remote connection to 9791 WSN gateway

[wreed]

RE: 9791 WSN gateway

I want to collect data from a WSN without having a computer  in the very remote field location.  For 1 measurement per minute, we don't need the power and cost of a RIO, or even a laptop at the remote location.

I want to use a 9791 gateway (with some 3202 WSN devices)  in a remote field location, directly connected to the internet via a satellite link.  I want to run a LabVIEW program on a computer back at the home office location.  I plan to collect remote data locally on a LabVIEW VI without having a computer in the remote location.

Since the 9791 won't be on my same network domain back at the home office, how do i get MAX to find the 9791 ?

I have only used the 9791 on a local network, where MAX auto-detect is, well, automatic.

William Reed

[PatJamSim]

Hello wreed,

To the best of my knowledge, there should be no difference when connecting to your gateway through the satellite link than through a typical router.  The gateway doesn't know the difference between a standard Ethernet connection and one that is traveling through satellite.  If you configure the gateway with a static IP address, you should be able to access that static IP from your host as long as the connection exists.  This is, of course, dependent on the hardware that supports the connection.  If the satellite link is configured similarly to a typical network router, then the router will have its own IP address that differs from the gateway, and you may have to set up a port forwarding system in order to establish a connection.  The router would need a global IP from an internet service provider.  You would then use the global IP in MAX to connect to the device, and set up the router to forward all data from MAX to the gateway using port forwarding.  Here is an article showing some common ports used by NI products.  For Ethernet discovery, MAX uses UDP port 44525.  There is a plethora of useful information available on the internet about port forwarding setups for routers through third party providers.

If you were using a 9792, then you would have more options.  You could program the 9792 to behave differently depending on the connection status, and could even take a different approach to taking your data.  You could store measurements in a text file and periodically FTP that file over to your host PC.  This way, you wouldn't have to connect to the device through MAX at all (except when initially programming the gateway, which could be done before deploying), which would simplify the process quite a bit.  FTP uses ports 20 and 21, I believe.

If you are looking for more specific information, unfortunately, I don't know how much more I can provide.  The satellite connection is not something I have ever worked with, and network topology is not explicitly supported by NI.  Hopefully some other forum-goer will have some useful input.  Good luck with your implementation.

[wreed · Accepted solution]

Thanks much - that really helps.

[RavensFan]

Then you should mark Patrick's message as the solution to your question rather than your own thank you message.  First you will need to go to the options menu to the upper right of your message to unmark it as the solution.