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Digital One Line Link (DOLLx8) is a
technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...
architecture that consists of data
communication protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics (computer science), sem ...
, synchronous serial data bus and a communication system for
embedded systems An embedded system is a specialized computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is em ...
and
electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...
. DOLLx8 use
ASCII ASCII ( ), an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for representing a particular set of 95 (English language focused) printable character, printable and 33 control character, control c ...
characters in its data protocol,
differential signaling Differential signalling is a method for electrically transmitting information using two complementary signals. The technique sends the same electrical signal as a differential pair of signals, each in its own conductor. The pair of conduc ...
in the bus system, where the communication consists of an active long-distance technology based on system logic where handling of the communication is done automatically by the
microcontroller A microcontroller (MC, uC, or μC) or microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Pro ...
and its internal embedded
Real-time operating system A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system (OS) for real-time computing applications that processes data and events that have critically defined time constraints. A RTOS is distinct from a time-sharing operating system, such as Unix ...
(RTOS) and
software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...
. A traditional
local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, campus, or building, and has its network equipment and interconnects locally managed. LANs facilitate the distribution of da ...
(LAN) is based on Ethernet, a network system used in personal computers where one PC is able to talk to another PCs. In embedded systems, RS-232 TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic) has dominated the market over a longer period of time as the most common communication standard that also works as an internal embedded network system. With the use of MAX 232
integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...
(IC), the RS-232 TTL may connect to an external
RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such as a compu ...
connection where the immediate advantage of using MAX 232 is that there is no need of using positive and negative
power supply A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, electric current, current, and frequency to power ...
. It is also possible to connect to
USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
via RS-232 to USB converter, and even if the original standard for RS-232 was basically a point-to-point system for the serial port on PCs, it is still possible to use RS-232 in small local area network using micro-controller and source code to control the signals and data transmission. A DOLLx8 embedded network uses its own specific
interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Inter ...
system named DOLLx8 Dataport that via DOLLx8 eMaster unit connects to external RS-232 and from there to USB directly, but requires the installation of a separate DOLLx8 driver. DOLLx8 runs on its own internal clock system that allows the DOLLx8 Dataport bus speed to be independent of the RS-232
baud In telecommunications and electronics, baud (; symbol: Bd) is a common unit of measurement of symbol rate, which is one of the components that determine the speed of communication over a data channel. It is the unit for symbol rate or modulat ...
speed set on the PC side, and can thus be determined by the user. With DOLLx8, USB works as a virtual communication port and can be set to a maximum speed of 128,000  kbps.


MISOLIMA

MISOLIMA is a registered
trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...
of FIKO Software Co., Ltd. and are being used for all products from FIKO Software which also includes products other than software, electronics and embedded systems. One such product-range is MISOLIMA Home and Offices that is ready-built modular houses supplied with DOLLx8 technologies such as
home automation Home automation or domotics is building automation for a home. A home automation system will monitor and/or control home attributes such as lighting, climate, entertainment systems, and appliances. It may also include home security such ...
,
solar cell A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell (PV cell), is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect.
s and
GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...
alarm. MISOLIMA accounts for most of the product developments in cooperation with other companies that use DOLLx8 technologies, where MISOLIMA gets
grants Grant or Grants may refer to: People * Grant (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Grant (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters ** Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), the 18th president of the U ...
from the National Innovation Agency in the development of DOLLx8 for
Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...
. MISOLIMA established Thailand's first foreign owned software and technology park in Chiang Mai in 2001/2002 with approvals from the
Thailand Board of Investment The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) or ''The Office of the Board of Investment'' is an agency of the :Government of Thailand, Government of Thailand. Its mission is to promote foreign investment in Thailand by providing information, services, ...
under the name Cyber Media Park for e-Gravity (CMPEG)" where the name was later on changed to MISOLIMA Software and Technology Park ( MSTP). MSTP consists of 11 400 square meters (122 708 square feet) land area with main building of 1 600 square meters (17 222 square feet).


History

The first DOLL (Digital One Line Link) version was developed as a joint project between
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
by Anne Selene FIKO and her team in the early 1990s and was used in home automation, electronic control- and audio system. The early DOLL system was back then based on 18 –
bit The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communication. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented as ...
Pulse-width modulation Pulse-width modulation (PWM), also known as pulse-duration modulation (PDM) or pulse-length modulation (PLM), is any method of representing a signal as a rectangular wave with a varying duty cycle (and for some methods also a varying peri ...
(PWM) where the communication was 120
Khz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...
and was divided into 10-bit address and 8-bit data word. The signal was sent three times before the electronics of the receiver side (with the right set address code) was able to approve the data transfer and accept the 8 data bits. The reason why the data was sent 3 times was that it should make sure that the receiver did not receive erroneously information in the data network. Some years later, around 1995 and until 1999, the DOLL was further developed together with a new group of developers in New Zealand and then became the DOLLx8 versions 1.0 to 3.0. DOLLx8 was then also extended into applications such as audio where it was emphasized on that the system should send feedbacks to the master unit and where one could check the status of all devices connected to the network. The DOLLx8 system was in the period 2001 to 2003 re-developed so that it could receive commands via text messages rather than just data and address bits, and was then developed for both cascade (2-port) and parallel networking using RS-232 and USB. Such cascade and parallel networks had its pros and cons, where links between the units had weaknesses in such way that it had limited cable length of 16 meters, while the RS-232 TTL version had the same limitation but with only 5 meters. With such limitations, the best solution was a cascade network where each device in the network was acting as a signal buffer, where data was received on port one and went out buffered on port two. The major drawback of such solution was that if a device did not work as intended due to errors in the system, the rest of the devices would not be able to communicate with either master devices nor the rest of the network. In the same period MISOLIMA received export subsidies from the Department of International Trade Promotion and held exhibition at Comdex 2002 in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
,
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
From 2003 to 2006 DOLLx8 was also developed for embedded systems within aviation through Aeronautical Software and Technology Lab (ASLT) in Thailand where ASLT developed a DOLLx8
stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...
ing system for the transfer of
GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...
-, navigation (navaid), terrain, and
MEMS MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) is the technology of microscopic devices incorporating both electronic and moving parts. MEMS are made up of components between 1 and 100 micrometres in size (i.e., 0.001 to 0.1 mm), and MEMS devices ...
gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining Orientation (geometry), orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in ...
data for Electronic Map Display (EMD) and Primary Flight Display (PFD). The system could then receive GPS data in NMEA and binary formats, along with other aircraft data and transmit this along with the flight plan, terrain and navigation data so that both instruments could use the same flight data over one or two DOLLx8 data lines. The advantage of such technology was that the aircraft or helicopters would need only one GPS antenna for two or more GPS based instruments. The streaming system that was developed back then by ASLT was also used in later versions and is now a permanent part of DOLLx8 in connection with sensor streaming technologies and
GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...
data transfer via
GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), also called 2.5G, is a mobile data standard on the 2G cellular communication network's Global System for Mobile Communications, global system for mobile communications (GSM). Networks and mobile devices wit ...
.


Today's system

The latest version of DOLLx8 is far more advanced than earlier versions and is based on 20-year experience in control systems and sensor technologies, where weaknesses in previous versions has meant that MISOLIMA has by
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
(R&D) developed, extended its expertise, created technologies and come up with products that are also suitable for educational purposes. The latest version of DOLLx8 as of February 2012 is 3.18b.


DOLLx8 bus signals

The DOLLx8 bus works with five logical signals at 5 volts each, where the bus-line requires resistors as
electrical termination In electronics, electrical termination is the practice of ending a transmission line with a device that matches the characteristic impedance of the line. Termination prevents signals from Signal reflection, reflecting off the end of the transmi ...
(terminator) of 120
ohm Ohm (symbol Ω) is a unit of electrical resistance named after Georg Ohm. Ohm or OHM may also refer to: People * Georg Ohm (1789–1854), German physicist and namesake of the term ''ohm'' * Germán Ohm (born 1936), Mexican boxer * Jörg Ohm (1 ...
. The system uses standard UTP category-5 Ethernet cable (twisted pair cable) with eight contact points and
RJ-45 A modular connector is a type of electrical connector for cords and cables of electronic devices and appliances, such as in computer networking, telecommunication equipment, and audio headsets. Modular connectors were originally developed for ...
as end-piece connected to i.e. the DOLLx8 eMaster unit. DOLLx8 devices may connect to a PC or server via UTP cable, but can also be used "stand alone" without a central computer. This table shows the bus signals and color codes in DOLLx8 contact points on MISOLIMA eSherlock 1800Tx8 where the contact'' 'C2 is connected to the RJ-45 end-piece of the UTP cable. The signals corresponding to the same contact point (1-8) on the RJ-45 connector if the RJ-45 connector is held in the hand with the locking tab facing down and the cable opening is held towards the body. The connectors are numbered 1-8 and goes from left to right. DAT+ and DAT- signals will be activated as soon as data is placed in the internal data buffer memory. DAT- goes positive and then activates the BSEL lines 3.5ms after the DAT lines are activated. The bus speed in DOLLx8 network is managed by the CLK signal and are currently set to 36
kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...
, which represents 14
milliseconds A millisecond (from '' milli-'' and second; symbol: ms) is a unit of time in the International System of Units equal to one thousandth (0.001 or 10−3 or 1/1000) of a second or 1000 microseconds. A millisecond is to one second, as one second i ...
between each clock pulse. The bus clock is controlled by a positive BSEL- signal (BSEL + goes then simultaneously negative or low) and remains high as long as there is data in the data buffer memory. When
data communication Data communication, including data transmission and data reception, is the transfer of data, transmitted and received over a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication channel. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optic ...
is completed and DAT receives HEX 0D 0A (CRLF) from the data buffer memory, the BSEL+ signal goes high again while BSEL signal goes low, which results in that the CLK signal ceases. The DOLLx8 system is then passively in standby or hibernation mode with minimal power consumption that leads to zero electromagnetic interference (EMI) in the network.


Application

The DOLLx8 solution is used in vehicles, buses, trains, caravans, marine, aviation, laboratories, homes, offices, buildings and in other automated systems. DOLLx8 is based on program-controlled embedded system, or integrated systems technology, and may therefore also interface to multiple systems such as RS-232, RS-422, RS-485,
Controller Area Network A controller area network bus (CAN bus) is a vehicle bus standard designed to enable efficient communication primarily between electronic control units (ECUs). Originally developed to reduce the complexity and cost of electrical wiring in aut ...
(CAN-bus), GSM, USB and more, but may also be connected to wireless systems such as
Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...
,
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...
, VHF, GSM, laser or
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
for communication without the use of the data buffers between the units. DOLLx8 as multi-functional data network with mixture of combinatorial logics may connect via single or multiple connection-points adapted to multiple systems as defined in
Common Hybrid Interface Protocol System Common Hybrid Interface Protocol System (CHIPS) is the definition of a computer network that consists of a mixture of common serial data protocols such as RS-232 and RS-485, or can be even PC keyboard interface communication. CHIPS may also consist ...
(CHIPS).


Modules

MISOLIMA DOLLx8 system is based on several complete small modules and can be used in various integrated electronic projects. The main module is ePAT MCU with a clock frequency of , which is also the main unit used in most DOLLx8 systems. ePAT MCU uses only internal memory and distributed memory capacity, according to this table; ePAT MCU also includes three 16-bit counters, two serial ports, five I/O ports (48 = + 1), five channels 16-bit PCA (Programmable Counter Array) with 8-bit PWM, 21-bit watchdog counter and 8x10-bit
analog-to-digital converter In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a Digital signal (signal processing), digi ...
s (ADC). ePAT has integrated
switched-mode power supply A switched-mode power supply (SMPS), also called switching-mode power supply, switch-mode power supply, switched power supply, or simply switcher, is an electronic power supply that incorporates a switching regulator to electric power conversio ...
(SMPS) on the upper side of the
PCB PCB may refer to: Science and technology * Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant * Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics * P ...
which handles power input from . Beside ePAT MCU, there exists also i.e. small GPS and GSM modules.


DOLLx8 protocol system (version 3.18b)

DOLLx8 protocol system is based on ASCII-text and/or hexadecimal values, where the users can control device features, settings and parameters via PC, Internet,
smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...
or regular mobile phone via
SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...
. DOLLx8 devices such as fleet management, GSM alarm systems have features such as for Master Phone, where the owner or owners of the system can alone use the mobile network to control DOLLx8 devices. For all others calling the devices via GSM will be treated as a normal phone call. The owner of Master Phone can also use a SpyCall function where the owner can call the device and listen into what's being said without those on the other end knowing about it. All DOLLx8 devices have an integrated unique vendor and product ID that consists of 12-digits hexadecimal values which includes Country Code, Company Code, Product ID, Manufacturer Product ID, User's Product ID and User sub-Product ID. A DOLLx8 command may according to the table hereunder look like this: . If this command is sent to a DOLLx8 device with a buzzer installed it will start to buzz until the "OFF" command is sent to the device. If the command was successfully sent and received by the device with the right ID, then the device will acknowledge with followed by as confirmation that the device has executed the command. It is also possible to use a key name instead of the 12-digit Vendor and Product ID and if the key name is set to "living room" then the same command would look like this . * The Product ID bytes from #5 to #16 can also be replaced with a user-defined key names such as "living room"


Example of DOLLx8 VB code

This section shows how to send a command to DOLLx8 via MISOLIMA.DLL and Visual Basic 6.0. In this case, an integrated light function on MISOLIMAs eSinclar PWM4 RGB + W
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
light system is turned ON and changes colors automatically where according to the next two VB examples the speed between red, green and blue can be adjusted up or down by the user.The result of this code, you can see on (13 January 2012) Declare Function fnSendDataToDevice Lib "MISOLIMA.dll" Alias "SENDDATATODEVICE" _ (sCommand As String, _ sDeviceID As String, _ nData As String) As Long Option Explicit Dim sDeviceName As String Dim lRetVal As Long Private Sub Form_Load() sDeviceName = "eSinclair" End Sub Private Sub btnPatern1_Click() lRetVal = fnSendDataToDevice("@sB", sDeviceName, "P1") ' Activates RGB pattern #1 in eSinclair PWM4 LED light module End Sub Adjusting color change speed opp Private Sub btnAdjUp_Click() lRetVal = fnSendDataToDevice("@sB", sDeviceName, "T+") End Sub Adjusting color change speed down Private Sub btnAdjDwn_Click() lRetVal = fnSendDataToDevice("@sB", sDeviceName, "T-") End Sub


Internet of things

In addition to the above-mentioned protocol system, the latest version of DOLLx8 has also integrated ''Internet of Things'' (IoT) functions which, among other things, registering an IoT serial number that consist in total of 281,474,976,710.655 unique combinations. This IoT serial number is registered by the manufacturer and together with the 12-digit DOLLx8 Product ID, this becomes the "IoT product-ID" which can then be identified as a unique number on a worldwide basis.


References

{{reflist Network architecture