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FLEX is a communications protocol developed by Motorola and used in many pagers. FLEX provides one-way communication only (from the provider to the pager device), but a related protocol called ReFLEX provides two-way messaging.
Transmission of message data occurs in one of four modes: 1600/2, 3200/2, 3200/4, or 6400/4. All modes use FSK modulation. At 1600/2 this is on a 2 level FSK signal transmitted at 1600 bits per second. At 3200/2, this is a 2 level FSK signal transmitted at 3200 bits per second. At 3200/4, this is a 4 level FSK signal transmitted at 1600 symbols per second. Each 4 level symbol represents two bits for a bit rate of 3200 bits per second. At 6400/4, this is a 4 level FSK signal transmitted at 3200 symbols per second or 6400 bits per second.
Data is transmitted in a set of 128 frames that takes 4 minutes to complete. Each frame contains a sync followed by 11 data blocks. The data blocks contain 256, 512 or 1024 bits for 1600, 3200 or 6400 bits per second respectively.
The standard has been designed to allow the pager's receiver to be turned off for a high percentage of the time and therefore save on battery usage.
Transmitted data over FLEX is not encrypted. A BCH error correcting code is used to improve the integrity of the data, although this is not cryptographically secure.
There have been reported instances of individuals actively listening to pager traffic (private investigators, news organizations, etc.).[ citation needed ]
In The Netherlands the emergency services use the Flex-protocol in the nationwide P2000 network for pagers. The traffic on this network can be monitored online. [1]
In South Australia the State's SAGRN network for the Emergency Services paging system (CFS, SES, MFS and SAAS) is run on the FLEX 1600 protocol, and can be monitored online. [2]
In digital radio, packet radio is the application of packet switching techniques to digital radio communications. Packet radio uses a packet switching protocol as opposed to circuit switching or message switching protocols to transmit digital data via a radio communication link. Packet radio can be differentiated from other digital radio switching schemes by the following attributes:
Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diodes (LEDs). At low transmission rates data can also be transferred via an electrical interface. The method was developed to replace the plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH) system for transporting large amounts of telephone calls and data traffic over the same fiber without the problems of synchronization.
Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is a frequency modulation scheme in which digital information is encoded on a carrier signal by periodically shifting the frequency of the carrier between several discrete frequencies. The technology is used for communication systems such as telemetry, weather balloon radiosondes, caller ID, garage door openers, and low frequency radio transmission in the VLF and ELF bands. The simplest FSK is binary FSK (BFSK), in which the carrier is shifted between two discrete frequencies to transmit binary information.
Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video display interface developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). The digital interface is used to connect a video source, such as a video display controller, to a display device, such as a computer monitor. It was developed with the intention of creating an industry standard for the transfer of uncompressed digital video content.
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Interim Standard 95 (IS-95) was the first ever CDMA-based digital cellular technology. It was developed by Qualcomm and later adopted as a standard by the Telecommunications Industry Association in TIA/EIA/IS-95 release published in 1995. The proprietary name for IS-95 is cdmaOne.
A Controller Area Network is a vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other's applications without a host computer. It is a message-based protocol, designed originally for multiplex electrical wiring within automobiles to save on copper, but it can also be used in many other contexts. For each device, the data in a frame is transmitted serially but in such a way that if more than one device transmits at the same time, the highest priority device can continue while the others back off. Frames are received by all devices, including by the transmitting device.
Terrestrial Trunked Radio, a European standard for a trunked radio system, is a professional mobile radio and two-way transceiver specification. TETRA was specifically designed for use by government agencies, emergency services, for public safety networks, rail transport staff for train radios, transport services and the military. TETRA is the European version of trunked radio, similar to Project 25.
Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC) is a computer communications protocol. It is the layer 2 protocol for IBM's Systems Network Architecture (SNA). SDLC supports multipoint links as well as error correction. It also runs under the assumption that an SNA header is present after the SDLC header. SDLC was mainly used by IBM mainframe and midrange systems; however, implementations exist on many platforms from many vendors. In the United States and Canada, SDLC can be found in traffic control cabinets.
Project 25 is a suite of standards for interoperable digital two-way radio products. P25 was developed by public safety professionals in North America and has gained acceptance for public safety, security, public service, and commercial applications worldwide. P25 radios are a direct replacement for analog UHF radios, but add the ability to transfer data as well as voice, allowing for more natural implementations of encryption and text messaging. P25 radios are commonly implemented by dispatch organizations, such as police, fire, ambulance and emergency rescue service, using vehicle-mounted radios combined with repeaters and handheld walkie-talkie use.
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CANopen is a communication protocol and device profile specification for embedded systems used in automation. In terms of the OSI model, CANopen implements the layers above and including the network layer. The CANopen standard consists of an addressing scheme, several small communication protocols and an application layer defined by a device profile. The communication protocols have support for network management, device monitoring and communication between nodes, including a simple transport layer for message segmentation/desegmentation. The lower level protocol implementing the data link and physical layers is usually Controller Area Network (CAN), although devices using some other means of communication can also implement the CANopen device profile.
ReFLEX is a wireless protocol developed by Motorola, used for two-way paging, messaging, and low-bandwidth data. It is based on the FLEX one-way paging protocol, adding capabilities for multiple forward channels, multiple return channels, and roaming. It originally came in two variants, ReFLEX25 and ReFLEX50. ReFLEX50 was originally developed to support a messaging service launched by MTEL in the mid 1990s, while ReFLEX25 was developed several years later to provide an upgrade path for traditional one-way paging carriers. The 50 and 25 signified 50 kHz and 25kHz channel spacing, although in reality both variants supported flexible channel configurations. The two variants were unified into a single protocol with version 2.7, which was released simply as ReFLEX 2.7. Devices compliant with ReFLEX 2.7 are backwards compatible with both ReFLEX25 and ReFLEX50 networks, with several new features to improve roaming, performance, and interoperability between different networks. ReFLEX systems support forward channel speeds of 1600, 3200, and 6400 bits per second, and return channel speeds of 800, 1600, 6400, and 9600 bits per second. Like FLEX, ReFLEX is synchronous, based on 1.875 second frames and 4-level FSK modulation.
In computer networks, a syncword, sync character, sync sequence or preamble is used to synchronize a data transmission by indicating the end of header information and the start of data. The syncword is a known sequence of data used to identify the start of a frame, and is also called reference signal or midamble in wireless communications.
McASP is an acronym for Multichannel Audio Serial Port, a communication peripheral found in Texas Instruments family of digital signal processors (DSPs) and Microcontroller Units (MCUs).
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In mobile-telephone technology, the UniPro protocol stack follows the architecture of the classical OSI Reference Model. In UniPro, the OSI Physical Layer is split into two sublayers: Layer 1 and Layer 1.5 which abstracts from differences between alternative Layer 1 technologies. The actual physical layer is a separate specification as the various PHY options are reused in other MIPI Alliance specifications.
The Um interface is the air interface for the GSM mobile telephone standard. It is the interface between the mobile station (MS) and the Base transceiver station (BTS). It is called Um because it is the mobile analog to the U interface of ISDN. Um is defined in the GSM 04.xx and 05.xx series of specifications. Um can also support GPRS packet-oriented communication.
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