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FieldServer Driver - Serial
FS-8700-98
Notifier NCA
Description
The NCA Serial driver allows the FieldServer to record data from Notifier NCA (Network Control Annunciator) over RS-232.
The FieldServer acts as a Passive Client receiving messages and recording the status of a Notifier NCA Panel. There is no active polling by this driver; the communications are one-way through the panel's printer port. The FieldServer is, however, able to generate some system commands like Ack, Reset, Silence and Drill if it is connected to the NCA through its CRT port.
This driver is not capable of emulating a Notifier NCA panel and the very limited server functionality has only been implemented to facilitate FieldServer's Quality Assurance program. This functionality could be extended at a customer's request.
NCA controls all the devices (e.g. NFS-3030, NFS-640) connected in NOTI*FIRE*NET architecture. NCA actually interacts with other Fire Alarm Panels and records the status of all panels and sends the events to the printer and CRT ports. The FieldServer further captures these events in text form, parses and stores them in data arrays. These data arrays can be controlled by third party tools.
Each Fire Alarm Panel connected in NOTI*FIRE*NET architecture is considered as node. 240 nodes can exist in one network. For more detail about NOTI*FIRE*NET architecture contact Notifier. The main purpose of this driver is to record the status of Fire Alarm System detectors and Modules at every node in data arrays - one data array per loop per node. It is limited by the information that the Notifier NCA unit sends in the form of text messages through its RS-232 printer/CRT port. The accuracy and timeliness of the data is therefore limited to the frequency of update messages that the Notifier Fire Panel issues. The types of Notifier messages supported by this driver are summarized later in this fact sheet. In addition, a detailed table in the manual shows each type of NCA message the FieldServer recognizes and the effect that it has on the status of points in the data array. The device status to the data array mapping is also provided in the manual.
| Fieldserver Mode | Nodes | Comments |
| Client | 1 | Each FieldServer port can connect to only 1 NCA panel |
| Server | 0 | The NCA driver cannot be used as a Server. |
Formal Driver Type
Serial
Passive Client
Connection Information
Top| Connection type: | RS-232 |
| Baud Rates: | 9600 (Device limitation, driver supports most standard baud rates) |
| Data Bits: | 8 (Device limitation, driver supports 7,8) |
| Stop Bits: | 1 (Device limitation, driver supports 1,2) |
| Parity: | None (Device limitation, driver supports None, Even, Odd ) |
| Multidrop Capability: | No |
Devices tested:
Top| Device | Tested (FACTORY, SITE) |
| NCA | Factory |
| NFS-3030 | Factory |
| NFS-640 | Factory |
Connection configurations
Top
Connection Notes
TopThe Notifier NCA printer port must be enabled to 80-columns (non-supervised) before communication is possible. (TB9)
The CRT port should be enabled if being used. (TB8)
Communications functions - Supported functions at a glance:
TopMessage Types Supported
This driver was designed to be connected to the Notifier NCA printer or CRT port, and listen for incoming messages. The panel's default setting for the printer port is off. To utilize this driver, the printer port must be enabled to 80-columns, unsupervised.
The driver is capable of generating system commands (Ack, Reset, Silence and Drill) along with listening messages if the FieldServer connected to the CRT port of the NCA Panel.
The primary purpose of this driver is to record the status of devices connected to the NCA system by interpreting the text messages sent to the printer or CRT port and to generate some system commands on the CRT port. Not all messages will be interpreted, as many messages do not directly pertain to device status, or are currently supported. The following subset of event messages is recognized:
| Active Events: |
| FIRE ALARM |
| TROUBLE |
| PREALARM |
| SECURITY ALARM |
| SUPERVISORY |
| DISABLED |
| ACTIVE |
A detailed mapping of message interaction System Trouble messages provided by Notifier at the time this driver was written is tabulated in the NCA Driver Manual. Any changes or additions by Notifier will not be reflected in this driver unless specifically revised.
Zone Status:
This driver will not record information about zone status that is incorporated with point status messages. A device can belong to multiple zones, however, only the primary zone is listed in the printer output. This severely limits the accuracy of zone data based on event generated messages, and therefore will not be recorded.
Panel Status: Data Array Mapping:
The status of NCA devices will be recorded into a series of data arrays within the FieldServer, and is available for reading by any other connected device. The data from each loop will be recorded into a separate data array, and a single system array will record system troubles. The structure of the data arrays is provided below.
Most of these arrays will only contain binary information to represent an active or inactive state. However, there could be multiple troubles associated with a single device. For each trouble message, the data array register corresponding to a particular device will be incremented as a counter and decremented when a trouble is cleared.
| Parameter | Registers (UINT32) |
| {per loop} | |
| Fire Alarm | 0-199 detectors 200-399 modules |
| Trouble | 500-799 detectors 700-899 modules |
| PreAlarm | 1000-1199 detectors 1200-1399 modules |
| Security Alarm | 1500-1799 detectors 1700-1899 modules |
| Supervisory | 2000-2199 detectors 2200-2399 modules |
| Disabled | 2500-2799 detectors 2700-2899 modules |
| Active | 3000-3199 detectors 3200-3399 modules |
| {system points only} | |
| System Troubles | 0-100 |
| Panel | 101-196 Fire Alarm 201-296 Trouble 301-396 2 401-496 Security Alarm 501-596 2 601-696 Disabled 701-796 Active |
| Bell | 197-200 Fire Alarm 297-300 Trouble 397-400 3 497-500 Security Alarm 597-600 3 697-700 Disabled 797-800 Active |
Driver Limitations & Exclusions
Top- Zone information will not be recorded.
- Synchronization between the NCA panel and the FieldServer can only occur while the panel is in SYSTEM NORMAL mode. At this time the FieldServer can be reset.
- The NCA menu function called "Read Status" will not be recorded as this information is not available at the printer/CRT port
- The printer port must be enabled on the unit and set to 80 columns with NO supervision
- All data related to non-event driven reports will not be recorded by the FieldServer
- This driver was written specifically for the following NCA firmware versions. Any changes or additions by Notifier will not be reflected in this driver unless specifically revised. A002.002.005/B002.002.005
- This driver will not record information about zone status that is incorporated with point status messages.
- This driver is not designed for multi-dropped panels. There can only be one panel connected to any given FieldServer port.
- This driver records data as presented to the printer/CRT port by the Notifier NCA, and can only be as accurate as this data.
- The driver can send Ack, Reset, Silence and Drill messages to the NCA Panel if the FieldServer is connected to NCA Panel at the CRT port.
- Successful write message send for functions such as ack, silence, reset or drill only mean that the message has been sent. The driver does not record whether the message was received or acted upon.