Reference Manual Rev 1.13 
 
004R-646-113  Page 91 
14.  Network Communications 
14.1.  Introduction 
The RS-232, RS-485 and the optical communications can be used for networking.  
Warning: The calibration counter is incremented when the calibration related 
settings are changed.  This means that calibration via a serial port cannot be carried 
out without affecting the certification of a trade installation. 
Serial communications parameters like BAUD, PARITY, etc for the RS232 or RS485 
serial ports are setup in the HDWARE menu.     
The Optical Communications port is fixed to operate at 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data 
bits and 1 stop bit.  The optical communications cable must be used.  
14.2.  Network Protocol RINCMD 
The network protocol uses ASCII characters with a single master POLL / 
RESPONSE message structure.  All information and services are provided by 
registers each of which has its own register address.   
14.2.1.  Basic Message Format  
The basic message format is as follows: 
ADDR  CMD  REG  :DATA 
 
 
ADDR 
ADDR is a two character hexadecimal field corresponding with the following: 
ADDR  Field Name  Description 
80
H
 
Response  ‘0’ for messages sent from the master (POLL). 
‘1’ for messages received from an instrument 
(RESPONSE) 
40
H
 
Error  Set to indicate that the data in this message is an 
error code and not a normal response. 
20
H
 
Reply Required  Set by the master to indicate that a reply to this 
message is required by any slave that it is 
addressed to.  If not set, the slave should silently 
perform the command. 
00
H 
.. 
1F
H 
 
Indicator Address  Valid instrument addresses are 01 
H
 to 1F 
H
 (1 .. 31). 
00 
H
 is the broadcast address.  All slaves must 
process broadcast commands.  When replying to 
broadcasts, slaves reply with their own address in 
this field.