Once all the communications setting have been made to the MDC Controller and the MDC workstations they should immediately recognize each other’s presence on the system when the software is run. The MDC software provides some simple visual clues to alert you as to the communications status of the device. In the upper right corner of the MDC Controller/Workstation screen are three (3) small indicators.
The Link (L) will change from red to green as soon as the MDC devices recognize that a network or communication path exists between the MDC client and the MDC Controller. This is not necessarily an indicator that a network card exists or that a network connection exists, but rather that a point-to-point connection between the MDC client and MDC Controller has been detected. In TCP mode, this means that a low level socket connection has been established between the client and the host. Since UDP is a connection less protocol, when in UDP mode this light will always be green.
The Handshake (H) indicator will change from red to green as soon as the MDC Workstation sends a connection signal message and receives an acknowledgment message back from the MDC Controller. This means that actual application level data was successfully sent/received between the MDC Client and MDC host. The connection signal is sent automatically as soon as the MDC software is started and a Link (L) has been established..
The (G)
indicator is used to display the status of the GPS interface (discussed
later in this document). This indicator will switch from Red to
Yellow to Green. It will display green when an actual specific GPS
coordinate message is received..
Once the Link and Handshake indicators are green, this is your signal that you can log on to the MDC system if you have not already done so. See the Unit Status Commands section of this manual for more specific details on logging on to the MDC system from a workstation.
Note that while
the MDC Controller can perform workstation type functions it is not necessary
to login to the MDC Controller in order for it to function.