1.4. Fieldbus-Related Card Configuration

Cogent CIF Driver for Hilscher Fieldbus CIF Cards : Version 6.4
	Chapter 1. Introduction

In order to run, the Hilscher CIF card must be set up to match the configuration of your fieldbus installation. The Hilscher CIF series of fieldbus cards are configured through their proprietary MS-Windows based configuration program called Sycon System Configurator. This tool provides a user-friendly interface to set up the bus and field device parameters on the CIF card. This configuration can be developed offline, and then transferred to the card.

1.4.1. Default Configuration

The Hilscher CIF interface cards should be configured with the following system parameters:

Storage Format:	Intel format (Little Endian)
Addressing Mode:	Byte addresses
Startup Behavior:	Automatic release

In addition, for most applications we recommend that the card I/O exchange mode be set to:

Handshake Mode:

Buffered, host controlled

1.4.2. Downloading Configuration to the Card

The configuration can be transferred to the CIF card in one of two ways:

Downloaded directly from the Sycon program to the card.

Exported as a .dbm file, copied to the target system, and then downloaded to the card using the CIF Driver.

Downloaded directly from Sycon

In addition to configuration, the Sycon tool also provides some test and debugging facilities. The tool will communicate with CIF cards installed directly in the same (Windows) machine, or can interface via a null-modem cable to the 9-pin serial connector available on most CIF cards. If the card is installed on the same machine, then its address must be specified to Sycon. Alternatively, using the serial interface, you can program a CIF card which has been installed on a QNX or Linux target machine through a laptop or desktop computer configured for this purpose. This type of programming, while less convenient than programming natively using QNX or Linux, is nevertheless analogous to how other manufacturers program their interface cards and I/O devices through hand-held devices or PC-based configuration programs connected through standard serial or proprietary connectors.

If a particular CIF card does not have a serial programming port, it must be physically installed into a Windows computer, programmed using Sycon, and then moved to the QNX or Linux computer.

Downloaded using the CIF Driver

The second approach to downloading a configuration to the CIF card is to do it using the CIF Driver. This approach lets you develop the configuration offline in Windows (using Sycon), and then configure one or more cards in the target OS (Linux or QNX) without installing them in a Windows machine.

First, the configuration is established and saved using Sycon. Then, the configuration must be exported as a .dbm file, as follows:

With the desired configuration open, select the Master (the CIF card).
From the File menu select Export -> DBM to store the file.
The file is stored in the same directory as the opened configuration file.
Transfer the file to the target system.
The CIF driver uses the cifDownloadCfg command to transfer the specified file to the specified card. This command can be added to the configuration file that is processed when the driver starts, or can be issued to the driver at any time through the Cogent C API utilities lsend or gsend. The response from the command will indicate whether the configuration was downloaded successfully and accepted by the card, or if an error has occured. If an error has occurred, the driver will to fail to start.

If you have problems configuring the CIF card using the Sycon software, you should contact your Hilscher distributor for support.


1.3. Driver Installation		1.5. Driver Configuration