9XTend-PKG-U™ USB RF Modem User’s Guide
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4.3. Acknowledged Communications
4.3.1. Acknowledged Mode
Attributes:Reliable delivery through positive acknowledgements for each packet
Throughput, latency and jitter vary depending on the quality of the channel and  
the strength of the signal.
Required Parameter Values (TX modem): RR (Retries) >= 1
Related Commands: Networking (DT, MK, RR), Serial Interfacing (PK, RN, RO, RB, TT)
Recommended Use: Use for applications that require Reliable Delivery. If messages are smaller 
than 256 bytes, use RB and RO commands to align RF packets to application packets.
Connection Sequence
Figure 4-07. Acknowledged Mode State 
Diagram (TX modem)
After sending a packet while in 
Acknowledged Mode, the TX (trans-
mitting) modem listens for an ACK 
(acknowledgement). If it receives 
the ACK, it will either move on to 
sending a subsequent packet (if 
more transmit data is pending) or 
will wait for exactly RN random delay 
slots before allowing another trans-
mission (if no more data is pending 
to be transmitted).
If the TX modem does not receive 
the ACK within the allotted time, it 
will retransmit the packet with a new 
RF initializer following the ACK slot. 
There is no delay between the first 
ACK slot and the first retransmission. 
Subsequent retransmissions incur a 
delay of a random number of delay 
slots, between 0 and RN. If RN is set 
to 0 on the TX modem, there are 
never any back-off delays between 
retransmissions. Note that during 
back-off delays, the TX modem will 
go into Idle Mode and may receive 
RF data. This can have the effect of 
increasing the back-off delay, as the 
modem cannot return to Transmit (or 
retransmit) Mode as long as it is receiving RF data.
After receiving and acknowledging a packet, the RX (receiving) modem will move to the next fre-
quency and listen for either a retransmission or new data for a specific period of time. Even if the 
TX modem has indicated that it has no more pending transmit data, it may not have received the 
previous ACK, and so may retransmit the packet, possibly with no delay after the ACK slot. In this 
case, the RX modem will always detect the immediate retransmission, which will hold off the com-
munications channel and thereby reduce collisions. RX modems acknowledge each retransmission 
they receive, but they only pass the first copy of a packet they receive out the UART.
RB and RO parameters are not applied to subsequent packets, meaning that once transmission 
has begun, it will continue uninterrupted until the DI buffer is empty or the streaming limit (TT 
parameter) has been reached. As with the first packet, the payload of each subsequent packet 
includes up to the maximum packet size (PK parameter), and the TX modem checks for more 
pending data near the end of each packet.