[time-nuts] GPSDO standard interface?

[Tom Van Baak]

Bob,

A couple of different ideas:

1) No UI at all. The surplus GPSDO favorites over the years (like the HP SmartClock's and Trimble Thunderbolt) work with no UI. Yes, there is a PC program you can use to monitor and control it, or even debug it, but it is completely optional. Many GPSDO work out of the box. Maybe, like HP, have one green LED to say all-is-well.

2) A very simple 9600 baud command set that you can use with any terminal program. Adding LCD is fine too. But make sure everything on the LCD is also available over RS232. Not everyone wants to visually monitor the LCD of every piece of gear on their bench; let a PC log and archive all the data, check for problems, make plots, etc.

3) Mimic enough of HP's SCPI command set so that GPScon and other tools like that can be used, transparently. I forget if your GPSDO includes a receiver or not.

4) Mimic enough of Trimble's TSIP so that LH and other tools like that can be used, transparently.

Please write enough code so that the GPSDO, by default, can work "out of the box". I'm evaluating a prototype GPSDO right now that requires all sorts of user input just to get it started and to keep it going. That gets old. My bias is: time spent creating clever adaptive algorithms to make a human unnecessary is better than time spent creating an elaborate UI that requires a user (and operation manual) and constant monitoring or adjusting.

/tvb


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Stewart" <bob at evoria.net>
To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement" <time-nuts at febo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 5:10 PM
Subject: [time-nuts] GPSDO standard interface?


In an offline communication, I suddenly realized that I hadn't given any thought to the user interface for my GPSDO. Is there an accepted standard interface for GPSDOs, or is that a murky Microsoft-esque world of patents and lawyers?


Bob - AE6RV