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Notifier NCA -- FS-8700-98
FieldServer Driver - Serial

A communications interface solution for Notifier

Description:

The NCA Serial driver allows the FieldServer to record data from Notifier NCA (Network Control Annunciator) over RS-232.

The FieldServer acts as a Passive Client receiving messages and recording the status of a Notifier NCA Panel. There is no active polling by this driver; the communications are one-way through the panel's printer port. The FieldServer is, however, able to generate some system commands like Ack, Reset, Silence and Drill if it is connected to the NCA through its CRT port.

This driver is not capable of emulating a Notifier NCA panel and the very limited server functionality has only been implemented to facilitate FieldServer's Quality Assurance program. This functionality could be extended at a customer's request.

NCA controls all the devices (e.g. NFS-3030, NFS-640) connected in NOTI*FIRE*NET architecture. NCA actually interacts with other Fire Alarm Panels and records the status of all panels and sends the events to the printer and CRT ports. The FieldServer further captures these events in text form, parses and stores them in data arrays. These data arrays can be controlled by third party tools.

Each Fire Alarm Panel connected in NOTI*FIRE*NET architecture is considered as node. 240 nodes can exist in one network. For more detail about NOTI*FIRE*NET architecture contact Notifier. The main purpose of this driver is to record the status of Fire Alarm System detectors and Modules at every node in data arrays - one data array per loop per node. It is limited by the information that the Notifier NCA unit sends in the form of text messages through its RS-232 printer/CRT port. The accuracy and timeliness of the data is therefore limited to the frequency of update messages that the Notifier Fire Panel issues. The types of Notifier messages supported by this driver are summarized later in this fact sheet. In addition, a detailed table in the manual shows each type of NCA message the FieldServer recognizes and the effect that it has on the status of points in the data array. The device status to the data array mapping is also provided in the manual.

Formal Driver Type: Serial, Client Only

Connection type: RS-232

Devices Tested: