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RTCU Platform
 

 



For the most detailed and comprehensive information on the RTCU M2M platform,
please make sure to read the  RTCU M2M Platform data sheet









Introduction:

Please take your time to read through this section on the RTCU M2M Platform and you will realize that we are offering a product based on a concept that is second to none on the market today!
The RTCU M2M platform is a general platform that allows easy implementation of a broad range of a telemetry/telematics M2M applications spanning areas such as:

  •  Vehicle tracking and fleet management
  •  Mobile datalogging and control application
  •  Alarm / Security systems
  •  Asset management
  •  Remote Meter Reading
  •  Remote Control
  •  SCADA systems
  •  Machine surveillance and control
  •  Industrial control and monitoring
  •  and much more...

State-of-the-Art technologies currently offered in our products includes:

  •  GSM / GPRS
  •  GPS
  •  LAN
  •  Wi-Fi
  •  Bluetooth
  •  ZigBee
  •  Navigation and Messaging Platform
  •  Garmin integration.
  •  RS232 / RS485
  •  MODBUS
  •  1-Wire bus
  •  CAN bus
  •  Camera interface.
  •  more...
    •

And we are constantly expanding our products with new features and new variants.
 

The RTCU concept is composed of the following main components:

  •  More than 12 different hardware products. All fully programmable and software compatible
  •  Powerful RTCU IDE - Integrated Development Environment-, with full featured RTCU Emulator.
  •  More than 1400 pages of PDF / on-line documentation and code wizard etc. for rapid development
  •  RTCU Gateway communication infrastructure software
  •  RTCU Deployment Server for easy upgrade/maintenance of a small to large installations
  •  Many example programs and deployment packages which can be used as a starting point for new developments
  •  State of the art support! 99% of all support enquiries we get are answered within maximum a few hours

                                                   



RTCU Concept

The RTCU concept rests on a well engineered architecture that has been refined by our customers feedback over the last 16 years, and therefore we can today enjoy a state-of-the-art platform, that be easily deployed and maintained by our customers with the lowest possible affords and cost.
The major attributes of the RTCU concept are:

  •  General platform for M2M applications
  •  Fully programmable in VPL (IEC1131-3 ST based)
     VPL is an easy to learn text based high-level programming language
  •  Highly flexible and adaptable
  •  Hardware Independent
     Write once, run anywhere
  •  Future Proof
     Program today, run tomorrow
    •


Hardware independency is demonstrated by the fact that a program written once can execute on any RTCU device - including the RTCU Emulator - without any changes or additional testing.


Offering future proof product is of high priority for us to protect our customers investment in development / debugging applications.
A good example is a program written for our first product in the year 2000 (early days of GSM Telemetry!) using simple SMS messages today can run unmodified on our latest product line communicating over LTE / GPRS, LAN or Wi-Fi!
Many things changes in the meantime, including: Different communication method (SMS versus LTE), New CPU architecture introduced (16 versus 32 bit) and the customer may have changed cellular operator or geographical location. Everything is handled within the RTCU concept, so the legacy software developed for 8..10 years ago still works without any problems!

When comparing products the actual Cost of ownership must be carefully examined and considered.

 

Above the advanced architecture used by the RTCU concept is pictured. As it can be seen, it is a well designed layered structure with a boot-loader / monitor just above the actual hardware. The Boot loader / monitor is a simple components that allows communication with the unit over a physical cable or CSD - even if the main-firmware has been lost.
The green part with the MPK Real-time Operating System in the bottom is the actual firmware. On-top of the firmware the TCP/IP stack, the VPL Virtual Machine and the various hardware drivers resides. On top of the firmware (the green part) the customer application is running.
The firmware as well as the application can be upgraded using a cable connection or over the air with a Gateway TCP/IP connection.


The RTCU IDE Development tool

The RTCU IDE is a powerful Integrated Development Environment with the following main features:

  •  Based on the RTCU M2M Platform. 
  •  A true Integrated Development Environment, with all tasks done within the environment
  •  Project based
  •  Folding Editor support
  •  Context Sensitive Help
  •  Flyover Help
  •  Code Wizard
  •  1000+ standard functions and still growing...
  •  Many code examples
  •  Local / remote connection to a unit for diagnostic or programming
  •  Download FREE from www.logicio.com.
     
    •




The RTCU Emulator
The RTCU Emulator is an virtual execution environment that precisely emulates all current RTCU devices.
The RTCU Emulator canbe used as a stand-alone tool or it can be integrated swiftly into the RTCU IDE in order to make coding and test tightly connected.
The RTCU Emulator is based on the same source code as the actual RTCU device firmware. Almost all features and the behavior of each and every physical device are precisely emulated. This ensures a precise emulation with only a few limitations.

  •  Based on the RTCU M2M Platform
  •  Device specific emulation.
  •  Protected Execution Environment.
  •  Multiple devices with separate instance state.
  •  Device file-system using VHD files.
  •  Virtual Programming cable connection.
  •  Remote access over the RTCU Gateway.
  •  RTCU Deployment Server support.
  •  Powerful RTCU IDE integration.
  •  Download FREE from www.logicio.com.

 


Network Features

Logic IO was one of the first with GPRS support in the world and has a large working experience from  100+ cellular networks.
As it can be seen from the architecture earlier, we are using our own highly optimized and tuned TCP/IP stack, in contrast with the simple use of the GSM modules under-featured TCP/IP stack.
The network features offered by the RTCU concept includes:

  •  All network and/or GSM problems are handled 100% transparently by the firmware
     Applications only handle application domain problems!
  •  VSMS (Virtual SMS) technology offers seamless upgrade from SMS and easy fallback
  •  RTCU Gateway support
  •  Standard TCP/IP sockets
  •  Standard UDP/IP sockets
  •  MQTT
  •  RTCU Gateway, TCP and UDP and co-exist and operate simultaneously
    •

The RTCU Gateway includes the following advantages:

  •  Works in any network:
     Independent of global/local- dynamic/static IP-addresses, firewall configuration etc.
  •  Always connected technology
     2-way communication is always available
  •  Handles all network related issues.
     - Automatically "probes" the health of the connection
  •  Automatic recovery of all communication problems
  •  A common backbone for communication
     The RTCU IDE and the RTCU Deployment Server can connect using the GPRS Gateway
  •  Supports the VSMS abstraction
  •  Uses open RACP2 protocol
     - Portable client source code available
  •  Numerous easy to use deployment packages available
  •  Runs under Windows as a Service
  •  Transparent Encrypted communication
     Uses the Rijndael Block Cipher (AES)
  •  Transparent Compressed communication
     Lowers the cost of communication without software changes!
    •

 

RTCU Deployment Server

The RTCU Deployment Server offers important functionality for deployment and maintenance of even the largest installations of RTCU units.
Seamless upgrade of application as well firmware take place automatically without user intervention or unit operating interruptions minimizing the cost and impact, when new software releases are to be deployed.

The main features of the RTCU Deployment Server includes:

  •  Free add-on to the RTCU Gateway.
  •  Runs as a Service under Windows
  •  Upgrades firmware and application automatically according to a user defined configuration
  •  Upgrade takes places during full operation of the unit
     Minimizes down-time of the unit
  •  Failed or interrupted upgrade attempts are automatically resumed
     Reduces cost of upgradring
  •  Factory delivered unit can be deployed using a simple configuration SMS
  •  Comprehensive logging and status features

 


Next...

This was a short introduction to the RTCU Concept, its architecture and the various main components which defines this powerful, versatile and future proof platform. Please take a closer and more detailed look at the various pages on our web-site including the list of products available.

Also do not hesitate to contact us for any questions which may arise during the jorney..