Proxima ASA 7911 - Manual (Page 76)

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A. Packetized Mode Specification
Overview
The purpose of the Serial Adapter is to accept information from a
serial line and transmit it reliably via radio to another RangeLAN2
station, or to a wired station through a RangeLAN2 Access Point.
Serial Adapters receiving information transfer it to an external
computer (“External Computer”) via their own serial lines. The
Serial Adapter contains a sophisticated radio protocol which
permits orderly and reliable flow of information over the radio
network in the presence of an unknown (and possibly varying)
population of RangeLAN2 units.
This document does not explore the details of the radio protocol.
Instead, it focuses on the protocol used to exchange information
with an External Computer via the Serial Adapter’s serial line.
Pass-through Versus Packetized Mode
On the surface, it would appear that the radio protocol used by
Serial Adapters to communicate with one another is the only
protocol necessary. Information passing into the serial line should
simply be captured by the Serial Adapter, and forwarded to the
destination Serial Adapter using the radio protocols built into the
Serial Adapter. Each Serial Adapter should transparently forward
any information coming into its serial line onto the radio network.
The serial line would effectively have no protocol; all data would
simply be passed through to the radio network.
Proxim does provide a mode in the Serial Adapter which behaves
in this way, called the Pass-through mode. Because the Pass-
through mode does not require data sent into its serial line to be
formatted in any way, it is an excellent choice for applications
where the Serial Adapter is used to replace a wire or in applica-