AVA Firmware History

This is the firmware revision log for the AVA Products.

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AVA-E V3.1 Release Notes 9/28/2022

Boot: AVABoot_V104.hex
AVALoad: AVA_V31.hex
AVARevB: AVA_RevB.hex (AVA_V31_full.hex)
AVA: AVA_179.hex/AVA_V179.bin (no update)
ssUpgrade: AvaLAN_V15.bin

1. Changed the eeprom support routines to detect the part installed and use the appropriate protocol to save the config. Original part: 25LC512 New part: SST25VF512A

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These firmware versions correct a problem setting the preamp gain on the voice configuration web page and a problem with DATA port setup.

1.0 Recently a customer reported that he was unable to change the preamp gain on AVA's Local Voice Configuration web page. This long undiscovered problem was due to a routine meant to convert the web page drop down menu selection to a text string. AvaLAN V1.5 corrects this error, and Preamp Gain changes are properly recognized and saved.

While investigating an unrelated problem, we discovered that serial DATA port configuration (switch 2 UP) blocked the Configure LAN (CL) command. For some long forgotten reason, the current firmware forced the network to SYNC when DATA port configuration started, and the CL command is only valid when a LAN network is selected. AVA-E V3.0 corrects this problem. In the new version, the LAN configuration can be changed via the USB management port and the DATA port. Note that when DATA port setup is started, the data is forced to 9600. The last configured port speed is restored when switch 2 goes down.

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FXO Caller ID

Recently a customer reported that telco Caller ID (CID) was not passed from an AVA FXO input to a remote FXS output. Previous AVA versions did not enable FXO digital audio transmission until after the FXS port detected off-hook. Because CID is transmitted during ringing, that information was not transmitted. In V2.8 firmware, FXO digital audio transmission begins when ringing starts, and CID is now passed to the remote FXS telephone set.

Data Port Custom Rate

A customer who needed the ability to fine tune the data port serial rate to match an existing serial async device. To address this need, AVA V2.8 includes a new Custom Rate (CR) option in the USB management port Configure Port (CP) command.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
AT YOUR COMMAND >> CP

Config Port
----------------------------
Port Rate: 9600 bps
Parity: NONE (8N1)
Flow Control: NONE
Idle Timeout: 10 ms
DCD to RXD on holdoff: 0 ms (DCD FORCED ON)

New Rate? [1200 2400 4800 9600 19200 38400 57600 CR(custom rate)] >> CR
New rate? [now: 7200] >> 6400
New Parity? [NONE EVEN ODD] >>
New Flow Control? [RTS XON NONE] >>
New Idle Timeout? [0 - 250 ms] >>
New DCD to RXD Holdoff? [1 - 250 ms; 0=DCD ON] >>

Port Rate: 6400 bps (custom rate)
Parity: NONE (8N1)
Flow Control: NONE
Idle Timeout: 10 ms
DCD to RXD on holdoff: 0 ms (DCD FORCED ON)

AT YOUR COMMAND >> SP

Port Rate: 6400 bps (custom rate)
Parity: NONE (8N1)
Flow Control: NONE
Idle Timeout: 10 ms
DCD to RXD on holdoff: 0 ms (DCD FORCED ON)

AT YOUR COMMAND >> 
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Input/Output Gain Setup

In all previous AVA-E firmware releases, the audio input and output gain could be set to any value between -42dB and +20dB via the USB control port. The Voice Config web page, however, only allowed a few specific gain values between -9dB and +3dB. Unfortunately, the setting on the web page overrode the USB setting if anything on the Voice Config web page was changed. In AVA-E V2.6 and AvaLAN V1.3 the gain settings on the web page are changed from a pull-down menu to a direct entry text box. With this change, saving the web page configuration does not override the USB port settings.

Because AvaLAN firmware had to be modified to support direct entry of the input and output gains, AvaLAN V1.3 will only work with AVA-E V2.6 and later firmware. However, AVA-E V2.6 automatically detected the AvaLAN firmware version, and it works correctly with both AvaLAN V1.2 and V1.3 firmware. In other words, a current customer can update to AVA-E V2.6 without having to also update AvaLAN firmware.

Configure Network

In previous AVA-E firmware releases, a test was performed to detect the AvaLAN module at every system reset. We learned that some customers were experiencing a fallback to an async network even though the AvaLAN module was installed and active. To prevent this problem in the future, AVA-E V2.6 no longer detects the presence of the LAN module, and the customer must switch from LAN to serial using the Configure Network (CN) USB command.

DVSI interrupt hang

We discovered that the audio on some of the more recent AVA-E boards would quit working when the input or output gain was changed when running 64K PCM mode. Not all boards showed the same problem; some failed on increased input gain and others on a change in output gain. When this occurred, the DVSI 20ms interrupt had stopped. To recover from this problem, AVA-E V2.6 and AVA V1.76 include a new counter that is incremented in the DVSI interrupt. Under normal conditions, the interrupt occurs 50 times per second. If the interrupt count falls below 20 per second for about 3 seconds, a hard reset is forced. With this addition, AVA recovers automatically when the DVSI interrupt hangs.

Voice Config error

While testing new firmware, it was unable to switch from FXS Always Off-hook to Normal on the Voice Config web page. Switching from E&M Controlled to Normal also failed. AVA-E V2.6 fixes this problem.

Voice Config ID

In earlier AVA-E firmware versions, it is not possible to set an ID string longer than 15 characters even though the USB port allows a 16 character ID. AVA-E V2.6 fixes this problem.

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NEW FEATURES

For some time AVA has had the ability to transmit from one E&M port to many remote ports by enabling the M-controls transmit option. Recently, a customer asked about doing something similar using standard telephone sets. When Dick tested a network of three AVA-E units, he found that going off-hook rang both remote phones, however when one of them answered, the other continued to ring. In addition, the telephone that first went off-hook could not hear voice from the answering phone. This problem was caused by the protocol control messages that generate the ring-back tone.

AVA V2.5 adds a new protocol control message to silence all telephone ringing when one answering phone goes off-hook. For example, consider a network of three AVA-E units where each unit is configured with the IP addresses of the other two units. When telephone A goes off-hook, telephones B and C start ringing. If telephone B goes off-hook to answer, telephone C will stop ringing, and the voice call between A and B is established. Two-way voice is possible between any two telephones in this network.

The V2.5 (V1.75) firmware is fully compatible with earlier AVA firmware. However, any customer wanting to use the AVA one to many FXS operation must use the V2.5 firmware.

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For E&M M input:
  M input on pin 7 (-48V is ON, open circuit is OFF)
  M return on pin 1 or 8

For MIC PTT input:
  PTT input on pin 8 (short to pin 1 is ON, open circuit is OFF)
  PTT return on pin 1

For remote AVA's E&M E output:
  E output on pin 2 (ON is a short to pin 1 and 8, OFF is open circuit)
  E return on pin 1 or 8

To turn ON the PTT input, the external equipment must short pin 8 to
signal ground on pin 1.  No voltage should be applied to this input.
The open circuit voltage on PTT is +3.3V, and the short circuit current
is less than 0.5 ma.

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In previous AvaLAN firmware releases, the serial port setup option #6 did not display the last remote IP address when 5 remote IP address were configured. This problem was the result of a routine that expected the maximum number of remote ports to be an even number. In AvaLAN V1.2 the remote IP addresses are listed in a single column, and up to 5 remote IP addresses are displayed.

2.0 NEW FEATURES

In previous AvaLAN firmware versions, an unreachable remote IP address caused the voice port to become unusable. This problem was the result of an ARP routine that forced a long delay when a packet was sent to an unknown remote IP address. In AvaLAN V1.2 the ARP routine was changed to eliminate the long delay, and voice traffic is no longer affected by unreachable remote IP addresses.

The Configure Voice (CV) command was changed to ask for voice port as the first prompt after the CV voice configuration summary. If the voice port changes, the previous gain settings for the new port are restored, and a new voice summary is presented before CV presents the gain prompts. This change corrects a problem in AVA V2.0(V1.7) where the gains changed earlier in the CV command were discarded if the voice port changed. It also corrects a problem in AVA V2.1 where the previous gains were never restored.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> CV

  Config Voice
  ----------------------------
  Interface:    FXS
  Preamp gain:  +0 dB
  Input gain:   -3 dB
  Output gain:  -3 dB
  Voice rate:   3600
  Jitter delay: 140 ms

  New Interface? [1=FXS 2=MIC-PTT 3=E&M] >> 3

  Interface:    E&M
  Preamp gain:  +0 dB
  Input gain:   +0 dB
  Output gain:  +0 dB
  Voice rate:   3600
  Jitter delay: 140 ms

  Use M-input to control transmit? [Y/N] >>
  New Preamp gain? [0 +6 +12 +24 dB] >>
  New Input gain? [-9 -6 -3 0 +3 dB] >>
  New Output gain? [-9 -6 -3 0 +3 dB] >>
  New Voice rate? [2250 2400 3600 4800 6400 8000 9600 ADPCM PCM] >>
  New Jitter delay? [40 - 1000 ms] >>

  Interface:    E&M
  Preamp gain:  +0 dB
  Input gain:   +0 dB
  Output gain:  +0 dB
  Voice rate:   3600
  Jitter delay: 140 ms

  Wait for reset...

3. The factory default MIC-PTT port gain settings were changed in AVA V2.2(V1.72) from +24dB/+0dB/+0dB to +24dB/+3dB/+3dB.

In previous AVA firmware versions, the maximum voice jitter delay setting was 1000ms. When AVA is set for PCM voice, however, 1000ms exceeds the amount of available voice sample buffer memory. In AVA V2.2(V1.72) the maximum allowed jitter delay is 600ms. The other voice rates continue to allow a maximum jitter delay of 1000ms.

A new MI command has been added to SW2 UP Data Port Setup commands to automatically switch the voice port to the MIC-PTT port for production testing.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> MI

  Switch to MIC-PTT input

  Interface:    MIC-PTT
  Preamp gain:  +0 dB
  Input gain:   +0 dB
  Output gain:  +0 dB
  Voice rate:   3600

  Wait for reset...

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In the AvaLAN V1.0 firmware, we an E&M problem sometimes caused the voice transmit channel to fail when AVA was power cycled. The symptoms were TX and RX activity indicators both lit but no receive audio appeared at the remote AVA E&M audio output. This problem was caused by a serial port buffer overflow condition that was not detected in the V1.0 release. In V1.1 the overflow is detected and cleared. Note that this problem typically occurred only in E&M mode where transmit audio was active at power up time.

In V1.0 when E&M was active the DCD indicator frequently stayed OFF after a hardware reset even though the LAN was connected. In V1.1 the DCD indicator always turns ON after a hardware reset when the LAN is connected.

The Configuration Summary web page sometimes presented a corrupted AVA firmware version or AVA ID string. This problem was caused by an error in the routine that decoded the AVA to LAN module configuration information. Because of this error, the decoder was always reading bytes beyond the end of the configuration packet. V1.1 repairs this error.

NEW FEATURES

In the previous firmware versions, the Configuration Summary page showed the FXS "Normal" or "Always off-hook" setting and the E&M "Always ON" of "M-Control" setting regardless which Voice Mode was selected. In V1.1 the FXS and E&M settings are shown only when the corresponding mode is selected.

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V 2.1 includes changes that allow better production testing.

In previous firmware versions separate gain settings were stored for each voice input. As a result, when CV changed the voice input, the last settings for that port were restored even if those saved gains did not match the values shown in the initial CV command summary. In V2.1, the gains shown in the CV summary are the gains assigned to the new voice input if the voice port is changed. In other words, the gains shown in the initial CV summary are the gains applied to the new voice port selection.

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1.0 NEW FEATURES

1. AVA V2.0 requires a LAN module running AvaLAN V1.0 firmware for LAN access. V2.0 automatically checks for the LAN module, and it will switch to the serial network port if the module is not detected.

2. When powered up for the first time, the AVA LAN module defaults to an IP address of 192.168.0.1 like other DCB products. AVA LAN configuration can be modified using the USB port on AVA and the Connect LAN (CL) command. This serial port connection mimics the Etherpoll serial port menu driven setup. After the IP is changed to make it compatible with the local LAN, AVA configuration can be performed using a web browser.

3. Even with the LAN module installed, AVA voice and data port configuration can be changed via the USB serial port.

4. The AVA LAN web pages and help pages have been updated for AVA use. All voice parameters, data port settings and AVA ID can be modified via web access.

5. Telnet access to AVA LAN is available at port 8000. Note that telnet access does not include any AVA setup options at present.

6. The Configuration Summary web page shows the voice, data port and network configuration settings. This page includes two firmware version numbers. "AVA Firmware" refers to the firmware running on the AVA board itself, and "LAN Firmware" is the firmware running in the SE1001T AVA LAN module.

7. The USB port Show Config (SC) and Show Network (SN) commands will show the local IP address and port number.

UPDATE PROCESS

There are now two different AVA hardware baseboards: Rev A and the new Rev B board with the LAN module option.

AVA Rev A continues to use a single firmware update file that is programmed using AvaLoad.exe via the USB or serial data port. The latest version for Rev A is V1.71 in file AVA_V171.HEX.

AVA Rev B requires two different update files, one for AVA and a second for the LAN module. AVA Rev B is loaded using AvaLoad.exe via the USB or serial data port. The latest version for Rev B is V2.0 in file AVA_V20.HEX.

The LAN module is programmed using ssUpgrade.exe programmer via the LAN port. It does not matter which file is loaded first.

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This version fixes a recently identified network protocol handler problem.

1.0 NEW FEATURES

1. When using Etherpoll units to connect two AVA units through an ethernet network, it is likely that some AVA network packets will be corrupted when network congestion is high. In previous AVA firmware versions, a corrupted packet block length could cause AVA to appear to hang due to an invalid packet length. The problem was that any length greater than 32767 would be considered valid because it was treated as a negative number. V1.7 fixes this problem.

2. Previous AVA versions did not allow an ID string to contain an upper case 'U' character. This limitation came about because a sequence of 'U' characters is used to signal the start of an AVALoad.exe firmware update session. In V1.7 the check for 'U' is suspended until after a new ID has been entered.

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1.0 NEW FEATURES

This version adds separate input and output gain settings for all voice input modes.

In all previous firmware versions, the preamp, input and output gain setting defaults were all set to +0dBm. One set of gain settings was used for all voice input modes. Based on his experience, it was determined that AVA should use different default gain levels for FXS and FXO operating modes. +0dBm is not the best default setting for all modes.

In AVA V1.6 firmware, the preamp, input and output gain settings are set for each voice input mode and stored separately in configuration memory. With this change, the factory default settings for each mode are as shown in the table below:

Factory Default Gain Settings

  Mode  Preamp  Input  Output
  ----  ------  -----  ------
  FXS   +0dBm   -3dBm  -3dBm
  FXO   +0      -6     -6
  PTT   +24     +0     +0
  E&M   +0      +0     +0

When the voice input mode is changed using the Configure Voice (CV) command, the last gain settings for that mode are restored from configuration memory. Any changes made to the gain settings effect only the currently selected voice input mode.

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1.0 NEW FEATURES

1.1 New E&M M-input Control

AVA V1.5 adds a new M-input controlled E&M voice mode. In previous firmware versions, the E&M audio channels are always active. A customer suggested that it would be useful to include an E&M mode that worked much like PTT where analog voice transmission occurred only when the M input (E&M pin 7) was driven to -48V (off-hook) relative to E&M Ground (E&M pin 1). The Configure Voice (CV) command enables and disables M-input control mode when E&M is selected, and the Show Voice (SV) and Show Configuration (SC) commands show the status.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> CV

  Config Voice
  ----------------------------
  Preamp gain:  +0 dB
  Input gain:   +0 dB
  Output gain:  +0 dB
  Voice rate:   3600
  Interface:    FXS
  Jitter delay: 140 ms

  New Preamp gain? [0 +6 +12 +24 dB] >>
  New Input gain? [-9 -6 -3 0 +3 dB] >>
  New Output gain? [-9 -6 -3 0 +3 dB] >>
  New Voice rate? [2250 2400 3600 4800 6400 8000 9600 ADPCM PCM] >>
  New Interface? [1=FXO 2=MIC-PTT 3=E&M] >> 3
  Use M-input to control transmit? [Y/N] >> Y
  New Jitter delay? [40 - 1000 ms] >>

  Preamp gain:  +0 dB
  Input gain:   +0 dB
  Output gain:  +0 dB
  Voice rate:   3600
  Interface:    E&M (M-input controls transmit)
  Jitter delay: 140 ms

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>

The factory default is M-input control disabled.

1.2 New FXO Ringing Frequency Measurement

AVA V1.5 now measures the period of the telco line ringing voltage and displays the corresponding frequency in the Show Status (SS) summary when FXO is enabled.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> SS

  Voice Status
  ------------------------
  FXO interface enabled
  FXO is on-hook
  FXO ring freq: 25 Hz

  E&M input is on-hook
  E&M output is on-hook

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>

The ringing period is measured to the nearest 1 ms, and the frequency is calculated from the period measurement. Until the first FXO port ringing is detected, the status will show waiting:

  Voice Status
  ------------------------
  FXO interface enabled
  FXO is on-hook
  FXO ring freq: (waiting for first call)

With the new ring detector, AVA has a more robust ring detection algorithm than previous versions. A valid ringing voltage can exhibit any period from 20ms (50Hz) to 59ms (17Hz).

1.3 New Voice Port Off-hook Counters

Counters have been added to AVA V1.5 to record the number of times the port goes off-hook. The Activity Counter (AC) command displays the local and remote port counts for the enabled voice port.

For FXS, AC shows the local and remote FXS or FXO off-hook counts.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> AC

  Activity Counts
  ----------------------------
  Network TX out = 2
  Network RX in  = 0
    RX Errors    = 0

  Data TX in  = 0
    TX Errors = 0
    Overflow  = 0
  Data RX out = 0

  Voice TX in  = 0
  Voice RX out = 0
    Underflow  = 0

  Remote connects = 0

  Local FXS off-hook count  = 0
  Remote FXS off-hook count = 0

  Last cleared 0 days, 00:00:55 ago.
  AVA up time: 0 days, 00:00:55

  NOTE: Use Z command to Zero activity counters.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>

If the remote AVA has the FXO port enabled, the AC summary shows the
remote FXO off-hook count after the first time the FXO port rings or
goes off-hook.

  Activity Counts
  ----------------------------
  ...
  Remote connects = 0

  Local FXS off-hook count  = 3
  Remote FXO off-hook count = 1


For FXO, AC shows the remote FXS and local FXO off-hook counts.  FXS is
listed first because the local FXO port cannot go off-hook without a
command from the remote FXS port.

  Activity Counts
  ----------------------------
  ...
  Remote connects = 0

  Remote FXS off-hook count = 3
  Local FXO off-hook count  = 3


For E&M, AC shows the M-input and E-output off-hook counts.

  Activity Counts
  ----------------------------
  ...
  Remote connects = 0

  Local E&M off-hook count  = 0
  Remote E&M off-hook count = 0

The AC command shows only off-hook counts since we know that there cannot be an off-hook without a subsequent on-hook.

1.4 New FXO Off-hook Idle Timeout

Using the AVAs installed at Russ? home and office, we discovered that the excessive FXS port switch hook activity at the home AVA frequently caused the office AVA FXO port to hang in an off-hook state. Although I was not able to isolate what set of conditions caused this error, I added a new idle timer to the correct the problem when it is detected.

In AVA V1.5 firmware the voice receive packet count is checked every 10 seconds when the local FXO port is off-hook. If no packets have been received in the past 10 seconds, the FXO port is forced on-hook. Whenever the remote FXS port is off-hook, voice packets will flow to the local AVA unit. If the packets stop unexpectedly, a network break or some other error has blocked the FXS on-hook command. A new counter in the Buffer Status (BS) command summary shows the number of times an FXO idle timeout was detected.

1.5 New AVA Up Time

AVA V1.5 includes a new run time clock that is cleared by a power cycle or sanity timer reset. This counter is normally used to display how long since the AVA units were reset. Once I added the runtime clock, it was simple to keep track of the last time the activity counts were cleared with the Z command.

AVA up time and the last counter clear time are included at the end of the AC and BS commands.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> AC

  Activity Counts
  ----------------------------
  Network TX out = 150
  Network RX in  = 104
    RX Errors    = 0

  Data TX in  = 0
    TX Errors = 0
    Overflow  = 0
  Data RX out = 0

  Voice TX in  = 379
  Voice RX out = 200
    Underflow  = 2

  Remote connects = 0

  Local FXS off-hook count  = 3
  Remote FXO off-hook count = 2

  Counts were cleared 0 days, 00:05:15 ago.
  AVA up time: 0 days, 00:25:11

  NOTE: Use Z command to Zero activity counters.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>


Run time is also displayed by the Type (TY) and Time (TI) commands.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> TY

  Type: Analog Voice Adapter (AVA)
  Ver:  V1.5  7/18/2012
  Boot: V1.4
  ID:   AVA 2

  AVA up time: 0 days, 00:28:07

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> TI

  AVA up time: 0 days, 00:29:08

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>

1.6 New Buffer Status (BS) Summary

The Buffer Status (BS) command is a hidden command present in many DCB products to display buffer pointers, state machine variables and other trouble shooting information. The BS command is not a customer friendly command, nor is it intended to be.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> BS

  Buffer Status
  ----------------------------
  AVA V1.5  7/18/2012  ID: AVA 1

  --- State Vars ---
  port2_in_state=0  port2_inbuf_in=0  _out=0
  port2_out_state=0  port2_outbuf_in=0  _out=0
  port2_flow_state=2

  dvsi_rx_state=0  dvsi_pkt_inbuf_in=0  _out=0
  ndvsi_tx_state=0  dvsi_pkt_outbuf_in=128  _out=128
  dvsi_outbuf_state=0  dvsi_outbuf_fill=0
  voice_jitter_level=7

  net_rx_state=0  nPort1RXINT=1
  net_tx_state=0  nPort1TXINT=0

  voice_mode_select=1  voice_ctrl_state=0

  --- Voice Port Counts ---
  loc_fxs_offhook_cnt=0
  loc_fxo_offhook_cnt=0
  loc_fxo_idle_timeout=0

  rem_fxs_offhook_cnt=0  _onhook_cnt=0
  rem_fxo_offhook_cnt=0  _onhook_cnt=0

  loc_ptt_on_cnt=0
  rem_ptt_on_cnt=0  _off_cnt=0

  loc_em_offhook_cnt=0
  rem_em_offhook_cnt=0  _onhook_cnt=0

  --- Time ---
  Counts were cleared 0 days, 00:13:26 ago.
  AVA up time: 0 days, 00:14:23

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>

  This command is to  used in cooperation with DCB support personnel. 

The State Variable section shows the current state variables and buffer in and out counts for the voice and network ports. The variable names match actual names in the code and will not mean much to anyone other than a software developer.

The Voice Port Counts section is a set of counters that record the number of off- and on-hook actions for each voice port. The loc_ and rem_ off-hook counts are the counts displayed in the AC command. Even though the AC command shows only the active voice port, all of the counts are saved in different variables. The local counts keep track of local physical ports while the remote counts are incremented based on the remote network commands received. All of these counts are cleared with the Z command. Note that the first line in the Time section shows how long it has been since the counts were cleared.

2.0 Corrected Errors

While testing the firmware after V1.4 was released, some minor problems were discovered.

2.1 Serial Port Flow Control Refresh

Every 30 seconds AVA refreshes the data port flow control status if the port flow is ON. This is a display field. A problem was discovered due to the way the C compiler converted between between 16- and 32-bit numbers. In V1.5, a 30 second timer is decremented every 1 second to avoid a display problem.

2.2 Voice Underflow Count

The AC command includes a Voice Underflow count which keeps track of the number of times the voice jitter buffer empties. In normal operation this number should show 0. In fact, underflow occurs at the end of every voice call when the remove voice packets stop. The code decrements this count at the end of all voice calls to account for the intentional underflow increment.

The count was decrementing past 0, and the resulting negative number was displayed in the AC summary as a positive number. This problem is corrected in V1.5 firmware.

2.3 AC Number Format

When the error noted in the previous section appeared,it was mistakenly showing all of the activity counts as signed rather than unsigned numbers. As a result, there may be cases in V1.4 firmware where the underflow count is displayed as a negative number. In V1.5 all counts are displayed as unsigned numbers.

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This version adds PCM and ADPCM voice rates to the compressed voice rates and includes a new Test Tools menu with port monitor commands.

1.1 New Digital Voice Features

AVA V1.4 includes two new digital voice rates: ADPCM (32Kbps) and PCM (64Kbps). Note that ADPCM requires a network rate of 57600 or faster, and PCM requires a network rate of 115200 or faster.

The Configure Voice (CV) and Configure Network (CN) commands now include a warning message if the voice rate is too fast for the network ASYNC rate. It is up to the customer to make sure the network rate is high enough for the selected voice rate.

In CV, the following message is issued: WARNING: PCM (64K) voice rate is too fast for 57,600 network port rate!

In CN, the following message is issued: WARNING: 57,600 network port rate is too slow for PCM (64K) voice rate!

When the CV command changes the voice mode to or from ADPCM/PCM, AVA will reset after showing the new configuration. The hardware reset is necessary to ensure that the new voice rate is properly handled.

When the CV command changes the configured voice interface, AVA will reset after showing the new configuration. The hardware reset is necessary to ensure that the new voice interface is properly initialized. Note that changing the FXS/FXO hardware jumper also forces a hardware reset after the jumper is moved.

1.2 New Configure Network Features

The Configure Network (CN) command now includes a new ASYNC rate: 230,400 bps.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> CN

  Config Network
  ----------------------------
  Network: ASYNC - 57,600 bps

  New ASYNC or SYNC network? [A/S] >> A
  New Rate? [4800 9600 19200 38400 57600 115200 230400] >> 23

  Network: ASYNC - 230,400 bps

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>


AVA V1.4 measures the SYNC network rate when the CN, SN, CV, SV and SC
commands are executed.  The SYNC rate is determined by counting the
number of NULL characters that can be transmitted in a 125ms period and
multiplying that count by 80 for the actual SYNC rate.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> SN

  Network: SYNC - 64000 bps

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>

1.3 New Test Tools Menu

AVA V1.4 includes a Test Tools menu much like TT in our SR products.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> TT

  Test Tools
  ---------------------------
  Monitor Data Port:
    RX/TX.............MR/MT
    RX/TX in HEX......MRH/MTH
  Show RS232..........SR

  Round Trip Delay....RTD

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>

The MR and MT commands are independent, and they can be active at the
same time to show both RX and TX characters.  Normal and hex displays
can be mixed, as well.  The [TX] and [RX] direction indicator is
displayed to show whether the characters were captured from the serial
port TXD input or RXD output.  Two ESC characters end serial port
monitor.  Note that the monitor commands are not available remotely.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> MT

  Monitor data port: TX - Press ESC-ESC to quit.
  [TX]test message

  Stop port monitor

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> MTH

  Monitor data port: TX(HEX) - Press ESC-ESC to quit.
  [TX]74 65 73 74 20 6D 65 73 73 61 67 65

  Stop port monitor

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>

The Show SR (SR) command displays a snap shot of the control signals on
the local data port.  The SR command is available remotely.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> SR

  Data Port RS232: RTS(8)-HI  CTS(7)-HI  DTR(3)-HI  DCD(2)-HI DSR(1)-HI

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>

1.4 New System Error Reporting

In the previous firmware releases, the hopefully infrequent runtime errors simply forced a hardware reset. In V1.4 a diagnostic message and the address that caused the error are sent to the network management port. This error report is something that no customer should see, but it is useful for in-house testing.

----------

This version adds remote control to the network management port and an “always off-hook” option to the FXS and FXO interfaces.

----------------------------------------------------

  AT YOUR COMMAND >> CR 
  Connect to remote AVA... 

  CONNECTED to remote AVA 
  ----------------------- 

  Analog Voice Adapter (AVA) V1.3 

  REMOTE COMMAND [EXIT to disconnect] >> TY 

  Type: Analog Voice Adapter (AVA) 
  Ver:  V1.3  09/14/2011 
  Boot: V1.4 
  ID:   AVA1 

  REMOTE COMMAND [EXIT to disconnect] >> EX

  Disconnect remote AVA...
  Remote AVA DISCONNECTED

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>
----------------------------------------------------

When the connection is active, the normal AYC prompt is replaced by the
prompt shown above.  All normal AVA configuration commands can be
entered after the prompt, and the command is transmitted to the remote
mux.

1.2 All commands are available remotely except for CN, CR, RTD and !R.
These commands return a "Not allowed" error message.

----------------------------------------------------
  REMOTE COMMAND [EXIT to disconnect] >> CR
  Not allowed!

  REMOTE COMMAND [EXIT to disconnect] >> RTD
  Not allowed!

  REMOTE COMMAND [EXIT to disconnect] >>
----------------------------------------------------

1.3 The CR command returns an error message if the connection does not occur within 5 seconds.

----------------------------------------------------
  AT YOUR COMMAND >> CR
  Connect to remote AVA...

  Remote AVA did not respond!

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>
----------------------------------------------------

1.4 The remote command connection has a 30 second idle timeout. If there is no activity for 30 seconds, the remote AVA is disconnected, and the local management port returns to the AYC prompt.

----------------------------------------------------
  REMOTE COMMAND [EXIT to disconnect] >>

  TIMEOUT! Remote AVA disconnected

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>
----------------------------------------------------

1.5 The CR command is supported only under AVA V1.3 and later firmware. If CR is entered on an AVA running V1.3 firmware and the remote AVA is running V1.2, the command will fail to connect.

1.6 Unknown network management port commands now return "What?"

1.7 The Activity Counter summary includes a new entry to show the number of times remote control has been activated.

----------------------------------------------------
  AT YOUR COMMAND >> AC

  Activity Counts
  ----------------------------
  Network TX out = 6
  Network RX in  = 9
    RX Errors    = 0

  Data TX in  = 0
    TX Errors = 0
    Overflow  = 0
  Data RX out = 0

  Voice TX in  = 0
  Voice RX out = 0
    Underflow  = 0

  Remote connects = 4

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>
----------------------------------------------------

1.8 A new Round Trip Delay (RTD) command is now included to measure the transport delay between the local and remote AVA muxes. The delay is rounded to the nearest 1 ms, and the delay cannot be 0 ms.

----------------------------------------------------
  AT YOUR COMMAND >> RTD
  Measure Round Trip Delay...

  Round Trip Delay is 1 ms.

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>
----------------------------------------------------

1.9 The Help (H, ?) summary includes the new commands. The !R, CR and RTD commands do not appear when help is displayed on a remote AVA mux since those commands are not allowed.

----------------------------------------------------
  AT YOUR COMMAND >> H

  Command Summary
  -------------------------
  Config/Show:
    Network...........CN/SN
    Port..............CP/SP
    Voice.............CV/SV
  Show Config.........SC
  Show Status.........SS
  Activity/Zero.......AC/Z
  ID..................ID
  Type................TY
  Reset...............RE
  Load Defaults.......!R

  Connect Remote......CR
  Round Trip Delay....RTD

  Repeat Last Cmd.....*
  Help................H,?

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>
----------------------------------------------------

1.10 A new "Always off-hook" option has been added to the FXS voice port configuration. The Always off-hook option is only displayed in the Show Voice (SV) summary when it is enabled, as shown below. When always off-hook the AVA mux sends voice data continuously, even if the attached telephone is on-hook.

----------------------------------------------------
  AT YOUR COMMAND >> CV

  Config Voice
  ----------------------------
  Preamp gain:  +0 dB
  Input gain:   +0 dB
  Output gain:  +0 dB
  Voice rate:   3600 bps
  Interface:    FXS
  Jitter delay: 140 ms

  New Preamp gain? [0 +6 +12 +24 dB] >>
  New Input gain? [-9 -6 -3 0 +3 dB] >>
  New Output gain? [-9 -6 -3 0 +3 dB] >>
  New Voice rate? [2250 2400 3600 4800 6400 8000 9600] >>
  New Interface? [1=FXS 2=MIC-PTT 3=E&M] >>
  Always off-hook on FXS interface? [Y/N] >> Y
  New Jitter delay? [40 - 1000 ms] >>

  Preamp gain:  +0 dB
  Input gain:   +0 dB
  Output gain:  +0 dB
  Voice rate:   3600 bps
  Interface:    FXS (Always off-hook)
  Jitter delay: 140 ms

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>
----------------------------------------------------

1.11 The Show Voice Status (SS) command now shows "always off hook" for the FXS status when that option is enabled. Previously, this status line showed the actual hook status of the local phone.

----------------------------------------------------
  AT YOUR COMMAND >> SS

  AVA Voice Status
  ------------------------
  FXS interface enabled
  FXS always off-hook

  E&M input is on-hook
  E&M output is on-hook

  AT YOUR COMMAND >>
----------------------------------------------------

1.12 In the next AVA hardware reversion, a LAN interface module will be connected to the second internal serial port. To test that hardware, new tests were added to the factory test program.

This firmware requires AVA boot block V1.4.

----------

AVA Serial VERSION 1.1 6/27/2011

1.0 INTRODUCTION

AVA V1.1 is the initial firmware release for this new product.

For each version release, two files are provided - the full flash image and a hex update file.

AVA_V11.BIN - Full flash image (for AVABoot.bat)
AVA_V11.HEX - Update file (for AVALoad.exe)

The full flash image file, AVA_V11.BIN, is intended for internal DCB production use only to program AVA boards the first time. The programming pod must be connected to the AVA J2 header, and the batch file AVABoot.bat is executed.

The AVA_V11.HEX update file is used by AVALoad.exe to upgrade any already programmed AVA unit. AVALoad works through the USB port or the serial data port, and it automatically detects the AVA board when the loader starts. To use the serial port, the AVA unit must be reset with the red reset button. The update file does not change the boot loader code in the AVA unit since it is in a write-protected flash sector. AVALoad and the TY command show the current AVA boot loader version; V1.4 is the latest boot loader version.

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