The Kingfisher driver supports these types of Kingfisher channel:
- Kingfisher Direct Channel—For Kingfisher outstations that are permanently connected to the Geo SCADA Expert server, for example via a cable, network, or a continuous radio signal.
You need to configure a Kingfisher Direct Channel for each uninterrupted (‘direct’) communications connection that exists between the Geo SCADA Expert server and the Kingfisher Direct outstations on your system.
- Kingfisher PSTN Channel—For Kingfisher outstations that communicate with the server using dial-up modems.
For the Kingfisher outstations that use PSTN communications on your system, you need to configure a Kingfisher PSTN Channel for each telephone line connection between the Geo SCADA Expert server and the PSTN outstations.
Some outstations that communicate using direct channel(s), have a dial-up modem as a ‘backup’ means of contacting the Geo SCADA Expert server. You can configure such outstations to use PSTN as a ‘fallback’ means of communication, should the direct channel(s) fail. (In which case, you need to configure a Kingfisher PSTN Channel to represent each PSTN line via which the outstations can communicate, in addition to the Kingfisher Direct Channel(s).)
Before you configure any Kingfisher channels in Geo SCADA Expert, familiarize yourself with the hardware settings for the channels on your system. This is because you will need to specify appropriate properties for the channels in the Geo SCADA Expert database (see Preparation - Direct Channels in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Advanced Drivers, and see Preparation - PSTN Channels in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Advanced Drivers).
For a channel to be functional (online), you need to specify certain properties (see Minimum Configuration in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Advanced Drivers).
In each case, you specify the channel’s properties using the fields on the appropriate Kingfisher Channel Form. Each Form has several tabs. The subsection that follows covers configuration of properties that are Kingfisher specific. For information on configuring properties that are common to channels on many advanced drivers, including information on tabs not covered in this section, see Tabs on Channel Forms in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Advanced Drivers.
On the Kingfisher Direct Channel Form, the Scan Parameters tab includes a second Scan Parameters section, to enable you to Define the Permitted Scan Durations. Other fields on the Scan Parameters tab are common to channels on many advanced drivers (see Tabs on Channel Forms in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Advanced Drivers).
When a Kingfisher Direct Channel has a Serial connection, it typically uses these settings (specified on the Connection tab of the Kingfisher Direct Channel Form):
- Baud Rate—9600
- Data Bits—8 bits
- Parity—None
- Stop Bits—1 bit
- Flow Control—None.