A carrier communication test device and a test method

Abstract

The present invention provides a carrier communication test device, comprising: at least two groups of carrier communication modules, wherein one group of the at least two groups of carrier communication modules is a carrier communication module host, and the other groups of carrier communication modules except the carrier communication module host among the at least two groups of carrier communication modules are carrier communication module slaves; a carrier power line; at least two groups of upper computer computers; the carrier communication module host is configured to send a first carrier test signal to each carrier communication module slave through the carrier power line, and receive a second carrier test signal sent by each carrier communication module slave to the carrier communication module host through the carrier power line. By transmitting the first carrier test signal and the second carrier test signal and cooperating with the upper computer computer to visually display the carrier communication data, when there is no communication device for detection, a relatively simple method can be used to detect the carrier communication module.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This specification relates to the technical field of carrier communication testing, and particularly relates to a carrier communication testing device and a testing method. Background Art

[0002] At present, there are no other testing means for whether a carrier communication module is working properly except through joint testing of actual equipment. At the same time, there is also a problem of port wear when repeatedly testing with actual equipment. RS422 and RS485 belong to serial communication, which is usually relatively stable. However, in an industrial environment, repeatedly plugging and unplugging the device contact ports reduces the mechanical life and there is a risk of burning out the serial port. If a large number of joint tests between devices are carried out during the testing process, there will be the above risks and it will cause waste of resources; when the distance between devices is relatively far among multiple devices, higher requirements are also put forward for on-site wiring and device joint test costs. To solve this problem, a simple device is needed to test the working condition of the carrier communication module. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of this, the embodiments of this specification provide a carrier communication testing device and a testing method to achieve the purpose of being able to detect the carrier communication module using a relatively simple method when there is no communication device for detection.

[0004] The embodiments of this specification provide the following technical solutions:

[0005] A carrier communication testing device, comprising:

[0006] At least two groups of carrier communication modules, wherein one group of carrier communication modules among the at least two groups of carrier communication modules is the master carrier communication module, and the other groups of carrier communication modules except the master carrier communication module among the at least two groups of carrier communication modules are slave carrier communication modules;

[0007] Carrier power lines, and at least two groups of carrier communication modules are all connected to the carrier power lines, and the carrier power lines are used to supply power to the at least two groups of carrier communication modules through a DC power supply;

[0008] At least two groups of host computers, and each group of carrier communication modules among the at least two groups of carrier communication modules is connected to a host computer. Among them, the host computer connected to the master carrier communication module is used to send a first carrier test signal to the master carrier communication module, and the host computer connected to the slave carrier communication module is used to send a second carrier test signal to the slave carrier communication module;

[0009] The master carrier communication module is used to send a first carrier test signal to each slave carrier communication module through the carrier power line, and receive a second carrier test signal sent by each slave carrier communication module to the master carrier communication module through the carrier power line;

[0010] Each slave carrier communication module is used to send a second carrier test signal to the master carrier communication module through the carrier power line and receive a first carrier test signal sent from the master carrier communication module to the slave carrier communication module through the carrier power line. Among them, the reception situation of the second carrier test signal by the master carrier communication module is used to test the communication characteristics of the carrier communication, and the reception situation of the first carrier test signal by the slave carrier communication module is used to test the communication characteristics of the carrier communication.

[0011] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects that can be achieved by at least one of the above technical solutions adopted in the embodiments of the present specification at least include:

[0012] A device for testing the communication characteristics of carrier communication by using multiple groups of carrier communication test modules to transmit carrier signals to each other is designed. By transmitting the first carrier test signal and the second carrier test signal and cooperating with the upper computer to visually display the carrier communication data, when there is no communication device for detection, a relatively simple method can be used to detect the carrier communication module. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0014] Figure 1 It is the overall structure diagram of the carrier communication test device according to the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0015] The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0016] The following specific examples illustrate the implementation manners of the present application. Those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present application from the content disclosed in this specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. The present application can also be implemented or applied through other different specific implementation manners. Various details in this specification can also be modified or changed based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present application. It should be noted that, without conflict, the following embodiments and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present application without creative efforts belong to the scope of protection of the present application.

[0017] It should be noted that the following description relates to various aspects of embodiments within the scope of the appended claims. It will be apparent that the aspects described herein can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, and any specific structure and / or function described herein is merely illustrative. Based on this application, those skilled in the art should understand that one aspect described herein can be implemented independently of any other aspect, and two or more of these aspects can be combined in various ways. For example, any number and aspects set forth herein can be used to implement the device and / or practice the method. Additionally, this device and / or this method can be implemented using other structures and / or functionality in addition to one or more of the aspects set forth herein.

[0018] It should also be noted that the diagrams provided in the following embodiments only illustrate the basic concept of this application schematically. The diagrams only show the components related to this application and are not drawn according to the number, shape, and size of the components in actual implementation. The type, quantity, and proportion of each component in its actual implementation can be arbitrarily changed, and the component layout type may also be more complex.

[0019] In addition, in the following description, specific details are provided to facilitate a thorough understanding of the examples. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the aspects described can be practiced without these specific details.

[0020] Currently, in the market, there is no other test method except verifying whether the carrier communication unit communicates normally by jointly testing the actual device. Based on this situation, the present invention conducts tests using two serial port debugging tools, namely a full-duplex debugging tool and a half-duplex debugging tool, as well as a host computer, and can simultaneously observe whether the data transmission of both full-duplex and half-duplex signals is interfered, which has the characteristics of visibility and convenient testing.

[0021] The following describes the technical solutions provided by each embodiment of this application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0022] As Figure 1 shown, the carrier test device of the embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of carrier communication modules, and the carrier communication test device verifies the carrier signals of the carrier communication modules. Specifically, the carrier communication test module of the carrier test device is connected in the manner of a host and a slave, and the host and the slave can receive and send carrier test signals to each other. Any one of the carrier communication modules can be designated as the host or the slave. The host and the slave form a self-organizing network, supporting one-to-one or one-to-many transmission. A host can configure up to 20 slave devices at most, and the power line communication distance can reach five hundred meters. The carrier test device is powered by a DC power supply.

[0023] The carrier test device includes: a carrier communication module, a carrier power line, a host computer, and a carrier signal debugging tool.

[0024] Carrier signal debugging tool, a full-duplex debugging unit for transmitting full-duplex carrier signals, and a half-duplex debugging tool unit for transmitting half-duplex carrier signals. The full-duplex carrier signal and the half-duplex carrier signal have their own serial port channels for independent transmission without interference. The carrier signal debugging tool can be implemented using existing general-purpose serial port RS485 to USB and serial port RS422 to USB tools to achieve communication between the device and the host computer. In some embodiments, the full-duplex debugging unit is an RS422 serial port debugging tool. In some embodiments, the half-duplex debugging unit is an RS485 serial port debugging tool. In other embodiments, the half-duplex debugging unit can also be an RS232 serial port debugging tool.

[0025] The carrier power line is an ordinary power supply line without special requirements. That is, the carrier power line is the wire that actually supplies power to the device or the wire that supplies power to the test tool. In some embodiments, the carrier power line can be a pure copper wire with a diameter of 3mm, twisted pair, etc.

[0026] The host computer is an ordinary industrial computer. The host computer can observe the transmission data of the carrier signal, can test the real-time transmission of the system, and is intuitive and visual.

[0027] In some embodiments, the DC power supply uses a 28V DC power supply.

[0028] In some embodiments, a master-slave DIP switch is set on the host computer of the carrier communication test device. By toggling the master-slave DIP switch, any carrier communication module can be set as the carrier communication module host or the carrier communication module slave.

[0029] The carrier test device of the embodiment of the present invention satisfies that when the carrier power line normally supplies power to the device, full-duplex carrier signals and half-duplex carrier signals are simultaneously transmitted through power line carrier technology, the data are independently transmitted, the signals do not interfere with each other, the data is transparently transmitted, and the real-time transmission is carried out. Finally, the carrier test signal is displayed on the visualization interface of the host computer.

[0030] The method of using the above carrier communication test device for testing includes the following steps:

[0031] The first step is to connect the carrier communication module, the duplex debugging unit, the half-duplex debugging unit, the DC power supply, the host computer, and the carrier power line together according to the connection schematic diagram Figure 1 according to the required number of slave devices (within 20).

[0032] Among them, the master carrier communication module and the slave carrier communication module are selected through DIP switches. It should be noted that only one master carrier communication module can be set for a carrier communication test device. The maximum length of the carrier power line can be up to 500 meters and can be appropriately reduced according to actual needs. At the same time, it should be noted that the power supply is prohibited from being connected during wiring. When connecting the lines of each module and the DC power supply in this step, pay attention not to operate with electricity.

[0033] In some embodiments, one master carrier communication module and multiple slave carrier communication modules can be used for one-to-many testing, so as to optimize resource allocation and improve testing efficiency.

[0034] Second step: After checking the connection lines and each device and ensuring there is no short circuit or open circuit, turn on the DC power supply. After waiting for a few seconds, the master carrier communication module and the slave carrier communication module start to work. This step is to detect whether the wiring in the previous step is incorrect and to supply power to the devices, aiming to perform pre-power-on inspections to avoid short circuits and open circuits, which may affect the testing progress and equipment safety.

[0035] Third step: Half-duplex carrier signal detection.

[0036] Through the serial port transmission assistant of the upper computer of the master carrier communication module, select the half-duplex serial port and send the first carrier test signal of the half-duplex carrier signal, such as "half-duplex master", and observe whether the upper computer of the slave carrier communication module receives the first carrier test signal. After transmitting for a period of time, observe whether there is a data error code through the visualization interface of the upper computer.

[0037] Through the above operations, the master carrier communication module sends the first carrier test signal of the half-duplex carrier signal, and the slave carrier communication module receives the first carrier test signal of the half-duplex carrier signal, to verify whether the carrier communication unit of the slave carrier communication module is working properly.

[0038] Conversely, through the upper computer of the half-duplex carrier signal slave, send the second carrier test signal of the half-duplex carrier signal, such as "half-duplex slave 1", "half-duplex slave 2", etc. Observe whether the upper computer of the half-duplex carrier signal master receives the second carrier test signal. After transmitting for a period of time, observe whether there is a data error code. Implement the operation of the half-duplex carrier signal slave sending the second carrier test signal and the half-duplex carrier signal master receiving the second carrier test signal, to verify whether the carrier communication unit of the master carrier communication module is working properly. It should be noted that the half-duplex carrier signal slaves cannot communicate with each other during half-duplex carrier signal transmission.

[0039] The main purpose of this step is to separately test whether the half-duplex carrier signal communicates normally and whether the data transparent transmission characteristic of the carrier signal is achieved. Send a detection code from the host computer of a carrier communication test module. After passing through the line, check on the host computer of another carrier communication test module whether the corresponding carrier signal is received and whether there are garbled or other error signals, and observe whether there are any errors. Specifically, half-duplex carrier signal transmission allows the host and the slave to communicate, but the slaves cannot communicate with each other.

[0040] Step 4: Full-duplex communication detection.

[0041] Through the serial port assistant of the host computer of the carrier communication module, select the full-duplex serial port and send the first carrier test signal of the full-duplex carrier signal, such as "Full-duplex host". Observe whether the host computer of the slave of the carrier communication module receives the first carrier test signal of the full-duplex carrier signal, and transmit for a period of time. Observe whether there is a data error code through the visualization interface of the host computer.

[0042] Through the above operations, the operation of the host of the carrier communication module sending the first carrier test signal of the full-duplex carrier signal and the slave of the carrier communication module receiving the first carrier test signal of the full-duplex carrier signal is realized, and it is verified whether the carrier communication unit of the slave of the carrier communication module works normally.

[0043] Conversely, through the host computer of the slave of the full-duplex carrier signal, send the second carrier test signal of the full-duplex carrier signal, such as "Full-duplex slave 1", "Full-duplex slave 2", etc. Observe whether the host computer of the full-duplex carrier signal receives the second carrier test signal of the full-duplex carrier signal, and transmit for a period of time. Observe whether there is a data error code. The operation of the slave of the full-duplex carrier signal sending the second carrier test signal of the full-duplex carrier signal and the host of the full-duplex carrier signal receiving the second carrier test signal of the full-duplex carrier signal is realized, and it is verified whether the carrier communication unit of the host of the carrier communication module works normally. It should be noted that the slaves of the full-duplex carrier signal can also communicate with each other during full-duplex carrier signal transmission.

[0044] The main purpose of this step is to separately test whether the full-duplex carrier signal communicates normally and whether the data transparent transmission characteristic of the carrier signal is achieved. Send a detection code from the host computer of a carrier communication test module. After passing through the line, check on the host computer of another carrier communication test module whether the corresponding carrier signal is received and whether there are garbled or other error signals. Specifically, full-duplex carrier signal transmission allows the host and the slave to communicate, and also allows the slaves to communicate with each other. That is to say, the carrier communication modules connected to the carrier power line can all communicate, and any host computer can observe the carrier test signals of other carrier communication units.

[0045] It should be noted that the third step and the fourth step can be interchanged, that is, there is no priority setting for full-duplex communication and half-duplex communication.

[0046] Step 5. Simultaneously execute the operations of the third step and the fourth step, and observe the half-duplex carrier test signal and the full-duplex carrier test signal through the host computer at the same time to check whether there are interference error codes.

[0047] The main purpose of this step is to verify whether the half-duplex carrier test signal and the full-duplex carrier test signal do not interfere with each other. By simultaneously sending the half-duplex carrier signal and the full-duplex carrier signal through the host computer, observe whether the corresponding data receiving end receives the carrier signal and whether there are interference error codes. When the half-duplex carrier signal and the full-duplex carrier signal are transmitted on the power line at the same time, it can be judged whether the two carrier test signals interfere with each other by confirming whether the verification code sent appears incorrect from the host computer at the data receiving end.

[0048] Step 6. Send the carrier test signal within a certain period of time, and calculate the first time difference between the time point when the carrier communication module host receives the second carrier test signal and the time point when the carrier communication module slave sends the second carrier test signal. This first time difference is used to test the real-time transmission characteristics of the carrier communication.

[0049] Similarly, send the carrier test signal within a certain period of time, and calculate the first time difference between the time point when the carrier communication module host receives the first carrier test signal and the time point when the carrier communication module slave sends the first carrier test signal. This second time difference is used to test the real-time transmission characteristics of the carrier communication.

[0050] In some embodiments, the first time and the second time are set to be within 100 ms.

[0051] If there are no abnormal phenomena in the above steps, the communication characteristics (data transparent transmission characteristics, data non-interference characteristics, and real-time transmission characteristics) of the carrier communication unit can be verified through the carrier communication test device.

[0052] The carrier communication test method of the embodiment of the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0053] A device for detecting the transmission of carrier test signals by using multiple groups of carrier communication modules to mutually transmit carrier signals is designed, which can detect full-duplex carrier signals and half-duplex carrier signals, and is visualized and displayed through the host computer, which is intuitive; when there is no communication device for detection, a relatively simple method can be used to detect the carrier communication unit, reducing the design cycle of the carrier communication unit product and improving the product R & D efficiency; realizing communication characteristics such as test data transparent transmission characteristics, data non-interference characteristics, and real-time transmission characteristics, laying a test technical foundation for the research and development of the carrier communication unit and subsequent system upgrades.

[0054] Each embodiment in this specification is described in a progressive manner. For the same or similar parts among the embodiments, reference can be made to each other. Each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the method embodiments described later, since they correspond to the system, the description is relatively simple. For the relevant parts, reference can be made to the corresponding parts of the system embodiments.

[0055] As mentioned above, the above are only specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily thought of by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be covered by the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A carrier communication test device, characterized in that, Comprising: At least two groups of carrier communication modules, wherein one group of carrier communication modules among the at least two groups of carrier communication modules is the host of the carrier communication module, and the other groups of carrier communication modules among the at least two groups of carrier communication modules except the host of the carrier communication module are the slaves of the carrier communication module; A carrier power line, to which the at least two groups of carrier communication modules are all connected, and the carrier power line is used to supply power to the at least two groups of carrier communication modules through a DC power supply; At least two groups of host computers, each group of carrier communication modules among the at least two groups of carrier communication modules is connected to a host computer, wherein the host computer connected to the host of the carrier communication module is used to send a first carrier test signal to the host of the carrier communication module, and the host computer connected to the slave of the carrier communication module is used to send a second carrier test signal to the slave of the carrier communication module; The host of the carrier communication module is used to send the first carrier test signal to each slave of the carrier communication module through the carrier power line, and receive the second carrier test signal sent by each slave of the carrier communication module to the host of the carrier communication module through the carrier power line; Each slave of the carrier communication module is used to send the second carrier test signal to the host of the carrier communication module through the carrier power line, and receive the first carrier test signal sent by the host of the carrier communication module to the slave of the carrier communication module through the carrier power line, wherein the reception situation of the second carrier test signal by the host of the carrier communication module is used to test the communication characteristics of carrier communication, and the reception situation of the first carrier test signal by the slave of the carrier communication module is used to test the communication characteristics of carrier communication; The host computer connected to the host of the carrier communication module is further used to calculate a first time difference between the time point when the host of the carrier communication module receives the second carrier test signal and the time point when the slave of the carrier communication module sends the second carrier test signal, and the first time difference is used to test the real-time transmission characteristics of carrier communication; The host computer connected to the slave of the carrier communication module is further used to calculate a second time difference between the time point when the slave of the carrier communication module receives the first carrier test signal and the time point when the host of the carrier communication module sends the first carrier test signal, and the second time difference is used to test the real-time transmission characteristics of carrier communication.

2. The carrier communication test device according to claim 1, wherein The host of the carrier communication module is used to send the first carrier test signal including a full-duplex carrier signal to each slave of the carrier communication module through the carrier power line, and receive the second carrier test signal including the full-duplex carrier signal sent by each slave of the carrier communication module through the carrier power line; Each of the slave carrier communication modules is configured to send the second carrier test signal including the full-duplex carrier signal to the master carrier communication module via the carrier power line, and receive the first carrier test signal including the full-duplex carrier signal sent by the master carrier communication module via the carrier power line; or, The master carrier communication module is configured to send the first carrier test signal including the half-duplex carrier signal to each of the slave carrier communication modules via the carrier power line, and receive the second carrier test signal including the half-duplex carrier signal sent by each of the slave carrier communication modules via the carrier power line; Each of the slave carrier communication modules is configured to send the second carrier test signal including the half-duplex carrier signal to the master carrier communication module via the carrier power line, and receive the first carrier test signal including the half-duplex carrier signal sent by the master carrier communication module via the carrier power line. Among them, the reception condition of the second carrier test signal by the master carrier communication module is used to test the data transparent transmission characteristic of the carrier communication, and the reception condition of the first carrier test signal by the slave carrier communication module is used to test the data transparent transmission characteristic of the carrier communication.

3. The carrier communication test device according to claim 1, wherein, The master carrier communication module is configured to send the first carrier test signal including the full-duplex carrier signal and the half-duplex carrier signal to each of the slave carrier communication modules via the carrier power line, and receive the second carrier test signal including the full-duplex carrier signal and the half-duplex carrier signal sent by each of the slave carrier communication modules via the carrier power line; Each of the slave carrier communication modules is configured to send the second carrier test signal including the full-duplex carrier signal and the half-duplex carrier signal to the master carrier communication module via the carrier power line, and receive the first carrier test signal including the full-duplex carrier signal and the half-duplex carrier signal sent by the master carrier communication module via the carrier power line. Among them, the reception condition of the second carrier test signal by the master carrier communication module is used to test the data non-interference characteristic of the carrier communication, and the reception condition of the first carrier test signal by the slave carrier communication module is used to test the data non-interference characteristic of the carrier communication.

4. The carrier communication test device according to claim 2, characterized in that, The full-duplex carrier signal includes RS422 signal.

5. The carrier communication test device according to claim 2, wherein The half-duplex carrier signal includes RS485 signal.

6. The carrier communication test device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, Each of the host computers is further configured to receive and display the first carrier test signal or the second carrier test signal received by the carrier communication module connected to itself.

7. The carrier communication test device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that Further included: At least two groups of carrier signal debugging tools, each group of carrier signal debugging tools is set between the corresponding connected host computer and the carrier communication module, and each group of carrier signal debugging tools is used to establish communication between the corresponding connected host computer and the carrier communication module according to the communication protocol corresponding to the carrier test signal, and the carrier test signal includes the first carrier test signal and the second carrier test signal.

8. A test method for a carrier communication test device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, Including: The host computer connected to the host of the carrier communication module sends the first carrier test signal to the host of the carrier communication module; Based on the host of the carrier communication module, the first carrier test signal is sent to each slave of the carrier communication module through the carrier power line, and the second carrier test signal sent by each slave of the carrier communication module to the host of the carrier communication module is received through the carrier power line; The host computer connected to the slave of the carrier communication module sends the second carrier test signal to the slave of the carrier communication module; Based on each slave of the carrier communication module, the second carrier test signal is sent to the host of the carrier communication module through the carrier power line, and the first carrier test signal sent by the host of the carrier communication module to the slave of the carrier communication module is received through the carrier power line; According to the reception situation of the second carrier test signal by the host of the carrier communication module and the reception situation of the first carrier test signal by the slave of the carrier communication module, the communication characteristics of the carrier communication are tested.

9. The test method according to claim 8, characterized in that Also including: Calculate the first time difference between the time point when the host of the carrier communication module receives the second carrier test signal and the time point when the slave of the carrier communication module sends the second carrier test signal, calculate the second time difference between the time point when the slave of the carrier communication module receives the first carrier test signal and the time point when the host of the carrier communication module sends the first carrier test signal, and test the real-time transmission characteristics of the carrier communication according to the first time difference and the second time difference.

Images