Test Equipment for Traffic Signal Control Systems

Athens Technical Specialists, Inc. 

FGR-1000

TS2 Frame Grabber

The TS2 Frame Grabber allows technicians to graphically view, sort, and analyze all SDLC frames that were transmitted in the 30 minute period leading up to the intersection going into "flash".

The TS2 Frame Grabber connects to the SDLC bus in any NEMA TS2 cabinet and continually records all frames transmitted between the controller, BIUs, MMU, and other auxiliary devices. The frames are stored in a circular buffer that will hold approximately 20 - 30 minutes worth of data. Anytime the MMU reports that the intersection is in "flash", the frames are automatically stored to a removable memory key. A technician may then remove the key and insert it into a reader connected to a PC. Using the FrameView software application, the frames may be viewed in an easy to understand graphical format.

Reviewing the hundreds of thousands of frames that may be transmitted over a 30 minute period would be a nearly impossible task. This is where the power of the FrameView software application becomes quickly evident. The software groups the frames into one second time periods and displays them on a time line. Any time period that contains frames which meet certain user settable criteria will be clearly marked with a "flag". The user can simply click on the flagged area and then expand the frame to view a graphical translation of the data with any alarms, or warnings clearly displayed in red. The following conditions are examples of events that may be "flagged" : corrupted data, missing response, incorrect response, incorrect address, MMU diagnostic failure, dual display, conflict, red failure, DC voltage failures, clearance faults