wwprotocol

This information is provided for those who want to develop their own paging control software or add an Interface for the WaveWare Paging System to their existing software applications. You can choose to use the WaveWare Paging Protocol defined here or use the TAP Paging Protocol, defined in the TAP Interface Details.

You can also Download wwdemo.zip (11K) Visual Basic Source Code. The Demonstration Visual Basic Application uses the WaveWare Interface Protocol.

A simple definition of the difference between the "WaveWare" and the "TAP" protocols is that the "WaveWare Protocol" is a Dedicated Connection that doesn't require a login process and it assumes that the Host Device maintains a Database of all paging parameters associated with a pager, including Cap Code, Encoding Method, and RF Data Rate. The "TAP Protocol" requires a connect and disconnect process and assumes that the Host Device only needs to maintain a Database of each pager reference numbers called PIN's, and that the paging system maintains a Database of all paging parameters associated with each PIN. The WaveWare Interface supports paging messages up to 512 Characters in length while the TAP Interface supports paging messages up to 256 characters in length. Each Protocol has it's advantages and disadvantages, but both accomplish the process of causing POCSAG Encoded paging messages to be delivered to local area pagers.

To configure your WaveWare paging system to use the WaveWare paging protocol, you may be required to configure the DIP Switch Bank in the paging transmitter. Please refer to the SPS-5 v8 Programming Guide, for details on configuring communications protocols.

Your WaveWare Paging System typically communicates with a Host Device via RS- 232 at 9600 Baud, 8 Data bits and 1 Stop bit. The eighth data bit is ignored (no parity). You can configure the paging system for other serial communication parameters. Please refer to DIP Switch Settings, for details on serial communication parameters.

The paging system maintains an input buffer which can receive commands from the Host Device while a page is being transmitted. The input buffer should be able to contain approximately Ten messages before getting full. When a command is received from a Host Device, the paging system responds with a messsage that includes error messages if the command was not understood or not properly transmitted. The Normal repsonse will echo the paging request command along with a status message.

The Paging System can use Hardware Handshaking (CTS) to control the flow of paging message commands from the Host Device. Alternatively, the paging control software could use the response message as a means of handshaking bwtween the paging transmitter and the paging control software.

The paging transmitter encodes paging messages into POCSAG paging format and transmits the encoded paging message. If the Carrier Detect function is enabled, transmissions will be delayed while the interfering signals are detected.