Proportion-Air, Inc.

User Interface Manual for E-Net Server

Proportion-Air User Interface

The Proportion-Air user interface is used to interact with several Proportion-Air products which
are Ethernet servers. The interface is used for setting up and monitoring the servers. This
document details how the interface communicates with the servers. The current version of the
interface can be found at https://www.proportionair.com/software-downloads/proportion-air-
Rev2-07.jar

General Interface Layout:

The interface control panel is broken into several colored boxes as shown in Figure 1. The
boxes are defined as follows:

Red Box
The Red Box contains the Menu Bar which displays the File and About options. The File
option allows the user to exit the Control Panel. The About option shows the version of the
graphical software.
Green Box
The Green Box is where the servers are displayed. The control panel will scan the user's local
network for servers and display all the servers it has found. When a user clicks on
Proportion-Air Devices, it allows the user to select the desired server from the list. Once the
server is selected, the Control Panel will make a connection to that server and populate the
relevant information into the option tabs.
Yellow Box
The Yellow Box is where the server option tabs are shown. The standard option tabs for all
servers are shown in Figure 1. When a server is selected from the server tree (Green Box), the
option tab related to that server will appear to the right of the Communication tab.
Brown Box
The Brown Box is the data window associated with the selected option tab. In this box the user
can see the details of the selected server. Items not applicable for the server will be grayed out.
Violet Box
The Violet Box is the acceptance box. Changes made in the control panel can be either
applied or canceled here.

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Black Box
The Black Box is a Status Window which allows the user to view the current state of the
server.

Figure 1: Graphical Interface Screen

Menu Bar
As stated above, the Menu Bar (see the Red Box in Figure 1) has two options: File and
About.

File
The File option is used to manually add a server to the server list. This will be necessary if a
router is between the server and the PC or laptop. The File option is also used to exit the
interface. The user may also exit the interface by using the X in the top right of the panel.

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About
The About option is used to display the version of the interface. This is useful to determine if
the software is the latest version and to indicate if an update is needed.

Server List
When the user clicks on Proportion-Air Devices, the server list (shown as in the Green box in
Figure 1) will list all the servers the interface has found on the user's network. It should be
noted that the interface cannot scan through a router; and therefore, it can only display the
servers found in the layer 2 level, the OSI data link layer.

As seen in Figure 1, the list displays the last two MAC sublets of the servers as well as the
current IP address assigned to the server. Each server has the MAC address labeled on the
outside of the server enclosure. Choose the MAC address of the server with which you wish to
communicate. As a side note, the first 3 sublets of all Proportion-Air servers are 00-80-a3-xx-
xx-xx.

The colored dot next to the MAC address indicates the state of that server’s communications. A
red dot indicates that a server was found, but there is a problem communicating with it. This
could be caused by several things, such as:

1. The server is not a Proportion-Air server.

2. The server is a Proportion-Air server but not supported by this control panel.
3. It is a bad server.
4. It is no longer on the network.
5. The software version in the server is out of date and is not supported by the control
panel.

A yellow dot indicates that the server was found and the configuration information has been
retrieved from the server; however, there is a problem communicating with the server. This
could be caused by several things such as:

1. The server is not a Proportion-Air server.

2. The server is a Proportion-Air server but not supported by this control panel.
3. The control panel is an older version that does not support the selected server.
4. It is a bad server.
5. There is another Proportion-Air interface on the network.

A green dot indicates that the server is fully functional and can be selected for use.

Select the desire server by clicking on it. Once the server is selected, the tabs in the option box
will be populated with the information related to the selected server. Note that while the

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interface is used for several types of Proportion-Air servers, only the information that is valid
for the selected server will be accessible. Non-accessible fields will be grayed out.

IP Address Tab
The IP Address tab (see Figure 2) allows the user to set the desired network settings. To
change a server setting, enter the desired settings, and click the Apply button for the setting to
take effect.

The server has the option of getting a dynamic IP address assignment from a local server such
as DHCP, BootP, or AutoIP. If the dynamic IP address boxes are unchecked, the static IP
address fields will allow the entry of information for a static IP address.

If the Cancel button is pressed rather than the Apply button, the changes will not take effect.

Figure 2: IP Address Tab

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Defaults Tab
The defaults tab (see Figure 3) allows for setting the default parameters of the selected server.
Non-applicable fields will be grayed out. To change a value, enter the desired value and press
the Apply button. The default values do not take effect until after the user interface is booted
up and the server is powered up.

The explanations of the parameters are covered in a companion document titled Ethernet
Protocol Manual. In the Ethernet Protocol Manual, the Fault Timeout is called the relay
timeout. The Defaults Tab parameter ranges are listed in Table 1.

Figure 3 - Defaults Tab

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Parameter Range Default Settings in Server

Fault Pressure 0 to calibrated pressure 0
Fault Timeout (ms) 0 - 65000 0
Sample Rate (ms) 1 - 200 2
Sample Size 1 - 10000 3600
Heartbeat Timeout (ms) 50 – 65000 0
or 0 to disable

Table 1: Defaults Tab Parameters

Communication Tab
The Communication tab (see Figure 4) does not currently apply to the any servers.

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Figure 4: Communications Tab

E-NET Server Tab

When an E-Net server is selected from the server tree, the E-NET server tab will appear as
shown in Figure 5.

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Figure 5: E-NET Server Tab

Option Area
The Option Area (see the Blue box in Figure 5) allows the user to perform the following
operations:
1. Entering a desired output pressure in the Pressure field and pressing the Apply
button (in the Violet box in Figure 5) will set the server’s output pressure.
2. Pressing the Sample icon will update the Pressure field with the current
pressure value.
3. The Sample Size field controls the number of samples that can be logged at one
time. On power up, the default sample size is set in the Defaults tab, but it can
be overwritten in the Sample Size field.
4. Pressing the Download icon will create the data log and display it in the
Samples field as shown in the Brown box in Figure 5.

5. Pressing the Page icon will save the data log to a file that can be opened
with Excel or another spread sheet software. The data log is saved in comma
separated values (CSV) format and, therefore, can be imported into database
software of the user's choice.

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6. Toggling the Valve ON/OFF button enables or disables the inlet and exhaust
solenoid valves in the server. This might be helpful in troubleshooting for air
leaks. It also might be used for logging pressure readings without the readings
being affected by the solenoid valves actuating.
7. Pressing the Output 1 and Output 2 buttons will turn the selected server's
outputs ON or OFF.

Data Window
The Data Window (see the Brown box in Figure 5) is the data logging output window which
displays a log of the current pressure readings. The number of samples to be loaded can be set
in the Options area or the Defaults tab. The Sample Rate for data logging can be set in the
Defaults tab. As mentioned previously, this data log can be saved to a file to be used later.

Acceptance Area
The Acceptance Area (see the Violet box in Figure 5) allows the user to apply or cancel
settings made on the user interface.

Status Window
The Status Window (see the Black box in Figure 5) shows the current status of the server.
The Status Window shows from left to right: communication server, firmware revision, and
status message. The Status Window values for this server are as follows:

 Communication server value: X6.

 Firmware revision: ETHv2
 Status message: Status Message (For now this is a place holder)

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Appendix C: Trouble guide

Problem Possible Problem Solution

If it is not illuminated, check for a power
Cannot find server. There is no power to the server. problem.

There is no connection to the The server has a Network Status LED

network. (NS) that indicates if the server is
detecting the network. If the LED is not
illuminated the server is not properly
linked to the network.
• Check for a network cable
problem.

The server follows the standard network

wiring for industrial servers which does
not support Gigabyte switches.
• Use non-Gigabyte switches.
• Program the switch to default to
non-Gigabyte.

A router is between the server and The control panel uses broadcast
the programming computer. messages to detect the servers on the
network. In most cases, routers do not
pass broadcast messages.
• Make sure there are no routers
between the server being
programmed and the
programming computer.

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Problem Possible Problem Solution
This prevents the servers from properly
receiving messages.

In some cases with BOOTP, the server

sends a broadcast request (ARP) for an
IP address with its hardware address
(MAC) and its current IP address. The
returned assignment message is sent to
the current IP address. If there are
duplicate IP addresses on the network, it
is unknown what results will occur.

Add one server to the network at a time

and program that server to the desired IP
address, then add the next server and
repeat.

Cannot program There may be a duplicate IP This can happen if more than one server
server. address on the network. is added to the network at the same time
and a DHCP server is not available to,
assign addresses to the server.

When a server is added to the network, it

attempts to find a DHCP server to obtain
an IP address. If none is found, or the
DHCP server does not respond fast
enough, the server defaults to a
169.254.xxx.xxx address. If more than
one Proportion-Air server is added to the
network without a DHCP server to assign
an address, all the servers default to the
same 169.254.xxx.xxx address creating
duplicate IP addresses on the network.

Proportion-Air Inc.
8250 N 600 W, McCordsville, IN 46055
Toll Free: 877-745-3505
Fax: 317-335-3853
E-mail: info@proportionair.com
Website: https:// proportionair .com
Doc. Revision: B, June 22, 2017 Software Version 2 BoardRev4

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