Overview

The LAN Bridge is the Ethernet & RS232 gateway for all devices connected via the CFLink bus. It has many advanced networking features, including the ability to communicate via TCP Server, TCP Client, UDP Unicast and UDP Broadcast, all at the same time.

10 different communication slots can be defined, each with its own configuration of protocol type, port, and other options. A maximum of 25 total TCP socket connections can be shared between each defined slot.

Rules Engine

All CFLink devices, including the CF Mini, support a powerful rule triggering engine. This allows you to trigger macros to run when a specific event occurs - such as reading a specific value via the I/O ports, or on incoming data via the RS232 port. Using the rules engine, you can setup basic or complex automation actions.

Advanced Communications

Communication slots can be subscribed to each other, allowing advanced configurations such as TCP Client multiplexing. In other words, Ethernet devices that accept only one connection at a time can be extended by using the LAN Bridge to be that single connection, and then act as a server for all other clients to connect to.

Passthrough Configurations

Communication slot subscriptions can also be targeted directly to a specific CFLink device on the bus, even as far as a module slot number for modular controllers. This allows you to send and receive communications to CFLink end points, such as an RS232 port, without any CFLink protocol formatting. Just send the data that you want to be received by the RS232 device.