Device Property Publisher
The Device Property Publisher is an optional component that forwards the state information from the Wireless or PoE Handheld device to a Base Station device via a high-performance UDP channel.
Currently only available for X5 models.
On Wireless Handheld device
To enable the "Device Property Publisher" is necessary to install the "device_publisher-0.0.0-arm.zip". Generally, the Wireless Handheld devices will have this module already pre-installed but the module is available to download from our site in the case will be necessary to reinstall it (e.g. after clearing the data partition of the device).
The Device Property Publisher uses the Modbus protocol to send UDP messages to a Modbus server with a high refresh rate. By default, it is configured to send the UDP packets to the IP address of the connected Base Station device.
On Base Station device
The HMI application that will be load on the Base Station will have to be configured with the Modbus Server protocol to accept the incoming UDP messages.
Configuring the Device Property Publisher
By default, the Device Property Publisher is configured with the below parameters to communicate with a Modbus Server running on the Base Station:
- Modbus server IP address: 172.27.72.1 (the IP address to reach the Base Station device)
- UDP Protocol
- Port: 502
- Holding Register offset: 0
From the System Setting page of the Wireless Handheld device is possible to modify these parameters, e.g., to communicate with a different Modbus Server.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Autostart | Enable the Device Property Publisher service |
| Server | The IP address of the Modbus Server where to send the information |
| Protocol | The protocol to be used. Can be UDP or TCP. If supported by the server it is preferable to use UDB because it is faster. |
| Port | Port used from the Modbus Server (generally it is 502) |
| Offset | Offset in the Holding Register memory of the Modbus Server from where start writing data |
If you want to send the state information from the Wireless Handheld device to a PLC different that the Base Station you have to configure a port forward rule, as for the below example, on the base station
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Name of the rule (whatever you prefer) |
| Source Interface | Select wlan0 (the wireless handheld is connected to wlan0) |
| Source Port | Port of the "device publisher" service on wireless handheld |
| Device IP | The IP address of the Modbus Server device |
| Device Port | The port used from the Modbus Server device |
Configuring the Modbus server on Base Station device
On the Base Station device install a JMobile HMI Runtime application configured to use the Modbus Server with the UDP/IP protocol.
Modbus Memory Map
| Holding Register | Name | Data Type | Range | Description / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400001 | version | unsignedShort | 1 | The version of this registries schema |
| 400002 | counter | unsignedShort | - | Current packet count (diagnostic information) |
| 400003 | elapsed | uint64 | - | Number of elapsed milliseconds since service was started (epoch timestamp) |
| 400007 | keys map | uint64 | - | Binary map of keypad state (see "Keyboard Layout") |
| 400011 | wheel | unsignedShort | 0..32767 | Wheel counter |
| 400012 | pot 0 | unsignedShort | 0..255 | Potentiometer |
| 400013 | pot 1 | unsignedShort | 0..255 | Potentiometer |
| 400014.0 | battery | unsignedByte | 0..100 | Battery charge |
| 400014.1 | wifi signal | unsignedByte | 0..100 | Wifi signal |
Note that any third party device (PLC) can take advantage of the infrastructure to constantly read the status of the Wireless Handheld device through the Modbus server available on the Base Station device.