Senstar Starcom Client

The Senstar Starcom integrated system provides Runtime the ability to use the Starcom protocol to communicate between Senstar security systems.

The client system is intended to act as a replacement to the Senstar 100. It communicates to Starcom devices and accepts input as states. A client system sends commands to set output states to the device points.

Setup

See the Data Servers page for information on configuring driver communication.

Compatibility

The Senstar Starcom integrated system is compatible with Senstar Starcom communication protocol v2.0.

Prerequisites

Software Version
IPFusion — Senstar Starcom 1.1
.NET Framework 4.7.2

When completing your setup, be sure to have the Senstar documentation available for reference.

Ports

These ports must be open in your network firewall for the integration to work.

Purpose Default Value Configurable
Communication Settings 80 Yes
Dataserver 9526 Yes
Debug Tools 9576 No

Communication Configuration

In the integrated system configuration panel, you will find the Communication Settings. The below information is required:

Table 1. Serial Connection
Port Name The name of a serial port used for communication to the endpoint device.
Baud Rate The rate at which information is transferred in a communication channel in bits per second.
Poll Frequency The frequency at which the state is checked in milliseconds.
Data Bits The number of bits used to represent one character of data.
Parity A parity bit is a bit added to a string of binary code to ensure the total number of one-bits in a string is even or odd.
  • Even Parity Bit — The total occurrence of one-bits are counted. If the count is odd the parity bit is set to one, making the total count of occurrences an even number. If the count is already even, the parity bit is set to zero.
  • Odd Parity Bit — The total occurrence of one-bits are counted. If the count is even, the parity bit is set to one, making the total count of occurrences an odd number. If the count is already odd the parity bit is set to zero.
  • Mark Parity Bit — If a bit is present that is dedicated as a parity bit, but is not used for parity, this bit is always set as one.
  • Space Parity Bit — If a bit is present that is dedicated as a parity bit, but is not used for parity, this bit is always set as zero.
Stop Bits The number of stop bits.
  • None — No stop bits are transmitted to indicate the end of a byte.
  • One — One stop bit is transmitted to indicate the end of a byte.
  • One Point Five — The stop bit is transferred for 150% of the normal time used to transfer one bit.
  • Two — Two stop bits are transmitted to indicate the end of a byte.
Handshake A method to prevent a flow that is too fast and overloading a receiver, thus preventing lost bytes and creating errors.
  • None — No handshake is established.
  • Request To Send — A hardware handshake that grants equipment permission to send data.
  • XON XOFF — A software handshake used to dynamically control the rate at which messages are received. When the unit's receiver buffer is full the XOFF message will be sent to cease transmission until all messages are buffered. When this process is complete an XON message will be sent to restart transmission.
  • Request To Send XON XOFF — Implements both hardware and software handshakes described above.
DTR Enabled Enables the Data Terminal Ready (DTR) signal during serial communication. DTR is typically enabled during XON/XOFF software handshaking and request to send/clear to send (RTS/CTS) hardware handshaking, and modem communications.
RTS Enabled Enables the request to send (RTS) signal is enabled during serial communication. The RTS signal is typically used in requests to RTS/CTS hardware handshaking.
Timeout (sec) The number of seconds that if the Senstar 100 does not receive any messages within the timeout period, it will declare a communication timeout alarm and display a no communication state.
Table 2. TCP/IP Connection
Port The port used to communicate with the Senstar Starcom server.
Note: Red X indicates an invalid or out of range value given for field.

Starcom Protocol Format

According to the Starcom Communications Protocol Version 2.0: Interface Specification, the data transmission format is as follows:
  • Baud rate can be set to 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600 baud
  • Eight data bits
  • No parity
  • One start bit
  • One stop bit

Assets

Input

An input asset is the representation of an input device in the Senstar Starcom system. When a input point is added to the driver instance it will store the entity in the collection and then send a alarm value request for that point. When the device responds with a alarm status value the status update will propagate to all connected Runtime instances. When an input point is added that already exists, it will get the current status of that point and send it back to the Runtime instances connected.

Required Property Grid Fields

Point The set point number to indicate which point the asset will be referring to. Senstar 100 can process a maximum of 1024 points per Starcom device. The point can range from 1–1024.

View all properties

Supported States

Fault An issue has been detected in a connected asset.
Masked The asset has been masked over its true state.
Acknowledged An asset alarm has been acknowledged.
No Communication Communication has been lost with the driver or asset. This status can also occur if the communication configuration for the system or asset is invalid.
Note: This status is required in all status tables.
Inactive The asset has no active alarms.
Tamper The asset is being tampered with.
Detection The asset has detected the alarm associated with the device.
Fail An issue has been detected in the Senstar system.

See the Configure a Status Table page for more information on configuring status tables.

Supported Commands

Mask Mask the asset's true state.
Acknowledge Acknowledge an asset alarm.
Reset Resets the asset to its true hardware state.
Cancel Deselects all selected assets.

See the Command Tables page for more information on configuring command tables.

Output

An output asset is the representation of an output device in the Senstar Starcom system. When a output point is added to the driver instance it will store the entity in the collection and then send a alarm value of zero to the device for that point. It will then need to send a status update to all connected Runtime instances. When an output point is added that already exists, it will get the current status of that point and send it back to the Runtime instances connected.

Required Property Grid Fields

Point The Set Point Number to indicate which point the asset will be referring to. Senstar 100 can process a maximum of 1024 points per Starcom device. The point can range from 1–1024.

View all properties

Supported States

Fault An issue has been detected in a connected asset.
Masked The asset has been masked over its true state.
Acknowledged An asset alarm has been acknowledged.
No Communication Communication has been lost with the driver or asset. This status can also occur if the communication configuration for the system or asset is invalid.
Note: This status is required in all status tables.
Inactive The asset has no active alarms.
Tamper The asset is being tampered with.
Active The asset has detected the alarm associated with the device.
Fail An issue has been detected in the Senstar system.

See the Configure a Status Table page for more information on configuring status tables.

Supported Commands

Mask Mask the asset's true state.
Acknowledge Acknowledge an asset alarm.
Reset Resets the asset to its true hardware state.
Cancel Deselects all selected assets.
Set Active Sets the asset to be in an active alarm detected state.
Set Inactive Sets the asset to be in an inactive state.
Set Tamper Sets the asset to be in a tampered state.

See the Command Tables page for more information on configuring command tables.

System Asset

The system asset is a representation of the connection state of the system.

View all properties

Supported States

Normal The asset is online and in its default state.
Masked The asset has been masked over its true state.
Fault An issue has been detected in a connected asset.
Acknowledged An asset alarm has been acknowledged.
No Communication Communication has been lost with the driver or asset. This status can also occur if the communication configuration for the system or asset is invalid.
Note: This status is required in all status tables.
Fail An issue has been detected in the Senstar system.

See the Configure a Status Table page for more information on configuring status tables.

Supported Commands

Mask Mask the asset's true state.
Acknowledge Acknowledge an asset alarm.
Reset Resets the asset to its true hardware state.
Cancel Deselects all selected assets.

See the Command Tables page for more information on configuring command tables.

Troubleshooting

Logs from the driver and Runtime can be viewed in the Debug Tools client. These messages contain information which can provide further context for issues during initialization, or while actively running. This can help diagnose problems.