 13–byte BITE packets holding the full set of 64 bits. The
format of these packets is the same in both directions, and the identification
byte is selectable so that conflicts with other BITE packets can be avoided.
A subset of the auxiliary bits may optionally be assigned to electrical input
and output lines on an I/O–62 card using the softplane.conf file. The
auxiliary can also be set and accessed via logic equations.
Table 20 Auxiliary Status/Control BITE Packets

Char Function
2 Identification byte (User Choice)
3 Control/Status Bits 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
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Table 20 Auxiliary Status/Control BITE Packets (Continued)

Char Function
12 Control/Status Bit 63
The RCP8 will generate this BITE packet whenever the WSR–88D DCU
pedestal interface has been enabled. The identification byte is selectable,
so that conflicts with other BITE packets can be avoided. The "S" number
appearing after each table entry is the numbered status variable that is
driven by the respective bit. Most bits in the BITE packet are merely copies
of their DCU counterparts (with their original word and bit numbers shown
in parenthesis). However, S110 through S119 are supplied by the RCP8
itself.
Table 21 WSR–88D DCU BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) When

Connected via Serial Link
Char Function
3 WSR–88D DCU Status and Fault Conditions
D6 = (1/6) Elev Axis Enc Light Source Monitor (S70)
D5 = (1/5) Spare (S69)
D4 = (1/4) Elevation Axis minus Normal Limit (S68)
D3 = (1/3) Elevation Axis plus Normal Limit (S67)
D2 = (1/2) Spare (S66)
D1 = (1/1) Elevation Axis Deal Limit (S65)
D0 = (1/0) Elevation Axis PCU Data Parity (S64)
D6 = (1/14) Elevation Axis Motor Over Temp. (S77)
D5 = (1/13) +150 V Under Voltage (S76)
D4 = (1/12) +150 V Over Voltage (S75)
D3 = (1/11) EL Axis Servo Amp Over Temp (S74)
D2 = (1/10) EL Axis Servo Amp Short Circuit (S73)
D1 = (1/9) Elevation Axis Servo Amp Inhibit (S72)
D0 = (1/7) Elevation Axis Gearbox Oil Level (S71)
D6 = (2/5) Elevation Handwheel Engaged (S84)
D5 = (2/4) Spare (S83)
D4 = (2/3) Azimuth Axis Bull Gear Oil Level (S82)
D3 = (2/2) Azimuth Axis Gearbox Oil Level (S81)
D2 = (2/1) Azith Axis Encoder Light Source Mon (S80)
D1 = (2/0) Azimuth Axis PCU Data Parity (S79)
D0 = (1/15) Elevation Axis Stow Pin Engaged (S78)
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Connected via Serial Link (Continued)
Char Function
D6 = (2/13) Spare (S91)
D5 = (2/12) Spare (S90)
D4 = (2/11) AZ Axis Servo Amp Over Temp (S89)
D3 = (2/10) AZ Axis Servo Amp Short Circuit (S88)
D2 = (2/9) Azimuth Axis Servo Amp Inhibit (S87)
D1 = (2/7) Spare (S86)
D0 = (2/6) Azimuth Handwheel Engaged (S85)
D6 = (3/4) Spare (S98)
D5 = (3/3) Spare (S97)
D4 = (3/2) Spare (S96)
D3 = (3/1) Spare (S95)
D2 = (3/0) Spare (S94)
D1 = (2/15) Azimuth Axis Stow Pin Engaged (S93)
D0 = (2/14) Azimuth Axis Motor Over Temp (S92)
D6 = (3/12) Azimuth Axis Servo Amp PS (S105)
D5 = (3/11) Spare (S104)
D4 = (3/10) Spare (S103)
D3 = (3/9) Spare (S102)
D2 = (3/7) Spare (S101)
D1 = (3/6) Spare (S100)
D0 = (3/5) Spare (S99)
D6 = Spare (S112)
D5 = Spare (S111)
D4 = Spare (S110)
D3 = DCU Timeout (From DCU antenna record) (S109)
D2 = (3/15) Ped Interlock (S108)
D1 = (3/14) Servo Off (S107)
D0 = (3/13) Elevation Axis Servo Amp PS (S106)
D6 = No ANT record received for 0.5 seconds (S119)
D5 = No BIT record received for 2.5 seconds (S118)
D4 = Spare (S117)
D3 = Spare (S116)
D2 = Spare (S115)
D1 = Spare (S114)
D0 = Spare (S113)
164 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


Connected via RCP9 ORDA Network Interface Panel
Char Function
D6 = (1/6) Elev Axis Enc Light Source Monitor (S70)
D5 = (1/5) Elev Axis Final plus Limit (S69)
D4 = (1/4) Elevation Axis minus Normal Limit (S68)
D3 = (1/3) Elevation Axis plus Normal Limit (S67)
D2 = (1/2) Elevation Axis Final minus Limit (S66)
D1 = (1/1) Spare (S65)
D0 = (1/0) Spare (S64)
D6 = (1/14) Elevation Axis Motor Over Temp. (S77)
D5 = (1/13) +150 V Under Voltage (S76)
D4 = (1/12) +150 V Over Voltage (S75)
D3 = (1/11) EL Axis Servo Amp Over Temp (S74)
D2 = (1/10) EL Axis Servo Amp Short Circuit (S73)
D1 = (1/9) Elevation Axis Servo Amp Inhibit (S72)
D0 = (1/7) Elevation Axis Gearbox Oil Level (S71)
D6 = (2/5) Elevation Handwheel Engaged (S84)
D5 = (2/4) Elevation Housing 5V status (S83)
D4 = (2/3) Azimuth Axis Bull Gear Oil Level (S82)
D3 = (2/2) Azimuth Axis Gearbox Oil Level (S81)
D2 = (2/1) Azimuth Axis Encoder Light Source Mon (S80)
D1 = (2/0) Spare (S79)
D0 = (1/15) Elevation Axis Stow Pin Engaged (S78)
D6 = (2/13) Azimuth Housing 5V status (S91)
D5 = (2/12) Spare (S90)
D4 = (2/11) AZ Axis Servo Amp Over Temp (S89)
D3 = (2/10) AZ Axis Servo Amp Short Circuit (S88)
D2 = (2/9) Azimuth Axis Servo Amp Inhibit (S87)
D1 = (2/7) Spare (S86)
D0 = (2/6) Azimuth Handwheel Engaged (S85)
D6 = (3/4) Spare (S98)
D5 = (3/3) Spare (S97)
D4 = (3/2) Spare (S96)
D3 = (3/1) Spare (S95)
D2 = (3/0) Spare (S94)
D1 = (2/15) Azimuth Axis Stow Pin Engaged (S93)
D0 = (2/14) Azimuth Axis Motor Over Temp (S92)
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Char Function
D6 = (3/12) Azimuth Axis Servo Amp PS (S105)
D5 = (3/11) Spare (S104)
D4 = (3/10) Spare (S103)
D3 = (3/9) Spare (S102)
D2 = (3/7) Spare (S101)
D1 = (3/6) Spare (S100)
D0 = (3/5) Spare (S99)
D6 = Spare (S112)
D5 = Spare (S111)
D4 = Spare (S110)
D3 = Spare (S109)
D2 = (3/15) Ped Interlock (S108)
D1 = (3/14) Servo Off (S107)
D0 = (3/13) Elevation Axis Servo Amp PS (S106)
D6 = Spare (S119)
D5 = Spare (S118)
D4 = Spare (S117)
D3 = Spare (S116)
D2 = Spare (S115)
D1 = Spare (S114)
D0 = Spare (S113)
pedestal responds to a Self–Test1 command. Most bits in the BITE packet
are merely copies of their DCU counterparts (with their original word and
bit numbers shown in parenthesis).
Table 23 WSR–88D DCU Self–Test1 BITE Packet (RCP8 to

Host)
Char Function
3 D6 = (1/6) Az Command loopback
D5 = (1/5) Az Command loopback
4 D6 = (1/13) Az Command loopback
166 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


Host) (Continued)
Char Function
5 D6 = (2/4) El Command loopback
D5 = (2/3) El Command loopback
6 D6 = (2/11) El Command loopback
7 D6 = Spare
D5 = Spare
D4 = Spare
pedestal responds to a Self–Test2 command. Most bits in the BITE packet
are merely copies of their DCU counterparts (with their original word and
bit numbers shown in parenthesis).

Host)
Char Function
3 D6 = (1/6) AZ Power Amp
D5 = (1/5) Spare
D4 = (1/4) Spare
D3 = (1/3) Spare
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Host) (Continued)
Char Function
D2 = (1/2) Spare
D1 = (1/1) Spare
D0 = (1/0) Digital PWA
4 D6 = (1/13) Spare
D5 = (1/12) El Encoder
D4 = (1/11) AZ Encoder
D3 = (1/10) El Motor
D2 = (1/9) AZ Motor
D1 = (1/8) Analog PWA
D0 = (1/7) El Power Amp
5 D6 = <unused>
D5 = <unused>
D4 = <unused>
D3 = <unused>
D2 = <unused>
D1 = (1/15) Spare
D0 = (1/14) Spare
The RCP8 will generate this BITE packet whenever the WSR–88D DAU
pedestal interface has been enabled. The identification byte is selectable,
so that conflicts with other BITE packets can be avoided. The "S" number
appearing after each table entry is the numbered status variable that is
driven by the respective bit. Most bits in the BITE packet are merely copies
of their DAU counterparts (with their original word and bit numbers shown
in parenthesis). However, S232 through S245 are supplied by the RCP8
itself.
Table 25 WSR–88D DAU BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host) When

Connected via Serial Link
Char Function
3 WSR–88D DAU Status and Fault Conditions
D6 = (0/6) Maintenance Work Required (S126)
D5 = (0/5) Maintenance Model/No Control (S125)
D4 = (0/4) W/G PFN Transfer Interlock (S124)
D3 = (0/3) W/G Switch Dummy Load (S123)
D2 = (0/2) Transmitter Not Available (S122)
D1 = (0/1) Klystron Preheat (S121)
D0 = (0/0) Filament PS Off (S120)
D6 = (1/5) Filament PS Voltage (S133)
168 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


Char Function
D5 = (1/4) +45 VDC PS Summary Fault (S132)
D4 = (1/3) -15 VDC PS Summary Fault (S131)
D0 = (0/7) PFN Switch Long Pulse (S127)
D6 = (2/4) Cabinet Air Temperature (S140)
D5 = (2/3) Cabinet Interlock (S139)
D4 = (2/2) W/G Arc/VSWR (summary) (S138)
D3 = (2/1) Spectrum Filter Low Pressure (S137)
D2 = (2/0) Circulator Over–Temperature (S136)
D1 = (1/7) Focus Coil PS Voltage (S135)
D0 = (1/6) Vacuum Pump PS Voltage (S134)
D6 = (3/3) Main Power Overvoltage (S147)
D5 = (3/2) Modulator Switch Failure (S146)
D4 = (3/1) Modulator Inverter Current (S145)
D3 = (3/0) Modulator Overload (S144)
D2 = (2/7) Transmitter Spare (S143)
D0 = (2/5) Cabinet Airflow (S141)
D6 = (4/2) Focus Coil Current (S154)
D5 = (4/1) Transmitter Overcurrent (S153)
D4 = (4/0) Transmitter Overvoltage (S152)
D2 = (3/6) Trigger Amplifier Failure (S150)
D1 = (3/5) Inverse Diode Current/Undervoltage (S149)
D0 = (3/4) Flyback Charge Failure (S148)
D6 = (5/1) Klystron Filament Current (S161)
D5 = (5/0) Klystron Overcurrent (S160)
D4 = (4/7) Battery Charging (S159)
D3 = (4/6) Oil Level (Transmitter) (S158)
D2 = (4/5) PRF Limit (Summary) (S157)
D1 = (4/4) Oil Temperature (Transmitter) (S156)
D0 = (4/3) Focus Coil Airflow (S155)
D6 = (6/0) 'One' Test Bit 0 (S168)
D5 = (5/7) 'One' Test Bit 7 (S167)
D4 = (5/6) 'One' Test Bit 6 (S166)
D3 = (5/5) 'One' Test Bit 5 (S165)
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Char Function
D2 = (5/4) Klystron Airflow (S164)
D1 = (5/3) Klystron Air Temperature (S163)
D0 = (5/2) Klystron Vacion Current (S162)
D6 = (6/7) W/G, Pressure/Humidity (S175)
D5 = (6/6) Post–Charge Regulator Maintenance (S174)
D4 = (6/5) Modulator Switch Maintenance (S173)
D3 = (6/4) 'One' Test Bit 4 (S172)
D2 = (6/3) 'One' Test Bit 3 (S171)
D1 = (6/2) 'One' Test Bit 2 (S170)
D0 = (6/1) 'One' Test Bit 1 (S169)
D6 = (7/6) 'Zero' Test Bit 6 (S182)
D5 = (7/5) 'Zero' Test Bit 5 (S181)
D4 = (7/4) 'Zero' Test Bit 4 (S180)
D3 = (7/3) 'Zero' Test Bit 3 (S179)
D2 = (7/2) 'Zero' Test Bit 2 (S178)
D1 = (7/1) 'Zero' Test Bit 1 (S177)
D0 = (7/0) 'Zero' Test Bit 0 (S176)
D6 = (8/5) Spare (S189)
D5 = (8/4) UART Error (S188)
D4 = (8/3) COHO/Clock (S187)
D3 = (8/2) Transmitter Inoperable (S186)
D2 = (8/1) Transmitter Recycle (S185)
D1 = (8/0) HV Off (S184)
D0 = (7/7) 'Zero' Test Bit 7 (S183)
D6 = (9/4) Batter Voltage Low (S196)
D5 = (9/3) Auto–Transfer SW on Utility Power (S195)
D4 = (9/2) Generator Maintenance Required (S194)
D3 = (9/1) AC Unit 2 Compressor Shut Off (S193)
D1 = (8/7) Spare (S191)
D0 = (8/6) Spare (S190)
D6 = (10/3) Equip Shelter Halon/Detect Sys Troub (S203)
D5 = (10/2) Aircraft Hazard Light Failure (S202)
D4 = (10/1) Generator Volt and Freq Available (S201)
D3 = (10/0) Generator Selector SW Not Auto (S200)
D2 = (9/7) TPS (Reserved) (S199)
D1 = (9/6) TPS (S198)
D0 = (9/5) Generator Engine Malfunction (S197)
170 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


Char Function
D6 = (11/2) Utility Voltage and Frequency Avail (S210)
D5 = (11/1) Gen Shelter Halon/Detect Sys Trbl (S209)
D4 = (11/0) Fire/Smoke in Generator Shelter (S208)
D3 = (10/7) -9 V Receiver PS Summary Fault (S207)
D2 = (10/6) +/- 18 V Receiver PS Summary Fault (S206)
D1 = (10/5) Fire/Smoke in Equipment Shelter (S205)
D0 = (10/4) +5 V Receiver PS Summary Fault (S204)
D6 = (12/1) Security System Equipment Trouble (S217)
D5 = (12/0) Security Syst Unauthor Entry Alarm (S216)
D4 = (11/7) -5.2 V A/D Converter PS Summ Fault (S215)
D3 = (11/6) Spare (S214)
D2 = (11/5) +5 V A/D Converter PS Sum. Fault (S213)
D1 = (11/4) +/- 15 V A/D Convert PS Sum. Fault (S212)
D6 = (13/0) AC Unit 1 Filter Dirty (S224)
D5 = (12/7) Radome Access Hatch Open (S223)
D4 = (12/6) Receiver Not Conn. to Antenna (S222)
D3 = (12/5) Spare (S221)
D2 = (12/4) Spare (S220)
D1 = (12/3) +5 V Receivr Protect PS Sum. Fault (S219)
D0 = (12/2) Security System Disabled (S218)
D6 = (13/7) Spare (S231)
D5 = (13/6) Spare (S230)
D4 = (13/5) Spare (S229)
D1 = (13/2) Transmitter Filter Dirty (S226)
D6 = Spare (S238)
D5 = Spare (S237)
D4 = Spare (S236)
D3 = Spare (S235)
D2 = Spare (S234)
D1 = Spare (S233)
D0 = Spare (S232)
D6 = No DAU reply to last command (S245)
D5 = Spare (S244)
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Char Function
D4 = Spare (S243)
D3 = Spare (S242)
D2 = Spare (S241)
D1 = Spare (S240)
D0 = Spare (S239)

Char Function
D6 = (0/6) Maintenance Work Required (S126)
D5 = (0/5) Maintenance Model/No Control (S125)
D4 = (0/4) W/G PFN Transfer Interlock (S124)
D3 = (0/3) W/G Switch Dummy Load (S123)
D2 = (0/2) Transmitter Not Available (S122)
D1 = (0/1) Klystron Preheat (S121)
D0 = (0/0) Filament PS Off (S120)
D6 = (1/5) Filament PS Voltage (S133)
D4 = (1/3) -15 VDC PS Summary Fault (S131)
D0 = (0/7) PFN Switch Long Pulse (S127)
D6 = (2/4) Cabinet Air Temperature (S140)
D5 = (2/3) Cabinet Interlock (S139)
D4 = (2/2) W/G Arc/VSWR (summary) (S138)
D3 = (2/1) Spectrum Filter Low Pressure (S137)
D2 = (2/0) Circulator Over–Temperature (S136)
D1 = (1/7) Focus Coil PS Voltage (S135)
D0 = (1/6) Vacuum Pump PS Voltage (S134)
D6 = (3/3) Main Power Overvoltage (S147)
D5 = (3/2) Modulator Switch Failure (S146)
D4 = (3/1) Modulator Inverter Current (S145)
D3 = (3/0) Modulator Overload (S144)
172 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


Char Function
D0 = (2/5) Cabinet Airflow (S141)
D6 = (4/2) Focus Coil Current (S154)
D5 = (4/1) Transmitter Overcurrent (S153)
D4 = (4/0) Transmitter Overvoltage (S152)
D2 = (3/6) Trigger Amplifier Failure (S150)
D1 = (3/5) Inverse Diode Current/Undervoltage (S149)
D0 = (3/4) Flyback Charge Failure (S148)
D6 = (5/1) Klystron Filament Current (S161)
D5 = (5/0) Klystron Overcurrent (S160)
D4 = (4/7) Battery Charging (S159)
D3 = (4/6) Oil Level (Transmitter) (S158)
D2 = (4/5) PRF Limit (Summary) (S157)
D1 = (4/4) Oil Temperature (Transmitter) (S156)
D0 = (4/3) Focus Coil Airflow (S155)
D6 = (6/0) 'One' Test Bit 0 (S168)
D5 = (5/7) 'One' Test Bit 7 (S167)
D4 = (5/6) 'One' Test Bit 6 (S166)
D3 = (5/5) 'One' Test Bit 5 (S165)
D2 = (5/4) Klystron Airflow (S164)
D1 = (5/3) Klystron Air Temperature (S163)
D0 = (5/2) Klystron Vacion Current (S162)
D6 = (6/7) W/G, Pressure (S175)
D5 = (6/6) Post–Charge Regulator Maintenance (S174)
D4 = (6/5) Modulator Switch Maintenance (S173)
D3 = (6/4) 'One' Test Bit 4 (S172)
D2 = (6/3) 'One' Test Bit 3 (S171)
D1 = (6/2) 'One' Test Bit 2 (S170)
D0 = (6/1) 'One' Test Bit 1 (S169)
D6 = (7/6) 'Zero' Test Bit 6 (S182)
D5 = (7/5) 'Zero' Test Bit 5 (S181)
D4 = (7/4) 'Zero' Test Bit 4 (S180)
D3 = (7/3) 'Zero' Test Bit 3 (S179)
D2 = (7/2) 'Zero' Test Bit 2 (S178)
D1 = (7/1) 'Zero' Test Bit 1 (S177)
D0 = (7/0) 'Zero' Test Bit 0 (S176)
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Char Function
D6 = (8/5) Waveguide Switch Position (S189)
D5 = (8/4) Spare (S188)
D4 = (8/3) COHO/Clock (S187)
D3 = (8/2) Transmitter Inoperable (S186)
D2 = (8/1) Transmitter Recycle (S185)
D1 = (8/0) HV Off (S184)
D0 = (7/7) 'Zero' Test Bit 7 (S183)
D6 = (9/4) Batter Voltage Low (S196)
D5 = (9/3) Auto–Transfer SW on Utility Power (S195)
D4 = (9/2) Generator Maintenance Required (S194)
D1 = (8/7) Spare (S191)
D0 = (8/6) Circulator Temp (S190)
D6 = (10/3) Equip Shelter Halon/Detect Sys Troub (S203)
D5 = (10/2) Aircraft Hazard Light Failure (S202)
D4 = (10/1) Generator Volt and Freq Available (S201)
D3 = (10/0) Generator Selector SW Not Auto (S200)
D2 = (9/7) TPS (Reserved) (S199)
D1 = (9/6) TPS (S198)
D0 = (9/5) Generator Engine Malfunction (S197)
D6 = (11/2) Utility Voltage and Frequency Avail (S210)
D5 = (11/1) Gen Shelter Halon/Detect Sys Trbl (S209)
D4 = (11/0) Fire/Smoke in Generator Shelter (S208)
D3 = (10/7) -9 V Receiver PS Summary Fault (S207)
D2 = (10/6) +/- 18 V Receiver PS Summary Fault (S206)
D1 = (10/5) Fire/Smoke in Equipment Shelter (S205)
D6 = (12/1) Security System Equipment Trouble (S217)
D5 = (12/0) Security Syst Unauthor Entry Alarm (S216)
D4 = (11/7) Spare (S215)
D3 = (11/6) Gen Shelter Door Open (S214)
D2 = (11/5) Spare (S213)
D1 = (11/4) Spare (S212)
D5 = (12/7) Radome Access Hatch1 Open (S223)
D4 = (12/6) Receiver Not Conn. to Antenna (S222)
174 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


Char Function
D3 = (12/5) Waveguide Humidity (S221)
D2 = (12/4) Waveguide Switch TX Interlock (S220)
D1 = (12/3) +5 V Receivr Protect PS Sum. Fault (S219)
D0 = (12/2) Security System Disabled (S218)
D6 = (13/7) Radome Access Hatch2 Open (S231)
D5 = (13/6) Waveguide Switch Ant Position Ind (S230)
D4 = (13/5) Spectrum Filter Pressure (S229)
D3 = (13/4) Spare (S228)
D2 = (13/3) Spare (S227)
D1 = (13/2) Transmitter Filter Dirty (S226)
D6 = Pedestal Power (S238)
D5 = Gen Sw to Utility (S237)
D4 = Gen Sw To Gen (S236)
D3 = Re Rx Channel12 (S235)
D2 = Wg Sw Antenna (S234)
D1 = Tx High Voltage On (S233)
D0 = Rx Trans Power Head Adjust (S232)
D6 = No DAU reply to last command (S245)
D5 = Spare (S244)
D4 = Spare (S243)
D3 = Spare (S242)
D2 = Spare (S241)
D1 = Panel Power Sleep (S240)
D0 = DAQ Power (S239)
Many of the DAU functions can also be controlled from the RCP8 via
numbered control variables as follows. When DAU mode is enabled, a new
DAU "Data Message" is sent every second, and immediately after a control
BITE packet is received.
Audible Alarm Control–1 (C63)

Audible Alarm Control–2 (C62)
High Voltage ON Command (C61)
Antenna Command (C60)
Channel 2 Command (C59)
Pedestal Operate (C58)
Spare Lamp Driver (C57)
Switch to Diesel Generator (C56)
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Switch to Utility Power (C55)

Audible Alarm Enable (C54)
In addition to the standard BITE packets shown in Table 25 on page 168,

the RCP8 will output the following Q–BITE packets which represent the
quantitative values that are read from the DAU. The numbers shown in
parenthesis are the original DAU status byte numbers that supplied each
value. A total of 30 14–bit values are sent.
Table 27 WSR–88D DAU Q–BITE Packet (RCP8 to Host)

Char Function
3–4 (14) Outside Ambient Temperature
5–6 (15) Equipment Shelter Temperature
7–8 (16) AC Unit 1 Discharge Air Temperature
9–10 (17) Transmitter Discharge Air Temperature
11–12 (18) Radome Area Temperature
13–14 (19) Generator Shelter Temperature
15–16 (20) Storage Tank Fuel Level
21–22 (31) Transmitter RF Power
23–24 (32) Antenna RF Power
27–28 (37) Pedestal +28V Power
29–30 (38) Encoder +5V Power
35–36 (44) Signal Processor +5V Power
37–38 (46) Maintenance Console +28V Power
43–44 (52) Pedestal -15V Power
45–46 (55) Maintenance Console -15V Power
47–48 (57) DAU Test 0
49–50 (58) DAU Test 1
51–52 (59) DAU Test 2
53–54 Spare
55–56 Spare
57–58 Spare
59–60 Spare
61–62 Spare
176 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

The BITE "interrogate" packet is a request to a remote device that it

immediately reply with its current BITE packet(s). This is how the local
device can insure that it has the most recent valid data.
The RCP8 will send BITE "interrogate" packets to the host computer
whenever the RCP8 is expecting to receive BITE packets of any sort.
These RCP8 "interrogate" requests are sent every 30 seconds beginning at
startup. This insures that all control bits will be valid in the RCP8
immediately upon startup, and will resume their correct states after any
serial line interruptions.
The RCP8 responds to incoming BITE "interrogate" packets by sending

the current version of all standard BITE status packets that it is configured
to output. Q–BITE packets are not sent in response to this command.
Table 28 BITE Interrogate Packet (Host to RCP8)

Char Function
2 Command (0x4D = Interrogate)
This packet has the same function as the standard BITE Interrogate packet,
except that only the Quantitative BITE units will report back.
Table 29 Q–BITE Interrogate Packet (Host to RCP8)

Char Function
2 Command (0x01 = Interrogate)
The BITE individual request packet is used to request information about a

single BITE unit, separate from all the others.
The RCP8 responds to an interrogate packet by sending the current version

of the specified BITE status packet. The RCP8 responds to a sample data
packet by sending requests out the the remote device to get information,
then responding to the host computer with the new BITE status packet
when the information arrives. The RCP8 responds to the reset packet by
sending a reset command to the remote device.
Table 30 BITE Individual Request Packet (Host to RCP8)

Char Function
2 ID of the BITE unit for which the command will be applied
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Table 30 BITE Individual Request Packet (Host to RCP8)

Char Function
3 Command: 0x4D=Interrogate, 0x44=Sample Data,
0x43=Reset
A.6 Miscellaneous Formats

Table 31 Time Packet (RCP8 to Host)
Char Function
1 SYNC Byte (B0 Hex)
2 Year Low 7 bits
3 Year High 7 bits
4 Month
5 Day
6 Hour
7 Minute
8 Second
9 1/100 of second
10 Status (unused, zero)
These packets are sent in both directions to convey serial TTY

communication. Up to six 7–bit characters can be sent in each packet with
two characters of overhead for SYNC and END. This allows up to 75% of
the available serial bandwidth to be used for chatting. If a "chat–mode"
packet contains fewer than six characters, then a NULL (zero byte) is
inserted after the last one.
Table 32 Chat–Mode Packet
Char Function
1 SYNC Byte (F1 Hex)
2...7 7–Bit ASCII characters (possibly NULL terminated)
178 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Appendix B _____________________________________________ Antenna Stabilization Procedure
APPENDIX B
ANTENNA STABILIZATION
PROCEDURE
After the initial power–up and cabling has been completed, configuration
of the RCP8 must be carried out in a particular order. A suggested
sequence is given below, which is based on the assumption that none of the
parameters are yet correct. Detailed instructions for modifying parameter
values are described in Chapter 5, TTY Setup Menus, on page 61 Most of
this configuration is made through the RCP8's chat interface. You can
always access this by running the rcp8 with the "rcp8 –int" shell command.
Once the host computer interface is correctly configured, then you can
access this via the antx program on the controlling host.
1. Disable host computer control until the positioning is stabilized. Do

this by answering "No" in the "site host" section to the "Process
incoming servo control packets" question. While you are in there,
setup the rest of the host computer interface questions.
2. If this is a shipboard system, disable the platform stabilization until
the basic antenna control is tuned up. Do this by answering "No" to
the first question in the "INU" section.
3. Use the "site display" command to choose the parameters you would
like to show on the front panel display.
4. Define most of the fixed information for each axis, particularly the
angle source. This is performed using the "axis" command.
5. Temporarily set the elevation shutdown limits 15 degrees short of
mechanical stops, leaving enough distance for the antenna to coast to
a stop in case of errors. Disable soft limits. These only work when the
position servo is configured. Also, set the limit switch options and
polarity.
6. Now using the setup utility in the RCP pop–up, configure the
Interface to RCP section to match. Once this is done, the antx and
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
antenna utilities should function. Verify that the displayed angles

match the RCP8 front panel.
The following steps are performed separately for each axis. Do the azimuth
axis first. For most of the elevation axis stabilization, keep the antenna in
the middle of the range, away from the stops.
1. Set the "maximum output drive voltage" to +/- 10 Volts to start.

Verify that a drive of 0 will not move the antenna. Set the drive sign
correctly. If you have a high–gain servo, it may go at full speed at a
lower voltage, and it may move with a zero drive (because of a small
A/D offset voltage). In this case, you will need to add an external
resister divider to lower the drive voltage. If the voltage needs to be
lowered a small amount use the drive voltage question. Below about
5 volts, Vaisala recommends the voltage divider.
2. Adjust the tachometer voltage range using the gain potentiometers on
the back of the CP. The pot closer to the end of the CP controls
elevation. The T units are displayed in the RCP8 in a range of +/-100.
The goal is that the maximum velocity that the antenna will ever go
should be within the measured limits. Be aware that this speed may
exceed the maximum velocity requested by the RCP8. Use the
"monitor" command to watch this, then give drive commands like "ad
10" to give small drives. Bring the speed up to 25% of the maximum
you expect, then adjust until the T display is below 25.
3. Calibrate the tachometer by getting the sign and offset right, then
entering level and speeds in the "axis" command. Set the "Tach zero–
delay–smoother window" to a short (0.05 second) value.
4. Determine the motor starting drives, the nominal drive slope, and the
maximum angular velocity. Determine the drive sign, then set the
drive slew rate fairly short (.10 second). Set the velocity feedback
dead zone to 0.3, and the feedback slope to 25. The velocity servo
should now be stable.
5. Set up the position servo parameters to achieve a stable motion
between two positions that are separated by an angular distance. Make
sure that both steps of 1 degrees and of 10 degrees perform quickly
with no overshoot.
When both axes are done, perform the following:
1. Now set the final elevation shutdown limits 0.2 degrees or so short of
the mechanical stops. Enable the elevation soft limits, and set them
short of the shutdown limits by 0.5 degrees or so. In setup RCP
section set the elevation limits to the same soft limits.
2. If this is a shipboard system, use the "INU" section to enable the data
from the INU. See the next section.
180 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Appendix B _____________________________________________ Antenna Stabilization Procedure
B.1 Shipboard INU and Pedestal Alignment

Background of INU Alignment
In the best of worlds the MRU sensor is mounted with an orientation

exactly matching the antenna pedestal. To do this while the ship is docked,
we use a digital level to match the MRU's tilt to the pedestals tilt in both
axis. Then we make the pedestal's azimuth zero when the MRU's heading
is zero. The GPS antenna orientation also must match. After such an
alignment, we will get the correct roll, pitch, and heading for antenna
stabilization. It does not really matter that this match other parts of the ship.
Unfortunately, this is not always possible. The INU data may be shared by
many different experiments. To correct for this, we need to add a pitch and
roll offset for the INU in the RCP8. There is no need to use a heading
offset, because we can still make the zero headings match with a pedestal
offset.
INU and Pedestal Alignment Procedure
There are 5 numbers to enter into the RCP8 which need to be determined:
- Parameters set.
- Azimuth Axis Input offset from true orientation.
- Elevation Axis Input offset from true orientation.
- INU Roll offset from true orientation.
- INU Pitch offset from true orientation.
- INU Heading offset from true orientation.
1. Set the INU Heading offset to zero. We will define this to be the
pedestal zero azimuth.
2. Get a rough Azimuth Axis offset by manually pushing the antenna to
point in the direction of the ships heading. Next adjust the offset until
the pedestal azimuth reads zero on the antenna utility.
3. Make sure the INU stabilization is turned on in the RCP02. Set the
elevation angle to 0 degrees in the antenna utility, place a digital level
on the waveguide feed in front of the dish in a place parallel to the
transmitted beam. Sweep the antenna a full 360 degrees slowly
recording the tilt every 30 degrees or so. The recorded table should
also show the pedestal azimuth. You can see this displayed in antenna
by selecting Options/ "Stable Platform Params". Also monitor to
make sure the RCP02 is really maintaining the earth elevation angle
near zero. Plot the resulting data and fit to a sine wave with offset.
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4. The fit offset gives you a rough elevation axis offset. It is not the exact
offset because the beam pattern may not be exactly aligned with the
feed waveguide.
5. The sine wave amplitude at 0 degrees gives you the INU Pitch offset.
6. The sine wave amplitude at 90 degrees gives you the INU Roll offset.
7. After adjusting the offsets, repeat the stabilization measurement scan
to check that the corrections are complete. You may need to repeat
this many times because of operator mistakes, sign confusions, and
cross term contributions.
8. Run a sun calibration. Use the results of the sun calibration to fine tune
the pedestal elevation offset, and pedestal azimuth offset. Check to
make sure you got the signs correct.
182 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Appendix C ____________________________________________________ RVP8/RCP8 Packaging
APPENDIX C
RVP8/RCP8 PACKAGING
A standard RVP8/RCP8 processor consists of three separate units:
- Main Chassis C.1 Main Chassis RVP8 and RCP8

General Description on
page 184
- Connector Panel C.2 I/O-62 and RVP8 and RCP8
Connector Panel on
page 196
- IFD (IF Digitizer) C.3 IFD Module (RVP8 RVP8 Only
Only) on page 211
Because of the similarity of the packaging for the RVP8 and RCP8, both
units are described here.
The main chassis and connector panel are located in a rack within 100m of
the IFD. Typically the main chassis interfaces to a host computer via 100
BaseT Ethernet. For the RVP8, the IFD receiver module resides in the
radar cabinet.
This section describes the general features of the packaging and the
electrical specifications and cabling of these units. Please read
CAREFULLY the following warnings before you apply power to your
system.
WARNING WARNING: The Main Chassis power supply modules are NOT auto
ranging. These must be set by a switch on each module for either 115/230
VAC 60/50 Hz. Verify these before applying power to the system. See
C.1.3 Main Chassis Back Panel Power Section on page 191.
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
WARNING WARNING: Turn off power to the main chassis before installing or
removing any PCI boards. For safety, the line cord should be
disconnected before opening either the IFD module or main chassis.
NOTE Important: The circuit boards contain many static sensitive components.
Do not handle the boards or open the IFD module unless a properly
grounded wrist strap is worn.
C.1 Main Chassis General Description

Vaisala's standard main chassis is a 4U rackmount/table top enclosure
(43.2 wide x 43.2 long x 17.8 cm high) or (17 wide x 17 long x 7.00 inch
high) which fits a standard 19-inch EIA rack. The system comes standard
with hot–swap redundant power supplies. The chassis may be equipped
with either a mother board or a single-board computer depending on how
the unit was purchased. The chassis is shown in the following figures.
- Front View on page 186

- Rear View on page 187
- Side view on page 188
- Internal Wiring on page 189
The front of the unit has a plasma matrix display that is used for status
information. There is also a CDRW drive (for software installation and
backup) and in most cases, a floppy drive as well (for configuration
backup).
Two fans are mounted behind the door on the front of the enclosure. These
draw ambient air in to the unit. The air flows through the unit and exits the
rear. Do not block the slots or the exhaust grills on the fans. Check airflow
now and then, and also check the board and fan screen for dust
accumulation. If necessary, excessive dust accumulations on the board can
be cleaned at a properly equipped static-free workstation with "canned air"
or Chemtronics TF-Plus solvent, which can be purchased through
electronics distributors.
The boards should be left in the chassis whenever the unit is shipped. This
minimizes handling and static risk. Save the original packing provided for
shipment.
WARNING Important: Prior to shipment, contact helpdesk@vaisala.com to obtain a

returned materials authorization (RMA) and to coordinate the shipping.
184 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

A table top unit can be converted for rack mount by simply installing rack
mount ears. The rack ears are installed with #8-32 flat head screws. It is
strongly recommended that the rack mount slide brackets supplied with the
unit should be installed in the rack for additional structural support.
The internal cabling diagram in on page 189 shows how the various disk
drives, power supplies, etc. are connected within the standard Main
Chassis. A mother board example is shown. Use this as a guide if you have
to replace internal components.
The remainder of this section describes the front and rear panel of the Main
Chassis.
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
0914-023
Figure 11 Main Chassis - Front Panel
186 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

0914-024
Figure 12 Main Chassis -Back Panel
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
Back
Top
Front
0914-025
Figure 13 Main Chassis - Right Side View
188 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

0914-026
Figure 14 Main Chassis Internal Cabling
C.1.1 Main Chassis Front Panel

The front panel is shown in Figure 11 on page 186. The front panel matrix
plasma display is typically connected internally by a ribbon cable to either
an I/O-62 card or an RVP8/Rx card. The display is used to show status and
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 189

User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
power-up test results. The function keys beside the display are not
currently used.
0914-027
Figure 15 RVP8 Receiver/Signal Processor
0914-028
Figure 16 RCP8 Radar Control Processor
In addition, the DVD+RW/CDRW are located on the front panel. The

various activity lights are for the DVD (yellow), floppy drive (small green)
and the hard disk drive (large red). The cabling diagram shows how to
connect the activity lights. At the lower right of the unit is a power on/off
switch and a green LED to indicate that power is on.
C.1.2 Main Chassis Back Panel

Figure 12 on page 187 shows an example of the main chassis back panel
for the case of a motherboard system. There are three main sections to the
Main Chassis back panel:
- Power section- on the left (looking from the rear) with the power
entry module, alarm reset and three redundant hot-swap power
supplies.
- PC I/O section- in the lower center with connectors for keyboard,
mouse, monitor, network, etc. This is for a mother board example.
- PCI card section- on the right (looking from the rear) with standard
PCI slots for the RVP8/RCP8 circuit cards as well as other standard
commercial PCI cards that may be used (e.g., a four port serial card).
Note that depending on whether your system is using a mother board or

single-board computer (SBC), the appearance of these sections may be
190 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

different, but the functions are the same. These sections are described in
detail in the sections below.
C.1.3 Main Chassis Back Panel Power

Section
WARNING The Main Chassis power supply modules are NOT auto ranging. These
must be set by a switch on each module for either 115/230 VAC 60/50 Hz.
Verify these per the procedure below, before applying power to the
system.
The Main Chassis back panel is equipped with a modular AC power entry
device. There are three hot-swap redundant power supply modules in the
system. The procedure for setting/verifying the voltage on each one is as
follows:
- The unit should be powered-off. This can be assured by simply not

connecting the power input cord.
- Remove the top power supply module by shifting the black release
button to the right.
- Use the handle to pull the module out.
- Check the red power selector switch on the right side (rear) of the
module and set it as appropriate to your line voltage (115/230).
- Re–insert the module and push the chrome handle down. This
switches the module in the on "1" position.
- Repeat this procedure for the middle and lower modules (the order is
not critical)).
When the system is switched–on, the LED on each module shows green to
indicate that it is functioning properly. A red light indicates a failure. There
is an audio "buzzer" alarm in the event that a power module is turned-off,
removed or fails.
NOTE The red button next to the power entry module will reset the "buzzer"
alarm.
The system will function if there is failure of any one power module, but
is not rated to function with only one module, i.e., if two modules fail. Each
power module is equipped with internal protection for over-temperature
and over-current. In the event that the protection is triggered, the module
LED will show red. It can be reset by removing the module for a minute
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
and then inserting the module back into the system. It is best to do this with
power–off to the module.
NOTE If a power module is switched on, but the LED indicator is red, then it is
not functioning. The reset procedure is to turn the power off on the failed
module, remove it for one minute and then re-insert it and power it back
on.
C.1.4 Main Chassis Back Panel PC I/O

Section
Mouse
(Green) Parallel Port (Burgundy)
Keboard USB COM1–ttyS0 VGA Monitor Port LAN1 LAN2

(Purple) Ports (Turquoise) (Blue)
P4DP8-G2/P4DPE-G2/P4DPi-G2/P4DP6
0914-029
The PC I/O section shown above is where you make all of your standard
PC connections. Note pins (male) are indicated by filled black circles while
sockets (female) are indicated by open circles.
A standard keyboard and mouse are provided with the unit. VGA monitor
is supplied by the customer or ordered as an option from Vaisala.
Note that LAN 1 and LAN 2 are standard RJ45 connectors. For the –G2
style mother boards the LAN port speed is 100/1000 BaseT. For the –Q
they are 10/100 BaseT.
The keyboard and mouse are standard PS/2. You can use an adapter to plug
a USB mouse into the circular mouse connector.
COM1 (/dev/ttyS0) is the DBM9 connector. COM2 (/dev/ttyS1) is

typically installed as a separate DBM9 connector in the PCI section.
192 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

C.1.5 Main Chassis Back Panel PCI Card

Section
Softplane ribbon cables
I/O-62 Tx Primary Optional

Rx 2nd Rx
0914-030
The PCI cards are installed vertically on the right of the chassis (looking
from the back). Since there are many different RVP8/RCP8 configuration
options that can be ordered, there is quite a bit of variability in what PCI
cards are installed. The order of the cards in the slots IS important. The
table below gives the required card sequence from right to left as viewed
from the back of the chassis (like the figure). There can be blank slots in
between the cards as long as the order is preserved. Note, all Vaisala cards
require a softplane ribbon cable as shown in the figure, except for the case
of a minimal system with only a single Rx card. Note that COM2 is
typically installed as a DBM9 connector on an otherwise blank panel in the
PCI section
Table 33 RVP8 and RCP8 I/O-62 Card Jumper Settings

PCI Card Card Slot Used on Vendor Functions
Order
RVP8/Rx 1st RVP8 Dual Vaisala Optional Secondary Rx
Pol System Card. Used for vertical or
cross–polarized receiver
channel.
RVP8/Rx 2nd RVP8 Vaisala Primary Rx Card. Used for
Standard horizontal or co-polarized
receiver channel.
RVP8/Rx 3rd RVP8 Vaisala Two waveform outputs,
clock output/input, 4 RS422
lines
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________

PCI Card Card Slot Used on Vendor Functions
Order
I/O –62 4th RVP8 Vaisala I/O to radar system control
RCP8 and monitoring. Usually
connected to an I/O-62
Connector Panel.
COM3–N 5th RVP8 Market Additional RS232C serial
RCP8 card (typically 4 channels).
HPIB 6th RVP8 Market HPIB control for signal
RCP8 generator or other test
equipment
Card slot order is from right-to-left when viewed from the back.
The I/O-62 is used on both the RVP8 and RCP8. It is described in C.2 I/O-
62 and Connector Panel on page 196, along with thestandard connector
panels for the RVP8 and RCP8. Please see Chapter 3, Hardware
Installation, on page 33 of the RVP8 User's Manual for a description of the
connectors on the RVP8 PCI cards. The jumper settings for the I/O-62, Rx
and Tx Cards are described in the tables below. Note that the high-lighted
entries correspond to the default factory jumper settings.

Jumper ID Description AB BC Not Installed
JP1 BOOT Controls the X X Normal Boot
card boot–up
JP2 JTAG Enables on- Enable Flash Maintenance Maintenance
board "flash"
re-
programming
for code
version
upgrades.
Other settings
are reserved
for Vaisala
maintenance
functions.
194 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D


JP3 TTYX0/RSV These jumpers Pin 47 TTYX0 X X
assign
JP4 TRIG0/TTYX0 dedicated TTYX0 X
Pin 49 TRIG0 hardware I/O
JP5 TRIG2/K1NO lines to pins on K1 Normally X
Pin 53 TRIG2 DBF62 Open Contact
connector on
JP6 TRIG2/K1NO K1 Normally X
the back of the
Pin 53 TRIG2 Open Contact
I/O-62. The
JP7 TRIG3/K1CT selections are K1 Center X
Pin 55 TRIG3 made among: Contact
JP8 TTYR0/K2NC 1.) The two K2 Normally X
Pin 57 TTYR0 RS232 lines Closed Contact
JP9 TTYX1/K2NO noted as TTY0 K2 Normally X
Pin 59 TTYX1 or 1 with Open Contact
JP10 TTYR1/K2CT transmit and K2 Center X
Pin 61 TTYR1 receive for Contact
each). 2.) Four
trigger output
lines. 3.) The
three contact
positions of the
onboard DIP
relays (K1 and
K2). Note the
specific pins
are listed in the
AB column.
Table 35 RVP8/Rx Card Jumper Settings

JP1 LOG Select TRIG1 LOG Out TRIG1 Out X
out or LOG out
for card BNC
labeled "TR-1/
LOG"
JP2 TGV TRIG1 output 5V 12 V X
voltage
JP3 TIN Select TRIG2 TRIG-IN TRIG2 Out X
out or TRIG-IN
for card BNC
labeled "TR-2/
IN"
JP4 TGV TRIG2 output 5V 12 V X
voltage
card boot–up
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
Table 35 RVP8/Rx Card Jumper Settings (Continued)

board "flash"
re-
programming
for code
version
upgrades.
Other settings
are reserved
for Vaisala
maintenance
functions.
JP7 TERM TRIG-IN Un-terminated 75 Ohm X
Termination
Table 36 RVP8/Tx Card Jumper Settings

card boot–up
board "flash"
re-
programming
for code
version
upgrades.
Other settings
are reserved
for Vaisala
maintenance
functions.
JP3A — Reserved for Reserved X X
future use
JP3B — Reserved for Reserved X X
future use
C.2 I/O-62 and Connector Panel

on page 199 and on page 200 show the I/0-62 Connector Panel for the
RVP8 and RCP8. This is typically mounted on the same rack as the Main
Chassis. A 1:1 62–position cable (standard 1.8 m/6 foot) connects the
connector panel to the I/O-62. As shown in the figures, the cable can be
connected to either the front or the back of the panel so that the cable run
can be optimized. In most cases, it is recommended to connect the cable to
the back of the panel to minimize the risk of physical damage to the cable.
196 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

The panel is electrically the same for both the RVP8 and RCP8.Indeed the
circuit board is identical. However, the panel labelling and the softplane
configurations are different.
The pin assignments to the various connectors are described in Table 37 on

page 200 to Table 50 on page 211 located at the end of this section. The
tables show the basic electrical properties of each pin and the default signal
assignment (if any) that is made in the factory softplane.conf file. The
softplane approach provides a great deal of flexibility in assigning the I/O
to the panel.
The I/O–62 PCI card provides forty multi–protocol digital interface lines
at its 62–pin faceplate connector. These lines are grouped into five
independent and identical blocks, each of which contains eight lines.
Moreover, each of these blocks of eight lines can be further divided into
four line pairs.
Each block of I/O lines can operate in one of the following modes:
- As eight TTL/CMOS single–ended outputs

- As eight TTL/CMOS single–ended inputs
- As N RS–422 differential transmitters or receivers, and (8–2N) TTL/
CMOS single–ended inputs.
The assignment of electrical levels and signal directions are all made in the
'oftplane.conf' file. Users do not have to worry about how to configure each
block of lines because inconsistent signal assignments will be checked and
reported when the file is loaded.
All forty I/O–62 digital lines are individually protected against both
overvoltage and electrostatic discharge (ESD). You may safely apply
voltages between -27V and +27V to any line regardless of whether it is
configured for an input or output. Likewise, external ESD pulses of 15KV
(Human body model) will be safely shunted to ground at the 62–pin
connector point of entry.
This wide voltage tolerance effectively makes the TTL/CMOS inputs

function as wide range comparators with a 2.5V logic threshold. These
inputs could be connected directly to a 24V panel bulb, for example, in
order to monitor its On/Off status. Note that the line protection circuitry
has a side effect of raising the output impedance of the TTL/CMOS drivers
to approximately 120–Ohms. This should not cause any trouble unless the
signal is heavily terminated at the receiving end. The RS–422 drivers are
not affected by the line protection, and have the standard very low output
impedance.
The I/O–62 provides a variety of terminations for its digital I/O lines. The
TTL/CMOS signals can optionally be pulled either to GND or to +5V
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 197

User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
through a 2.2K–Ohm resistor. Similarly, the RS–422 linepairs can

optionally be terminated with a 100–Ohm resistor across each pair.
There are a few additional constraints that should be kept in mind when
assigning electrical signals to a block of eight I/O–62 lines. These are:
- When TTL/CMOS pull-up/pull-down resistors are enabled, they are

applied to the entire group of eight lines. This is somewhat
inconsistent with using some of those same lines as RS–422.
- Similarly, when RS–422 terminators are enabled, they are applied to
all four line pairs. This is completely inconsistent with using some of
those same lines as TTL/CMOS.
Thus, if line termination is required, it is usually necessary to split the TTL/

CMOS and RS–422 functions so that both do not appear within the same
block of eight lines.
198 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

0914-031
Figure 17 RVP8 I/O-62 Connector Panel
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
0914-032
Figure 18 RCP8 I/O-62 Connector Panel
Table 37 J1 AZ INPUT
Pin Electrical RVP8 Signal Name RCP8 Signal Name
Specification
1 TTL sPedAZ[0] sPedAZ[0]
200 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Table 37 J1 AZ INPUT (Continued)

Specification
17 TTL
18 TTL
19 TTL
20 TTL
21 GND
22 GND
23 GND
24 GND
25 GND
Table 38 J2 AZ OUTPUT
Specification
1 TTL cEarthAZ[0] cEarthAZ[0]
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
Table 38 J2 AZ OUTPUT (Continued)

Specification
17 TTL
18 TTL
19 TTL
20 TTL
21 GND
22 GND
23 GND
24 GND
25 GND
Table 39 J3 RVP8: PHASE OUT; RCP8 CONTROL

Specification
1 Configurable I/O–62 cPWidth[0]
2 Digital Lines: cRadiateOn
3 cServoPwr
4 cReset
5 sPWidth[0]
6 sRadiate
7 sServoPwr
8 sReset
9 RS422+
10 RS422+
11 GND
12 GND
13 GND
202 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Table 39 J3 RVP8: PHASE OUT; RCP8 CONTROL

Specification
14 Configurable I/O–62 cPWidth[1]
15 Digital Lines: cRadiateOff
16 cTransmitPwr
17
18 sPWidth[1]
19
20 sTransmitPwr
21
22 RS422-
23 RS422-
24 GND
25 GND
Notes:
1.) I/O-62 lines can be configured in softplane.conf in groups of 4 for the

following options:
RS422 differential vs single–ended
Input or output sense
Input termination for single-ended lines can be pull-up (...Term=1), pull-

down (...Term=-1) or un-terminated (...Term=0)
1.) All RCP8 status variables (starting with "s") are terminated with pull–
up's in the default softplane.conf.
2.) All RCP8 control variables (starting with "c") are un-terminated
(...Term=0).
Table 40 J4 EL INPUT
Specification
1 TTL sPedEL[0] sPedEL[0]
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
Table 40 J4 EL INPUT (Continued)

Specification
17 TTL
18 TTL
19 TTL
20 TTL
21 GND
22 GND
23 GND
24 GND
25 GND
Table 41 J5 EL OUTPUT
Specification
1 TTL cEarthEL[0] cEarthEL[0]
17 TTL
18 TTL
204 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Table 41 J5 EL OUTPUT (Continued)

Specification
19 TTL
20 TTL
21 GND
22 GND
23 GND
24 GND
25 GND
Table 42 J6 RELAY
Specification
1 Relay K1: CT cPWidth[0] cPWidth[0]
2 Relay K1: NO
3 Relay K1: NC
4 Relay K2: CT cPWidth[1] cPWidth[1]
5 Relay K2: NO
6 Relay K2: NC
7 Relay K3: CT
8 Relay K3: NO
9 Relay K3: NC
10 —
11 GND
12 GND
13 GND
14 +12VDC External
15 +12VDC Relay
16 +12VDC Control
17 +12VDC Power
18 +12V Unreg
19 Return14 External
20 +12V Return15 Relay
21 +12V Return16 Control
22 +12V Return17 Returns
23 —
24 GND
25 GND
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
WARNING WARNING: To avoid possible damage to the connector panel, all

external relays must be equipped with diode protection against the back
EMF generated when the external relay coil is opened. Relays can be
purchased with a diode installed or a diode can be added to the relay
across the coil supply and return.
Notes: Internal relays K1, K2, K3 on the connector panel are dry contacts:
CT Center contact
NO Normally open contact
NC Normally closed contact
Table 43 J7: RVP8 SPARE; RCP8 BITE 19:0

Specification
1 TTL sAux[0]
2 TTL sAux[1]
3 TTL sAux[2]
4 TTL sAux[3]
5 TTL sAux[4]
6 TTL sAux[5]
7 TTL sAux[6]
8 TTL sAux[7]
9 TTL sAux[8]
10 TTL sAux[9]
11 TTL sAux[10]
12 TTL sAux[11]
13 TTL sAux[12]
14 TTL sAux[13]
15 TTL sAux[14]
16 TTL sAux[15]
17 TTL sAux[16]
18 TTL sAux[17]
19 TTL sAux[18]
20 TTL sAux[19]
21 GND
22 GND
23 GND
24 GND
25 GND
206 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Table 44 J8: RVP8 SPARE; RCP8 ANALOG IN

Specification
1 Amux0+ Amux0+
2 ±20VDC Amux1+ Amux1+
3 Differential Amux2+ Amux2+
4 Analog Amux3+ Amux3+
5 Inputs Amux4+ Amux4+
6 Amux5+ Amux5+
7 Positive Amux6+ Amux6+
8 Side Amux7+ Amux7+
9 Amux8+ Amux8+
10 Amux9+ Amux9+
11 GND
12 GND
13 GND
14 Amux0- Amux0-
15 ±20VDC Amux1- Amux1-
16 Differential Amux2- Amux2-
17 Analog Amux3- Amux3-
18 Inputs Amux4- Amux4-
19 Amux5- Amux5-
20 Negative Amux6- Amux6-
21 Side Amux7- Amux7-
22 Amux8- Amux8-
23 Amux9- Amux9-
24 GND
25 GND
Table 45 J9 RVP8: MISC I/O ; RCP8: PED/STATUS

Specification
1 Configurable I/O–62 sWavegpFlt
2 Digital Lines: sInterlockFlt
3 sLocal
4 sLowerEL
8 ±6 to ±70 VDC Input AzTach+
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
Table 45 J9 RVP8: MISC I/O ; RCP8: PED/STATUS

Specification
9 ±6 to ±70 VDC Input ElTach+
10 ±10 VDC Output AzDrive
11 GND
12 GND
13 GND
14 Configurable I/O–62 sAirflowFlt
15 Digital Lines: sMagCurrentFlt
16 sStandby
17 sUpperEL
18
19
20
21 ±6 to ±70 VDC Input AzTach-

22 ±6 to ±70 VDC Input ElTach-
23 ±10 VDC Output ElDrive
24 GND
25 GND
Notes:
1. I/O-62 lines can be configured in softplane.conf in groups of 4 for the

following options:
RS422 differential vs single–ended
Input or output sense
Input termination for single–ended lines, pull-up (...Term=1), pull-
down (...Term=-1) or un-terminated (...Term=0)
2. All RCP8 status variables (starting with "s") are terminated with pull–
up's in the default softplane.conf.
3. Antenna pedestal tachometer inputs are adjusted by a pot on back of
the Connector Panel. The tach and drive signals are not configured in
softplane.conf.
Table 46 J10 SERIAL

Pin Electrical Specification Comment
1 GND
2 RS232C Rx
208 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Table 46 J10 SERIAL (Continued)

3 RS232C Tx
4 —
5 GND
6 —
7 —
8 —
9 —
Table 47 J11 SERIAL

1 GND
2 RS232C Rx Channel 0
3 RS232C Tx Channel 0
4 RS232C Rx Channel 1
5 GND
6 RS232C Tx Channel 1
7 -12VDC @ 50mA max Regulated power supply
regulated
8 +12VDC @ 50mA max Regulated power supply
9 +5VDC @ 50mA max Regulated power supply
Table 48 J12 S–D

Specification
1 Nominal 90V 60Hz RefEL+ RefEL+
2 Synchro Signals RefEL-
RefEL-
3 SyEL1
SyEL1
4 SyEL2
SyEL2
5 SyEL3
SyEL3
6 GND
7 Nominal 90V 60Hz RefAZ+ RefAZ+
8 Synchro Signals RefAZ-
RefAZ-
9 SyAZ1
SyAZ1
10 SyAZ2
SyAZ2
11 SyAZ3
SyAZ3
12 GND
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User’s Manual _____________________________________________________________________
The pin numbers are embossed on the J12 plastic connector but can be hard
to read by eye. Facing the backpanel connector the pin arrangement is:
1 RefEL+ 4 SynEL2 7 RefAZ+ 10 SynAZ2

2 RefEL- 5 SynEL3 8 RefAZ- 11 SynAZ3
3 SynEL1 6 Ground 9 SynAZ1 12 Ground
The mating plug is AMP 350735–1 using Amplatch pins 350547–1. The
corresponding hood comes in two identical pieces: AMP 640717–1, along
with #6 x 1/2" self-tapping screw. You must use two hoods and two screws
per plug.
The following table lists the maximum RMS voltage that can be applied to
the backpanel's Molex SYNCHRO connector for each value of plug-in SIP
resistor. The AZ channel voltages are set by SIP S1, whereas S2 sets the
EL voltage levels. These resistors are socketed, and can be changed by
removing the back cover of the IO62–CP panel
S1 or S2 Max Ref(RMS) Max S–S(RMS)

47K 56V 31V
68K 81V 45V
100K 118V 66V
150K 178V 99V
220K 261V 145V
Note that the 'Ref' inputs have somewhat lower gain than the three 'S'
inputs. This is because the precision of the S/D angle conversion is affected
primarily by the precision at which the three ?S? voltages can be measured.
The backpanel therefore biases the gains so that the ?S? voltages can be
made as large as possible, i.e., without the ?Ref? voltages first filling the
A/D conversion range.
The appropriate resistor is the smallest value such that the maximum S-to-
S voltage of the synchro (which is angle dependent) still fits within the
table range. The reference voltage should then fit easily into its
corresponding maximum range. Don’t worry if it doesn’t; the important
thing is to match the 'S' line voltages.
For example, a traditional 90Vrms 1:1 synchro would best use the 150K
resistor, whereas a 105Vrms unit would require the 220K value. Note that
you can check for proper A/D conversion levels of the synchro inputs using
the 'help view' menu of the RCP8.
210 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

WARNING The synchro voltage input feature is only available on Rev.B and higher
backpanels. If you are running an RCP8 with a Rev.A backpanel and
would like to switch to synchro inputs, Vaisala will be happy to upgrade
your panel at no cost.
Table 49 RVP8 BNC Connector Pin Assignments

Ref Designator Label Electrical Signal Name
Specification
J13 TP1 5V 75Ohm
J14 TRIG–1 12V 75Ohm Trigger[1]
J16 TP2 5V 75Ohm
Table 50 Table C–17: RCP8 BNC Connector Pin Assignments

Ref Designator Label Electrical Signal Name
Specification
J13 TP1 5V 75Ohm
J14 SPARE
J15 SPARE
J16 TP2 5V 75Ohm
J17 SPARE
J18 SPARE
C.3 IFD Module (RVP8 Only)

The IFD module is a small metal box which can be mounted inside the
receiver cabinet. The IFD is shown in on page 212. Cooling of the inside
components is accomplished bydirect conduction to the case. It is desirable
to place the module in an environment that allows external convective
cooling.
The IFD is equipped with its own auto ranging power supply (110 to 240
VAC 50/60 Hz) which is mounted on the side of the IFD. On the other side
of the IFD are two anti-aliasing filters. These analog filters must be
specified for the radar IF frequency. The filters have an 8 MHz bandwidth
centered about the IF frequency
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0914-033
Figure 19 RVP8/IFD Module
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0914-034
Figure 20 IFD Front Panel
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C.4 DAFC Module (RVP8 only)

The Digital AFC (DAFC) module is used on RVP8 for magnetron systems
to interface to a digitally controlled STALO. The DAFC "T's" off the coax
uplink cable. Power can be provided by running discrete wires from the
IFD. Note that +5 VDC is all that is required to run the DAFC. If you want
to supply the STALO power over the ribbon cable to the IFD, you can
connect the +24 VDC input to an appropriate power supply. Otherwise,
you can power the STALO directly.
The DAFC outputs up to 24 TTL lines to the STALO digital control/

interface. Since these are TTL, the DAFC should be mounted within 10 to
30cm of the STALO if possible. For details on the DAFC, including pin
assignment examples for some commercial STALO's, please refer to the
RVP8's Installation chapter.
0914-035
Figure 21 View of DAFC Module
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Appendix D ____________________________________________________ Dual-System Operation
APPENDIX D
DUAL-SYSTEM OPERATION
D.1 Dual-System Applications

A dual-system is the use of two separate transmitters and receivers through
a single antenna. There are two primary applications for dual (A/B)
systems:
- Redundant systems such that if A fails, B provides backup or vice

versa. For redundant systems, the two systems function exclusively,
that is, they must never be allowed to operate simultaneously. The two
systems could be separate radar transmitter/receiver systems sharing
the same antenna and/or separate RCP8 systems
- Dual frequency systems for which there are two independent
transmitters and receivers that share the same antenna. The systems
can be operated either exclusively (that is, one-at-a-time), or
simultaneously (in parallel) with one system acting as the master and
the other acting as the slave (in passive mode).
Both of these applications share common elements with regard to system

control, monitoring and data acquisition. In the case of redundant
operation, the systems must be capable of switching automatically when a
system fails. In the case of dual frequency operation, the systems must be
capable of switching sequentially, as in the redundant case, as well as
switching between “active” and “passive” state.
It is assumed throughout this discussion that the signal processor is a

Vaisala model RVP900 or equivalent and that the host computer is running
Vaisala IRIS software. Note however, that it is possible to use dual-RCP8
control with other signal processor and software applications as well.
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D.2 Dual-System Architecture
Trig In
Radar A Trig Out
Unique Status
and Control RVP900 IFDR A
A Active Signal
RCP8 CP A Network Feed

to Data Consumer
{
Shared AZ/EL Drive IRIS/Radar A
Radar A&B Disable Switch
Status and AZ/EL Tach
A/B Comm
Control Status Link
IRIS/Radar B
Network Feed
to Data Consumer
RCP8 CP B
Radar B
Unique Status B Active Signal RVP900 IFDR B
and Control
Trig In
Trig Out
Figure 22 Dual-System Architecture
The dual-system architecture is shown in the figure above. The basic

features are:
- Two RCP8s that coordinate the system operation via the A/B Comm
Link. The RCPs monitor status from the radar, the signal processor,
and IRIS, and decide between them who is “active”.
- A “Disable Switch” that removes either system A or B. The switch
(or two separate switches) could also be wired in such a way that it
would be possible to disable both A and B simultaneously.
- Two IRIS/Radar Systems that are treated as “unreliable” systems. In
other words, even in the event of a failure of IRIS, the RCP8s must
still make the correct decision about which system is “active”.
- Two RVPs (radar signal processors) communicating to the IRIS
Radar. Note that the 3 functions (RCP, RVP, and IRIS) are normally
running on the same computer, but they can be implemented on 2 or
3 computers.
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The signals in the figure are summarized below:
Unique Status and Control
These are status and control signals that are unique to each system.
Examples are radiate on/off status and control, and transmitter status. The
normal status/control and extended BITE inputs/outputs are used for these.
Common Status and Control
These are status and control signals that are common to both system.
Examples of common status variables are waveguide pressure, safety
interlock on the radome door, antenna servo status, and site/environment
status. Common status inputs should be wired in parallel to both RCP8s to
the normal status and BITE inputs.
CAUTION Do not wire common system control outputs in parallel (from both
RCP8s). This could result in damage to the RCP8 output drivers.
CAUTION Do not wire critical common system control outputs to both RCPs without
using an external relay to select which is used. A “critical” control output
is one that could damage the system in the event that both RCPs
commanded the control simultaneously. The A/B Active signal is
available for controlling external relays so that only one system can
control the output.
Examples of common control outputs are servo power on/off and any
environment control such as obstruction light on/off. Common control
functions must be handled differently to prevent the possibility of
simultaneous, and perhaps conflicting, control by both RCP8.
Critical control functions (that is, those that could potentially damage the
radar if both RCPs were to command them), should be routed through an
external relay that is controlled by the A/B Active Indicator signal (which
can of course be used to control a master relay).
Non-critical control functions (that is, those that would not damage the
radar if both RCPs were to command them), can be routed through any of
the spare internal relays in the RCP8 (there are 8 total). The approach of
using spare internal relays for these common control outputs relies on the
RCP8 control logic equations. The internal variable cDrcpActive would be
equated to one of the extended BITE control output variables. This would
be physically wired to a spare TTL relay on the RCP8. The control output
would then be wired through the relay (for example, servo power on/off).
This approach is not fail-safe, since the user could make an error in the
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control logics, or simply disable the control logics. Therefore it is not

appropriate for critical control functions.
Azimuth and Elevation Drive Output Signals
These are routed through an internal relay in the RCP8 which connects the
drive lines when the RCP8 is in the active state. This allows only one RCP
to control the antenna. The normal drive output back panel connector
assignments are used.
Azimuth and Elevation Tachometer Input Signals
These are wired in parallel to the tachometer inputs on both RCP8s. Tach
is sensed by both RCP8s simultaneously, but is not used on the inactive
unit. The normal tachometer input back panel connector assignments are
used.
Trigger Inhibit
This is an output line from the RCP8 to the signal processor or trigger
generator that can be used to inhibit triggers on the inactive system. In the
case of an RVP900 the line is the LSB of the normal azimuth output tag
line (AZ0). Therefore no special cabling is required.
A/B Active Indicator Output Line
This is an active low TTL signal that is output to indicate that an RCP8 is
in active mode. This signal should be used directly to switch (via external
relay) critical control functions, that is, those functions that, if operated
simultaneously by both RCP8s could cause damage to the system.
The internal logic variable name for this indicator is cDrcpActive. This
signal can also be configured as a RS422 differential signal.
A/B Disable Switch Input
A switch closure to ground on this input disables a system so that it is not

available for automatic switching. This is used, for example, to put a
system in “Maintenance Mode”. The input can be implemented as a single,
three position selector switch as shown in the figure, or as two separate
switches. In the case of a single selector switch, the switch can be labeled
as an enable rather than a disable (for example, “A–Auto–B) to indicate the
exclusive use of either A or B.
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A/B Communications Link
This link is on a special cable between two RCP8s. The link implements a
serial protocol that passes status information and requests for control
between the two RCP8s. The pin assignments are given in D.3 Dual-
System Special Cabling and Modifications on page 219.
D.3 Dual-System Special Cabling and

Modifications
Dual-System Connection Cable and Switch
All of the special cabling requirements for the dual-system are handled on
connector J3, a 25DBF connector on the back panel of the RCP8 labelled
“CONTROL”. This connector contains the input for the A/B Disable
Switch, the output for the A/B Active Indicator signal and the A/B
Communications link. The wiring is shown below. The signals are
described in D.2 Dual-System Architecture on page 216.
RCP-A RCP-B
J3 J3
cDrcpComm[0]
A is cDrcpComm[1]
Active Signal cDrcpActive, B is Active Signal
sDrcpComm[0]
sDrcpComm[1]
sDrcpEnable
GND GND
GND GND
Figure 23 Connector J3 "CONTROL" Dual-System Link Cable
Antenna Drive/Internal Relay Wiring
The cabling to route the output drive signals through the internal relays is
shown in Figure 24 on page 220.
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J9 J6
AzDrive Output
AzDrive
ElDrive Output
ElDrive
Figure 24 Cabling between Output Drive Signals and Internal

Relays
The softplane.conf file needs to be modified to control the internal relays

as follows:
- splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J6_IntRelay2 = "cDrcpActive"
- splConfig.Io62[0].Opt.Cp.J6_IntRelay3 = "cDrcpActive"
D.4 RCP8 TTY Setups for Dual-System

site custom- Dual-System Setups
The dual-system setups are in the “site custom” section of the RCP8
non-volatile setups. These can be accessed from a setup terminal in the
usual way or from IRIS systems through the “awtx” program from an X
terminal. The questions are as follows:
Use Dual/Redundant system configuration: YES
This question is answered YES for dual-system support. Answering NO

disables dual-system support.
NOTE If you answer NO to this question, the safety features that prevent
simultaneous usage of the two RCP8s are not in effect. Therefore, Vaisala
does not recommend that you answer NO for a dual-system.
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This RCP8 is the ’A’ unit: NO

Identifying letter for this unit: ’A’
The two RCP8s are named the “A” and “B” units. To avoid confusion,
Vaisala recommends that you put physical A and B labels on the two units.
Respond YES for your A unit and then for the B unit setups respond NO.
Note that if you use the “TB” (title bar) option for the first line of the RCP8
front panel display (configured in the site display section), then the
characters [A] or [B] appear on the top line of the RCP8 front panel to
reflect your choice.
If the “A” and “B” designators really are not what you want, then use the
second question to declare the single-letter identifier that appears in the TB
title bar for each unit.
Default powerup operating mode: Auto
You may choose the initial power up mode (that is, None/A/B/Auto) of a
dual RCP8 system. On power up, the RCP8 first waits for guidance, either
from IRIS or from the other RCP8, about which mode to enter. If the other
RCP8 is dead, and if no mode requests have come in from IRIS, then the
unit switches to its default powerup mode. Otherwise, the unit acquires the
mode of the other RCP8, or follows the direction of IRIS.
Selecting the “AUTO” initial powerup mode handles the case of starting
an active scan with no user intervention when just one RCP8 is first
switched on. Without this, the user would first have to explicitly choose
“AUTO” from an IRIS Dual Switching Menu. But sometimes this is what
you want; and by selecting the powerup mode of “None”, the system
remains in maintenance mode until the IRIS user makes a specific choice.
This RCP8 is the ’Preferred’ unit: NO
The concept of a “Preferred” unit is used to resolve negotiation “ties” by

the switching algorithm. In other words, when confronted with a choice of
using the A or B unit, and all else is equal, the “Preferred” unit is used.
Vaisala recommends that you make system A the preferred unit (respond
YES) and respond NO for the system B setup.
Include Data Processor NST faults: NO
This question allows you to include the fault status of the Data Processor
reported by IRIS when determining whether a given channel is okay.
Answering “YES” means that both the Data Processor and the Radar
Workstation must be working in order for the channel to be considered
“okay”. Answering “NO” causes only the Radar Workstation to be
checked.
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Cooldown time after becoming inactive:3.0 sec

Additional warmup time when switching:3.0 sec
For redundant switching of antenna control, a minimum of 2 seconds is

required by the RCP8 itself. The value that is used depends on the specific
characteristics of the system and should be measured for each system.
Allow voluntary flipping between units: NO
The Dual/Redundant system code is capable of switching between systems

in response to requests from the host computer. The RCV05 and XMT05
serial formats include two bits to control these transitions. One bit
(WouldUse) announces that the host computer would like to use the
antenna (whether or not it is actually available); and the other bit
(Relinquish) indicates that control can be voluntarily relinquished to the
other system.
When the RCP8 receives a Relinquish offer, it checks the other unit to
verify that a) it is communicating properly, b) it is not indicating any faults,
and c) it has WouldUse TRUE and Relinquish FALSE. Under these
conditions, if control were offered to the other unit, it would actually be in
a position to accept it; and so, the switch-over is made at that instant. Since
the algorithm only flips to a system that is actually ready to go, it
automatically optimizes scheduling of the antenna as each radar is able to
use it.
The additional logic variables cDrcpWouldUse, cDrcpRelinquish,

cDrcpDisabled, cDrcpWarmup, cDrcpOkay, cDrcpMaint,
sOtherDrcpWouldUse, sOtherDrcpRelinquish, sOtherDrcpAlive,
sOtherDrcpDisabled, sOtherDrcpWarmup, sOtherDrcpActive, and
sOtherDrcpOkay appear in the control logic editor whenever voluntary
flipping is enabled.
The next group of questions concerns how the IRIS Mode (as defined in
the Radar Status Menu) is forced by the RCP8 whenever an RCP8 switches
from INACTIVE to ACTIVE state and vice versa.
The first set of questions is for the switch from INACTIVE to ACTIVE.
The example responses are for a redundant system with the modes
configured as described in D.6 IRIS Configuration for Dual-System
Support on page 226:
Choose: None Fixed Inherit Resume

Mode switch strategy when ACTIVE: Inherit
IRIS mode #1 is valid to request: NO
IRIS mode #3 is valid to request: YES
IRIS mode #4 is valid to request: YES
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Default mode to resolve illegal requests:3
The two RCP8s negotiate which is the active system such that only one
system can be ACTIVE at any given time. (Note that both systems could
be INACTIVE). When a system is switched into active mode, it commands
its IRIS to change operating modes (that is, the Radar Status Menu mode
is loaded per the RCP8 command). This question is used to determine what
IRIS mode is commanded when a system is switched to active. The RCP8
simply calls the IRIS modes 1-7. The relation to the IRIS mode names is
made in the IRIS Setups (RCP section). See D.6 IRIS Configuration for
Dual-System Support on page 226 for a discussion of the IRIS modes. The
different strategy choices are:
- Fixed—The RCP8 forces IRIS into a particular operating mode.

- None—In this case the RCP8 does not request any of the 7 IRIS
modes.
- Inherit—Here the RCP8 switches IRIS into the operating mode that
was being used before the switch. If you respond “Inherit”, you are
then prompted to say what modes are valid to inherit.
- Resume—In this case the RCP8 switches IRIS into the mode that the
RCP8 was last run in. This is useful in the case of dual frequency
systems that are sharing an antenna system since it allows a system to
resume operation in passive mode even if it is not the active controller.
It is not used for redundant systems.
Here the recommended response for a redundant system is “Inherit” so that

when a system becomes active, it continues operation in whatever mode
the other RCP8 had been using. This assures that if a system is running and
faults, it continues in the same mode of operation after an automatic
switch.
In the case of “Inherited” or “Resume”, the RCP8 prompts the user to

specify which modes of operation are valid to inherit (or resume) when the
system becomes active. In this case, based on the example IRIS mode
configuration in D.6 IRIS Configuration for Dual-System Support on page
226, the AIRPORT and AERIAL modes would be allowed.
The final question in this sequence above specifies the mode to use when
the inherited mode does not match any of the allowed modes. For example,
if both systems are in STANDBY when a switch is made, the new
ACTIVE system tries to inherit the STANDBY mode (mode 2 in our
example). This is not a valid active mode so the ACTIVE system would
start mode 3 (AIRPORT) instead.
Allow mode changes within IRIS: YES
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Responding NO prevents both automatic and manual IRIS mode changes

(from the IRIS Radar Status Menu). The RCP8 continually forces the IRIS
mode.
The second set of questions is for the switch from ACTIVE to INACTIVE.
Choose: None Fixed Inherit Resume

Mode switch strategy when INACTIVE: FIXED
Fixed IRIS mode to request: 2
Allow mode changes within IRIS: NO
Fixed is recommended for redundant systems, since it can be used to force

IRIS into a STANDBY mode when its RCP8 becomes inactive. In this
example, mode Z is used, which corresponds to the mode called
STANDBY.
Mode to request during Maintenance ACTIVE: 0

Mode to request during Maintenance INACTIVE: 1
Allow mode changes from within IRIS: YES
In the example, the STANDBY mode is forced when the system goes
INACTIVE. Note that this makes it impossible to do any modification of
the IRIS mode for development or maintenance. In this case, it is
recommended that the user temporarily respond YES to this question.
These questions specify what IRIS modes should be set when the RCP8 is
intentionally disabled (placed in “Maintenance Mode”) by either the
hardware A/B switch or the Select switch in the IRIS Switching menu.
You may choose the IRIS mode to request for Maint Active and for Maint
Inactive. If the requested mode is nonzero, then an additional question
appears to choose whether auto mode switching is allowed. A
recommended strategy is to request a mode of zero in Maint Active, so that
a running RCP continues doing whatever it was doing already. Maint
Inactive should request the IRIS maintenance RST mode, and allow auto
switching.
site display- Front Panel Display Setups
The only other setup questions for dual-system support are to configure the
front panel display (the site section of the TTY setups). This is
recommended for maintenance personnel since these front panel displays
can provide excellent status without the need to look at a workstation.
In “site display” if you select TB for the first line (title bar), the title shows
the labels [A] and [B] in the middle to indicate if the RCP8 is the A or B
system, for example:
–AZ– [A] –EL–
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For the bottom line of the display it is recommended that you select the
choice DRCP (dual/redundant state) which shows four fields, for example:
En/En Ok/Ok On/–– Au
The first field shows the status of the hardware A/B disable switch for
system A/B. In this case both systems are enabled (En). Other states are
“Di” for disabled and “??” for unknown.
The ?? is used for all fields to indicate that the RCP8 does not know a
particular state. For example, if the other RCP8 is turned off or the A/B
comm link is disconnected, then the RCP8 has no knowledge about
whether the other system is disabled by the switch.
The second field shows the overall status (readiness) of both the A/B
systems. The possible states are Ok, Er (error) and ??. A system is not
available for use if it has state Er. Ok indicates that it is ready for use. These
indicators are identical to the “Ready” indicators in the IRIS Dual-System
Switching Menu described inD.7 IRIS Dual-System Switching Menu on
page 232.
The third field shows whether the A/B system is active (On), inactive (––)
or “warming” (Wm). “Warming” is a transition state that occurs just prior
to a system becoming active. This corresponds to the “Active” indicators
in the IRIS Dual-System Switching Menu described in D.7 IRIS Dual-
System Switching Menu on page 232.
The fourth field shows the software control mode, that is, from the IRIS
Dual-System Switching Menu described in D.7 IRIS Dual-System
Switching Menu on page 232. Only a single status indicator is shown for
both systems, since this state is negotiated between the two systems, that
is, they both must agree. The state A or B indicates whether system A or B
is requested exclusively. The “Au” state indicates that the system switches
automatically between A and B in response to failures.
D.5 RVP900 TTY Setups for Dual-System

Support
The only setup required by the RVP900 is whether to inhibit the trigger
when its associated RCP is inactive. Whether or not this is necessary is
determined by the radar manufacturer. The only setup is to respond the
following questions in the mt (general trigger setup) section:
Blank output triggers according to TAG#0: YES

Blank when tag input is high: YES
Blank triggers 1:YES 2:YES 3:YES 4:YES 5:YES 6:YES
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These questions control trigger blanking based on the TAG0 input line.
You first select whether the trigger blanking feature is enabled; and then
optionally choose the polarity of TAG0 that results in blanking (consistent
with the RCP8 setups), and which subset of the six user definable triggers
are to be blanked.
Note that for maintenance, the RVP900 on the inactive system can be made
to generate a trigger by any one of the following techniques:
- One of the 6 triggers can be set to “Blank triggers NO”. This could be
used to provide a permanent maintenance trigger.
- Temporarily respond “Blank output .. TAG#0: NO”
- Install a physical override switch on one of the RCP8 BITE inputs and
then, via the control logic, enable the triggers.
D.6 IRIS Configuration for Dual-System Support

The basic concept behind the IRIS configuration is to separately configure
systems A and B so they can function independent of one another. After
this is done, then the dual-system operation can be tested. The special
setups for the dual-system support are described here.
D.6.1 IRIS Radar Status Menu Mode

Configuration
The IRIS “Mode” is determined by the Radar Status Menu, that is, the
name at the top of the menus. When IRIS is first started, the “DEFAULT”
mode is loaded. During operation, the mode can be changed by any of the
following three mechanisms:
- Manual mode change by selecting File, then Change RST... in the

Radar Status Menu.
- Automatic mode change forced by a warning product. This is often
used for switching between a surveillance mode and perhaps a volume
scan or wind shear detection mode.
- External mode switched forced by the RCP8. The RCP8 can be
configured to either constantly force a mode (prohibiting manual or
automatic mode changes), or trigger a mode change and then allow a
manual or automatic mode change from the Radar Status Menu.
The specific modes that are configured for dual-system redundant

applications are discussed here. The example used here is for redundant
system operation of a wind shear detection system that has two operational
modes called AERIAL (for general weather monitoring) and AIRPORT
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(for optimized for wind shear detection. A summary of the IRIS

configuration is provided in the table below:
RCP02 Mode Radar Status Menu TASK Product Output

Number (IRIS mode name) Schedule Schedule Schedule
1 MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE
2 STANDBY STANDBY (inactive) PRODUCT OUTPUT
3 AERIAL AERIAL PRODUCT OUTPUT
4 AIRPORT AIRPORT PRODUCT OUTPUT
It is assumed that the same product schedule and output schedules are
configured for all modes except the MAINTENANCE mode, that is, these
schedules include all of the required products for all of the modes. It is
possible to have different product and output schedules, but this increases
the configuration maintenance. The modes are summarized below:
- STANDBY—This mode has the TASK scheduler is set to inactive (no

TASK scheduled). Also, the servo power and radiate should be set to
OFF in the radar status menu for safety.
- AERIAL—This mode would be configured for a long range
surveillance scan and a volume scan for routine weather monitoring.
- AIRPORT—This mode would be optimized for wind shear detection.
- MAINTENANCE—This is the mode that is entered when the system
is intentionally disabled by either the hardware or software selector
switches. It is recommended to blank the TASK Schedule, clear all
output assignments and generate no products. For safety, the servo
power and radiate can be set to off in the Radar Status Menu.
NOTE For the recommended redundant configuration, you need to have the
system disabled by the hardware A/B switch or the A/B select in the
Switching menu to configure IRIS modes. For normal redundant
configuration of the RCP8, this forces IRIS into MAINTENANCE mode
and then release IRIS to allow manual mode changes for configuration of
the other IRIS modes.
D.6.2 IRIS Setup Utility Mode

Configuration
The various modes of operation should be configured into the IRIS Setup
Utility in the RCP section as shown below. Note that the first column in the
table above gives the numbers for each mode that are used in the example.
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Figure 25 Radar Control Processor Setups - -RST Mode to

Number Mapping
The modes are coded 1-7 and must match the mode names configured in
the IRIS Radar Status Menu. To force IRIS to switch to the requested mode
you must also enable External RCP Mode Change” in the IRIS Setup
General question as shown below.
Figure 26 IRIS General Setups - Modes and Protocols
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D.6.3 IRIS Status Product Configuration

The Status Product is produced at regular intervals at each of the IRIS radar
workstations (A and B). These are used by the RCP8s to assess whether a
system is OK or in FAULT, that is, whether a system is available for use.
The Status product collects information from various sources and faults if
any of the following occurs:
- BITEX critical faults

- RCP8 communication failure (RCP8 “DEAD”)
- RVP900 signal processor error
- IRIS internal critical fault. These are internal errors that are flagged as
critical in IRIS.
Thus the Status product provides information on all system components.

For a redundant system, IRIS A must be configured to send its Status
product results to both RCP A and IRIS B and vice versa.
To configure the status product for dual-system support, first enable status
product generation in IRIS setup/product, configure the fields as shown in
Figure 27 on page 229.
Figure 27 IRIS PRODUCT Setups - Status Products
NOTE In the event of a change in status such as a critical fault, the Status product
is generated immediately. The configuration is in setup/product is for the
maximum time between status products.
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The IRIS Status product result (OK/FAULT) is sent to the RCP8 via the
serial line. It is necessary to identify which sites are being reported. Use the
IRIS Setup/RCP section as shown in Figure 28 on page 230 for the case of
two sites in a redundant system called “RDA” and “RDB”.
Figure 28 Radar Control Processor Setups - Network Status

Reports to the RCP
The three-letter site code is used for this. These are configured in Setup
General as for a standard IRIS system.
These configurations should be made identically on both systems. The

final step is to use the Product Output Menu to send the Status product
from IRIS A to IRIS B and vice versa.
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D.6.4 BITEX Setup

BITEX is configured to display all of the available status parameters. The
only additional step is to identify those parameters that signal a “Critical
Fault”. To do this, you must enter as bitex -setup with operator
privilege. The sub menu for configuring each field has a critical flag
(right-click on the field number).
Figure 29 BITEX - Status Field Configuration Menu
In the example in Figure 29 on page 231, the fields for Pedestal Interlock
is set as critical fault. When IRIS receives a critical fault message from
BITEX, the IRIS site status is set to fault. This message is passed back to
the RCP and, by network transfer of the status product, to the other IRIS
system.
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D.7 IRIS Dual-System Switching Menu
Figure 30 Dual-System Switching Menu
D.7.1 Overview
The Dual-System Switching Menu (Switching menu) provides an easy
user interface for controlling and monitoring of the dual-system. The
Switching menu allows the operator to see which system (A and/or B) is
ready for operation, and which one is currently active (only one is active at
any time). The operator can select (request) the exclusive use of either A
or B, or enable automatic switching, which occurs in the event of a fault.
By default, the menu is set for automatic switching. The menu can run
locally at either Radar A or B, or remotely over the network to allow
remote controlling and monitoring.
When running the menu on system A, the menu talks directly to RCP8 A
through the RCP–to–IRIS serial line. However, the menu also talks
indirectly to B through the RCP–to–RCP communications link. Thus,
control and status monitoring of both systems A and B are possible through
a single menu.
An important concept is that the Switching Menu does not control the
RCP8 switching, rather it submits switch requests to the RCP8s, which
then negotiate whether the request can be fulfilled. For example, if the
operator requests that System A be used, but system A is not available
because it is in fault or has been disabled by the hardware A/B switch, then
the request is not fulfilled. In this case neither system becomes active. If
232 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

the operator requests auto switching (the recommended mode of

operation), then the RCP8s would negotiate to activate the available
system.
D.7.2 Starting the Switching Menu

Operator privilege is required to access this menu. The Switching menu,
can be started from either of two places:
- antenna utility (Refer to the IRIS Radar and Utilities Manual)

Select Options and then select Dual-System Selection at the top of
the antenna utility.
This is convenient if IRIS is not running, for example, for
configuration and initial testing. You can start antenna by typing
“antenna &” in an X terminal or through the Utilities menu which is
most easily accessed through IRISnet.
- IRIS Radar Status Menu (Refer to the IRIS Radar User’s Manual)
Select Mode and then select Dual-System Selection at the top of the
IRIS Radar Status Menu.
The IRIS Menus must be connected to either Radar Workstation A or

B, although the menus themselves can be running on any networked
workstation. This method is very convenient for overall control and
monitoring since the Radar Status menu provides access to all status
monitoring features of IRIS including the bitex utility.
As with all IRIS menus, multiple copies of the Switching menu can be run.
This is convenient for monitoring status from multiple locations on the
network. All menu copies also have control functions and the IRIS server
processes every request in the order in which it is received (this is the same
for all IRIS menus). The Operator password protection allows the System
Manager to limit access so that only authorized personnel can use the
menu.
The menu itself can be connected to either system A or B. A small box is

drawn around the letter A/B over the status lights to indicate the system to
which it is connected. This is a convenient reminder if you are displaying
two menus; one connected to A and one connected to B on the same screen.
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D.7.3 Menu Features

- Flashing Light (upper left)
The flashing light at the top-left indicates that the menu is alive. A
green flashing light indicates that communication with both RCPs is
OK. A red flashing light indicates a communication failure of either
the IRIS–to–RCP link, or the RCP–to–RCP link. The status field at
the bottom also shows red and describe the nature of the failure. In
addition, X symbols are drawn over the status indicators for the
system for which communication has failed. This is described in more
detail in the D.8 Troubleshooting Using the Switching Menu on page
235.
- Ready Indicator
The Ready indicator shows 2-bits of information, that is, whether the
system status is OK/Fault, and whether the hardware A/B switch at the
radar is set to disable the radar. The light is color-coded as follows:
- Green — the system status is OK.
- Red — the system status is in fault, that is, it cannot be used until
the fault is cleared.
- Yellow Bezel— indicates that the hardware A/B select switch at
the radar has disabled the system, for example, placed it in a
maintenance mode. The system cannot be used operationally
until the switch is set to enable the system.
- X the status is unknown because of a communication problem.
For a system to be used for operation, the Ready light must be green
(status OK) and the Bezel must be gray (not disabled). This makes it
easy to see from a single indicator whether the system is ready for
operation, and if not, what course of action would make it operational.
The RCP front panel display also shows the status for both systems
(Ok or Er) and the disable switch state (En or Di).
- Active Indicator
- Green—The system is active, that is, it is running or could run an
IRIS TASK.
- Off—The system is inactive. Either the system is in standby
(ready to become active) or it has been disabled.
- Yellow—The system is transitioning from inactive to active, that
is, it is going through a warm-up period. See D.4 RCP8 TTY
Setups for Dual-System on page 220 for a discussion of the
configurable switching time.
The Active indicator is also displayed on the RCP8 front panel as

described in D.4 RCP8 TTY Setups for Dual-System on page 220.
This shows either On or ––.
234 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

- The Automatic Switching and A/B Select Buttons
For normal operation the Automatic Switching button is enabled. This

allows the RCP8s to negotiate which system to use. However,
operators can request the use of only system A or B. For normal
maintenance functions however, the selection of a single system
should be done by the hardware A/B selector switch at the radar and
the Switching menu left in the Auto position.
Sometimes it is useful to temporarily force the systems to switch and

then immediately reset back into the Auto mode, just to exercise or
test the other system.
D.8 Troubleshooting Using the Switching Menu

The Switching Menu is the primary user interface for troubleshooting
problems related to switching. This section provides examples of how the
Switching menu is used to diagnose different problems on the system.
D.8.1 Notation of Printed Colors

Because of the use of color, is best viewed on-line rather than on the B/W
hardcopy reproductions. The colors are indicated for each example as Red,
Grn (green), Gry (Gray). Also note that “off” is displayed as gray (the light
appears to be off).
The “Ready” light notation shows two colors to indicate the center light
color and the bezel color. Recall that the center light color indicates status
(OK-green, Fault-red) while the outer bezel color indicates the state of the
hardware A/B switch (system enabled is gray, system disabled is yellow).
In the example above the Ready light for both systems is Grn/Gry
indicating status OK/ Enabled.
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D.8.2 Normal Switching Menu

Both systems have OK status. Neither system is disabled by the hardware
A/B switch. System A is currently active, but system B is ready to run in
the event of a fault.
Figure 31 Dual-System Normal Switching Menu
Auto Switch Grn

A B
Off Select Off
Grn/Gry Ready Grn/Gry
Grn Active Off
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D.8.3 System B Disabled (Maintenance

Mode) by Hardware A/B Switch
Here, the yellow bezel of the Ready light indicates that, maintenance
personnel have disabled system B.
Action: To make B ready for operation set the hardware switch to enable
B (that is, to allow automatic switching).
Figure 32 Dual-System B Disabled (Maintenance Mode)
Auto Switch Grn

A B
Off Select Off
Grn/Gry Ready Grn/Yel
Grn Active Off
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D.8.4 System A in Fault, System B

Running
System A has faulted as indicated by the red Ready light. System B is now
running.
Action: use the Radar Status Menu for system A to determine the nature of
the fault. Check:
- Subsystem Status of RVP and RCP (lower right)

- BITE status (summary display and access lower left)
- Message menu (top middle)
Figure 33 Dual-System A in Fault, B Running
Auto Switch Grn

A B
Off Select Off
Red/Gry Ready Grn/Gry
Off Active Grn
238 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

D.8.5 System B in Fault and Placed in

Maintenance Mode
System B has faulted as indicated by the red Ready light. The yellow bezel
on the system B ready light indicates that B has been disabled by the
hardware switch. It has probably under repair by maintenance personnel.
Action: Use the Radar Status Menu to identify the fault. When the fault is
cleared, put set the switch to enable system B.
Figure 34 Dual-System B in Fault and Place in Maintenance Mode
Auto Switch Grn

A B
Off Select Off
Grn/Gry Ready Red/Yel
Grn Active Off
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D.8.6 Both Systems Faulted, No

Operation Possible
Both Ready lights are red indicating that neither system can be run. The
Active lights are both off indicating that neither system is running To make
matters worse, the Ready light bezels are both gray indicating that
maintenance personnel may not be working on the problem (the hardware
switch has not been set to maintenance mode for either system).
Action: Use the Radar Status Menu to identify the faults. When the fault is
cleared the system automatically resumes operation on the good system.
Figure 35 Dual-System Both Systems Faulted (No Operation)
Auto Switch Grn

A B
Off Select Off
Red/Gry Ready Red/Gry
Grn Active Off
240 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

D.8.7 RCPB is Unreachable (As Viewed

from System A)
Here the menu is being viewed from system A as indicated by the small
box around the letter “A”. The X’s for the Ready and Active lights on
system B indicate that we cannot get the status of these because of a
communication failure of the RCP–to–RCP link.
Problem: The RCP–to–RCP link has failed, or RVP02B has been turned
off.
Action: Check if RCP8 B has been turned off. Check RCP–to–RCP link
cable:
1. Checking the front panel.

2. Checking the Radar Status Menu for system B (”RCP Dead” in
Subsystem Status).
3. Starting the Switching menu on system B and observing 4 Xs.
Figure 36 Dual-System RCPB is Unreachable
Auto Switch Grn

A B
Off Select Off
Grn/Gry Ready X
Grn Active X
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D.8.8 RCP is Dead

The 4 X’s indicate that our RCP (in this case for system B as indicated by
the [B]) is not communicating to the IRIS workstation.
Problem: The IRIS–to–RCPB link has failed, or RCP8B has been turned
off.
Action: Check if RCP8 B has been turned off. Check IRIS–to–RCPB link
cable. To see if the RCP has been turned off:
1. Check the front panel.

2. Check the Radar Status Menu for system B (”RCP Dead” in
Subsystem Status).
Figure 37 Dual-System RCP Status: Dead
Auto Switch Grn

A B
Off Select Off
X Ready X
X Active X
242 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

D.8.9 Operation Forced to A—Auto

Switching and B Disabled
Here the A Select is green indicating that it has been selected (by pushing
the button in this menu) to be the exclusive system. The A Active and
Ready lights are both green. B is disable by this action, similar to disabling
B via the hardware switch. However, B’s Ready light is green so that it
could be used.
Action: The system should be restored to Auto Switch mode as soon as

possible. If the selection of A was made because of intermittent behavior
of B, then isolate the problem. It is recommended to set the hardware A/B
switch to disable B during maintenance and then re-enable Auto Switch.
This way when maintenance on B is complete, the system is ready to Auto
switch without any operator intervention.
Figure 38 Dual-System Operation Forced to A (Auto Switching

and B Disabled)
Auto Switch Off

A B
Off Select Off
Grn Ready Grn
Grn Active Off
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D.8.10 Non Operational, Both Systems

Disabled
Both Active lights are off indicating that no operation is possible. The
reason is that the hardware A/B switch has disabled A and the software
switch in this menu has disabled B.
Action: Set for Auto Switch. System B automatically switches to active.
Figure 39 Dual-System Non-Operational, Both Systems Disabled
Auto Switch Off

A B
Grn Select Off
Grn/Yel Ready Grn/Gry
Off Active Off
244 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

D.8.11 Non-Operational, System A is

Menu Selected, but Faulted
Both Active lights are off indicating that no operation is possible. The
reason is that system A has faulted and software switch in this menu has
disabled B. However, system B is ready to use.
Action: Set Auto Switch on. System B automatically switches to active.

Use the Radar Status Menu on system A to determine the fault.
Figure 40 Dual-System Non-Operational, A is Menu Selected, but

Faulted
Auto Switch Off

A B
Grn Select Off
Red/Gry Ready Grn/Gry
Off Active Off
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D.8.12 Avoiding Non-Operational

Conditions (Enable Auto Switch)
These last two examples illustrate that it is best to leave this menu with
Auto Switch enabled at all times. To place a system in maintenance mode,
it is recommended that the hardware switch be used. If absolutely
necessary, this menu can be used to disable a system temporarily until
someone can go to the radar site and set the hardware A/B switch. The only
other reason for selecting A or B is to force the systems to switch to
“even-out” or test the usage of each system. After the switch is forced,
Auto Switch should be immediately re-enabled.
D.9 Dual-System Parallel Operation

Another application of the dual-system RCP8 is for operation of two
separate transmitter/receiver systems through the same antenna pedestal
system, that is, a dual-frequency system. In this case, a “radar” can be
thought of as the transmitter/receiver of each system and its associated
RCP8, RVP900 and IRIS system. These two “radars” must share the same
antenna/pedestal. The constraint is that only one RCP8 can control the
antenna/pedestal at a time. There are two modes of operation possible in
this case:
- A or B (“Flip”) mode: Selectable or Alternating Active Radar:

This case is identical to the operation in the case of a redundant
system, that is, either radar A or radar B is used exclusively. The
switching menu or the hardware selector switch can be used to force
the exclusive use of one “radar” or the other. In addition, the TASK
Scheduler menu provides support to “flip” between the two radars so
that IRIS can automatically run a TASK from on one radar and then
relinquish control so that the other radar can run a TASK.
- A and B mode: Simultaneous Active/Passive mode: In this case,
one “radar” system is used to actively control the antenna scanning
while the other radar system acquires data passively. This allows both
radars to operate simultaneously. The RVP900 of the passive system
in this case still generates pulse width change output and triggers and
the associated passive RCP8 still has control to turn-on the radiate and
T/R power. The IRIS Status Product, sent from the active system, is
used by the passive system to determine which TASK in the schedule
should be run in passive mode.
Note that in principle it is possible to operate in using the “flip” mode (A

or B) and the active/passive (A and B) mode simultaneously. In this case
the radars would flip between active and passive. However, this is more
complex to configure. For active/passive operation, it is simpler to select
246 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

one radar to always be the active system and never “flip” the active system
to the other radar.
A major difference between the dual-redundant case and the dual-system

parallel operation is that the RCP8 is typically not setting the mode of
operation, that is, not controlling the IRIS mode selection in the Radar
Status Menu. In the redundant case, it is important that in the event of a
failure, IRIS be told what to do after an automatic switch-over, that is, the
RCP8 that is taking control tells IRIS the operating mode. For dual-system
parallel operation, IRIS is telling the RCP8s how to operate, that is, which
is active and which is passive. This means that the setup of the RCP8 (on
the RCP8 and the IRIS end) does not involve defining all the operating
modes, mode reporting and mode switching strategies.
The RVP900 setups do not require special consideration for dual-system

operation. In most cases, the RCP8 and IRIS setups for dual-system
parallel operation are identical to those for the dual redundant system. The
differences are described in the following sections.
D.9.1 RCP8 Setups for “Flip” or

Simultaneous Operation
- Site Custom–>Allow voluntary flipping YES
This is set to “Yes” if you intend to use the Flip (A or B) feature. This
must be done on both RCP8s. This allows the TASK Scheduler of one
radar to assume control, and then relinquish control (“flip”) to the
other radar. The IRIS TASK Scheduler menu provides support for this
in the “Flags” column (that is, the “Flip” flag).
- Site Custom–>Mode Switch Strategy When ACTIVE
(INACTIVE) NONE
These questions are described in detail in D.4 RCP8 TTY Setups for
Dual-System on page 220. Set the responses to both of these questions
to “NONE” on both RCP8s. In this case, the special mode 0 is always
requested by the RCP8, which means that the operator controls the
IRIS mode, not the RCP8.
- Site Custom–>Mode to request during Maint ACTIVE

(INACTIVE) 0
Respond “0” to both of these questions on both RCP8s. “Maintenance

Mode” is defined to be when either the hardware switch or the
software switch (Switching Menu) is set to disable a radar. Setting the
Mode request from the RCP8 to 0 allows the normal IRIS Radar
Status Menu mode to be controlled by the operator without
interference from the RCP8s, that is, the RCP8s does not force IRIS
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mode changes. See also D.4 RCP8 TTY Setups for Dual-System on
page 220 for more information on these setup questions.
D.9.2 IRIS Setups for “Flip” or

Simultaneous Operation
- setup/ingest/Scanning Options–> Task Scheduling
Control Active/Passive
To use the simultaneous active/passive feature, set this to “Active/
Passive” on both RCP8s. This is recommended since it allows either
radar to assume the active role. However, it is possible to set one radar
to “Active Only” and the other to “Passive Only” if you would like to
dedicate the systems to these roles. In this case, you would not be able
to use the passive system on its own.
- setup/ingest/Scanning Options–> Passive: use external trigger
rate No
Responding NO allows the RVP900 of the passive system to generate
its own trigger. This is generally recommended so that the two radars
can be triggered independently by their own RVP900, for example, to
use dual PRF. Set this on both systems.
- setup/ingest/Scanning Options–> Passive: use status product task
Yes
Respond YES to slave the passive system TASK to the active one via
the Status Product. You should do this on both systems. You also need
to make sure that Status Products are enabled (D.6 IRIS Configuration
for Dual-System Support on page 226) and set the Product Output
Menu to automatically send the Status product to the other system.
This should be done for both systems.
The next question asks for the 3-letter site code of the other system.
Do this for both systems, each referring to the other.
- setup/rcp02/Status Reports to the RCP–>
Reporting : Enabled
Status fault polarity : Active LOW
Initial state of sites : All Faulted
Radar Workstation ’A’ site code : MPK
Radar Workstation ’B’ site code : MPW
Data Processor ’A’ site code :
Data Processor ’B’ site code :
These settings enable the two RCP8s to know the status of each radar.
This is necessary for switching between the two systems in “flip”
mode or using one or the other system under manual control. If the
status of a system is FAULT, then switching of active control is
disabled to that system.
- setup/rcp02/RST Mode to Number Mapping–>
248 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

Radar Status name for MODE #1 : DEFAULT

Mode to use when RCP is dead : 0
Mode reporting delay : 1.0 sec
The RCP8 can send commands to IRIS to change operating modes.
These commands are codes (1–7) that are associated here with
different Radar Status Menu names. In general, the RCP is always
requesting mode 0 which is a special code that allows the operator to
specify the IRIS mode in the Radar Status Menu. As a safety feature,
the DEFAULT IRIS mode is set for all of the other numerical codes
(1–7) that could be commanded by the RCP. Thus, in the event that
the RCP were to request a mode (other than 0), it would be the
DEFAULT Radar Status Menu configuration.
- setup/general/Modes and Protocols–>
External RCP mode change: Disabled
Setting this to disabled assures that IRIS modes changes cannot be

forced by the RCP8.
D.9.3 IRIS TASK Scheduler: “Flip”

Operation
NOTE To use the “Flip” feature, the Switching Menu must be set to the “Auto”
position so that the RCP8s can negotiate which radar to use.
The TSC Editor Menu is where the “Flip” feature is activated. Right-click
the mouse in the “Flags” column to toggle the “Flip” flag on/off. Here is
how it would work. Suppose that you want a TASK to run on radar A and
then another TASK on radar B. You would setup the TASK Schedules
with the appropriate TASKS on the two systems and set each to “Flip”.
After radar A runs its TASK, it sees that the flip flag is set and then tells
the RCP8s that it is willing to relinquish the radar control. If radar B wants
to run its TASK (because it is the scheduled time), then it tells the RCP8s
that it wants to run. The RCP8s then automatically release control to radar
B, etc. For example, if each TASK is set to run continuously, (”Repeat” set
to 00:00), then the TASKS on the A and B radars alternate.
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Be sure NOT to set the Late Skip flag to “Yes”. This could interfere with
the flipping since in general a flip is forced by a TASK that is late, that is,
it wants to run but it can’t because the other radar is in control.
Vaisala recommends that you include the word “flip” or other code in the
TASK Schedule and perhaps the Radar Status Menu operating mode to
indicate that the systems will flip, for example, for the TASK Schedule
PPIVOL_FLIP and for the IRIS Radar Status Menu FLIP_MODE.
D.9.4 IRIS TASK Scheduler: Simultaneous

Active/Passive Operation
NOTE To use the simultaneous active/passive feature, the Switching Menu must
be set to specify the active system. The active system can be forced by
selecting it exclusively. The Switching Menu can also be left in Auto
mode after the active system is forced.
At the top of the TSC Editor Menu, is a field labeled “Active” or “Passive”.
You can toggle between these two choices if the setup/ingest/scanning is
set to active/passive. Otherwise, the text is fixed to either active or passive
depending on your selection in setup.
For simultaneous active/passive operation, the TSC Editor Menu of one

system should be set to “Active” and the other set to “Passive”. In the
active system, configure the TASK as usual. On the passive system,
configure a TASK with the same name. All of the TASK parameters can
be configured independently except for the antenna scanning parameters
(Scan Mode, Azimuth, Elevation, Scan Speed). The scan Resolution does
not have to be the same. For example, for a PPI scan mode, the elevation
angles in the passive system TASK must match those in the active system
TASK. Similarly, if you are doing RHIs, the elevation limits and selected
azimuth angles must match on the two TASKS. Other than the scan
parameters, you have complete freedom to select PRF, processing mode,
range, resolution, etc.
You also need to make sure that the Status Products are enabled on the
active system and that the Status Product is output (via the Product Output
Menu) to the passive system. This is how the passive system learns which
TASK to run.
In operation, when the active system starts a TASK, it sends a Status

product to the passive system. The passive system reads the status product
and checks to see if there is a passive TASK in the TASK Scheduler with
the same name. If there is, it runs the passive TASK.
250 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

You should save the TSC Editor menu with a name to indicate active or
passive. Likewise, the IRIS mode (Radar Status Menu name) should be
saved with a name to reflect active or passive (for example, ACTIV_1 or
PASSV_1).
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____________________________________________________________________________ Index
INDEX
A E
A/D input 207 Elevation angle 210

Angle Elevation, soft limits 142
S/D input 41 Environment 30
TTL input 40
Angle inputs F
number of bits 100
offset 105, 110 Fail safe, features 141
scale factor 104 Fail-safe features 24
Antenna servo, specifications 23 Front panel display 16
Antenna utility, introduction 26 brightness 75
Azimuth angle 200, 201, 210 offsets to input angles 133
templates, line 75
B update time 75
Back panel 190 H

BITE interrogate packet 177
BITE serial format 159, 160 Host computer setups, data format 78
Host computer, serial interface 41
C hysteresis zones 116
Chassis I
connector panel 38
direct connections 37 I/O
initial power-up 34 commands, recognized 54
input power 33, 36 features 25
keyboard, mouse, monitor 37 I/O monitor 53
Chat mode packet 178 I/O-62 connector panel
commands connector panel 38
ALT 49 introduction 13
MAIN 49 IFD, drawings 211
Communication formats 149 Installation
Connector panel 38, 196 hardware 33
control and monitoring 45 status and control 40
Co-plane scans 147 Internal simulator 100
Introduction 13
D INU
built-in simulation 133
DAFC, drawings, pin out 214 dead detection time 133
Dead host detection time 79 negate signs 132
Drive output pedestal alignment 181
offset 110 velocity extrapolation 133
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 253

________________________________________________________________________________
L RCV03 format 153

time 178
Limit switches, elevation 141 XMT01 format 157
Logic equations, in TTY setup 118 XMT02 serial format 157
Serial format 149
M Serial interface 41
Servo
Main chassis moving platform 145
back panel 190 velocity 136
general description 184 SETUP, configuring sequence 179
input power 190, 191 Shipboard platform
PC I/O 192 alternate monitor format 50
Main menu, monitor status 56 INU monitor 55
Moment of Inertia, in TTY Setup 108 Shipboard, specifications 25
Monitor angles command 49 Shutdown
Monitoring antenna motion 49 EL limit switches 99
Motherboard, introduction 16 elevation limit switches 141
Moving platform exiting 59
corrections 149 unresponsive antenna 144
servo modification 145 Shutdown limits, elevation 141
sign correction
N drive 139
tach 139
Network, socket interface 42 Socket data format 150
Socket header format 151
P Socket interface 42
Specifications 23
PCI cards 193 specifications 28
Position servo Status and control, features 26
interval slopes 117 Status inputs, monitoring 56
position break points 117 Support software, introduction 26
response curve 140 Synchro angles 41
theory 136, 139 Synchro input 210
Power requirements 30, 33, 36, 190, 191
T
R
Tachometer
RCV01 format 152 consistency shutdown 143
RCV01 serial format 152 offset 110
RCV02 serial format 152 virtual tach 105
RCV03 serial format 153 Test point, output 41
Relays 206 Time serial format 178
Reliability 31 TTY menus
alternate monitor format 51
S antenna control commands 49
display antenna dynamics 52
S/D input 210 help 47
SBC, introduction 16 help support 47
Serial control formats help view 47
BITE 159 I/O monitor 53
BITE interrogate 177 INU monitor 55
chat mode packet 178 main menu 46
internal BITE 160 monitor 48
RCV01 format 152 RESET command 59
RCV02 format 152 status input monitoring 56
254 _________________________________________________________________ M211320EN-D

________________________________________________________________________________
TTY setup V
AXIS command 100
CONTROL command 118 velocity feedback
INU command 132 deadzone 112
PSERVO command 116 slope 111
RESTORE command 74 Velocity servo
SAVE command 74 drive filter 115
SITE command 74 drive slew rate limit 115
STATUS command 132 drive slope 138
summary of all commands 63 feedback slope 138
Unresponsive antenna, shutdown 144 maximum velocity 114
using setup menus 62 nominal drive slopes 111
VSERVO command 111 tach filter 114
tachometer input 137
U velocity shutdown 114
unresponsive antenna X
Shutdown 108
XMT01 serial format 157
XMT02 format 157
VAISALA ______________________________________________________________________ 255

________________________________________________________________________________
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USER’S MANUAL

Radar Control Processor

Vaisala Oyj Phone (int.): +358 9 8949 1

Visit our Internet pages at www.vaisala.com

No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by any means,

The contents are subject to change without prior notice.

4.2 The TTY Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

6.2.4 Drive and Tach Sign Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

D.8 Troubleshooting Using the Switching Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Figure 1 RCP8 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Table 1 Direct Connections to RCP8 Main Chassis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Table 41 J5 EL OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

This manual provides technical information on the Radar Control

1.1 About This Manual

Chapter 2, Introduction and Specifications, on page 13, describes the major

Chapter 3, Hardware Installation, on page 33, describes the hardware

Chapter 6, Theory of Servo Operation, on page 135, is a mathematical

Appendix B, Antenna Stabilization Procedure, on page 179, gives an

Appendix C, RVP8/RCP8 Packaging, on page 183, includes drawings and

1.2 Version Information

1.3 Related Manuals

Vaisala encourages you to send your comments and/or corrections to:

1.4 Documentation Conventions

NOTE Note highlights important information on using the product.

The following conventions are used throughout this manual:

prompt Some features of the RCP8 operate by

The RCP8™ provides a convenient interface between a modern weather

An optional feature is antenna stabilization for moving platforms, such as

(Radar Control Workstation). This saves the purchase and maintenance

General Architecture 2.1 General

2.1 General Architecture

- Motherboard or single–board Intel Pentium system with single or dual

RCP8 Configuration Example: Standard System

Depending on the application, other standard commercial PCI cards may

- 10/100–BaseT Ethernet card for additional network I/O (e.g., a

2.1.1 Mother Board or Single–Board

2.1.2 I/O–62 PCI Card and I/O Connector

Standard Serial Line Interface

Local Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor RCP8

Local Host RCW

The I/O–62 is configurable in software, i.e., there is no need to open the

ESD Protection Features

- Every wire is protected by a Tranzorb diode which transitions from

These features make the RCP8 very robust to transient surges.

Run Time FPGA Configuration

The Vaisala I/O–62 card is built around a 100K—Gate FPGA which, in

The following two pages summarize the electrical characteristics of the I/

2.1.3 System Network Architecture

There are three basic types of workstations/computers to consider:

- Host Computer Radar Control Workstation (RCW)– this is

The RCP8 provides two types of physical interfaces:

- RS232C serial line interface– typically running at 9600 baud.

Combining the different types of workstations and the physical interfaces,

- Case 1: Standard Serial Line– the connection. between the RCP8

These three cases are discussed in the following sections.

2.1.4 Case 1: Standard Serial Line

Standard Serial Line Interface

Local Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor RCP8

Local Host RCW