A Low-cost Station for Packet Switched Communication with Distributed Devices
IA Parkin · 1980
This paper describes the design and operation of a send-receive station which is intended, when reproduced in numbers, to act as a specialised node in a local packet-switching network of ring configuration. The station has been designed with a particular type of application in mind; namely, one in which one or more computers (or microprocessors) are required to be connected, through a communication network, to a (large) number of simple process devices whose functions they monitor and control. The station has been designed as an answer-back mechanism which replies, to a fixed protocol, only when addressed and only to the station or processor which initiated the exchange. The intention, in so tailoring the operations of the station has been to minimise the cost of device connection.