PowerTALK 101
10
Functional overview of PowerTALK 101
PowerTALK 101 is a network protocol converter, one unit having at least a serial port and an
Ethernet port. All PowerTALK 101 models utilise the TCP/IP protocol suite for communication and
configuration.
PowerTALK 101 uses UDP broadcast packets to effectively combine a campus wide Ethernet
network into one virtual RS-232 multi-drop network. Each port on each PowerTALK 101 device is
assigned to a virtual
channel
, and all data received on this port will be transmitted into this
channel, and all other ports connected to this
channel
, will receive all data traffic. UDP broadcast
packets will normally not be carried by routers and bridges, and can only be used on a single or
virtual segment.
PowerTALK 101B additionally has UDP peer to peer routed packets for one-to-one
communication. PowerTALK 101C also adds TCP peer to peer connections, for one-to-one
communication over unreliable and changing links.
PowerTALK 101 / 101B / 101C Data UDP broadcast single virtual segment
PowerTALK 101 / 101B / 101C Configuration UDP peer to peer across router
PowerTALK 101B / 101C Data UDP peer to peer across router
PowerTALK 101C Data TCP peer to peer across router, advanced
