Pro-Bel SW-P-08 protocol for router control is supported in Helm, RouteMaster and RouteMaster-NDI.
RouteMaster uses the protocol for both outgoing and incoming connections, allowing third-party systems using SW-P-08 to control RouteMaster. Helm uses it for outgoing connections to control routers.
Use over TCP/IP
SW-P-08 over IP frequently uses TCP port 2008, but is not fixed.
Matrix and Level addressing
Helm and RouteMaster support 32 levels. For incoming connection the Matrix field is ignored. For outgoing connections the Matrix
property determines the matrix to be addressed
Supported and Required Commands
This table details the commands used for outgoing connections, and the commands supported for incoming connections.
Command | Outgoing | Incoming | Notes |
CROSSPOINT INTERROGATE, TALLY | Yes | Yes | |
CROSSOINT CONNECT, CONNECTED | Yes | Yes | RouteMaster sends CONNECTED to all clients when matrix state changes |
PROTECT INTERROGATE, TALLY | Yes | Yes | |
PROTECT CONNECT, CONNECTED | Yes | Yes | RouteMaster sends CONNECTED to all clients when matrix state changes |
PROTECT DISCONNECT,DISCONNECTED | Yes | Yes | |
CROSSPOINT TALLY DUMP, RESPONSE | Yes | Yes | From RouteMaster 2.3.1 and Helm 4.8.2 onwards. Used instead of INTERROGATE if TallyDump property is true. RouteMaster always replies to a CROSSPOINT TALLY DUMP message with the CROSSPOINT TALLY DUMP (WORD) response, using code 0x23 |
PROTECT TALLY DUMP,RESPONSE | Yes | Yes | From RouteMaster 2.3.1 and Helm 4.8.2 onwards. Used instead of INTERROGATE if TallyDump property is true. |
ALL SOURCE NAMES, RESPONSE | Yes | Yes | |
ALL DESTINATION ASSOCIATION NAMES, RESPONSE | Yes | Yes | 4, 8 or 12 character names are supported in all versions. For outgoing connections the NameLength property controls the length requested. Values are “Short, “Medium”,”Long”,”Long16″ and”Long32″. 16 and 32 variants require RouteMaster 2.3.1 and Helm 4.8.2 onwards. Names reported by RouteMaster are truncated/padded to fit the requested length. |
CROSSPOINT GO GROUP SALVO | Yes | Yes |
Extended Commands
Extended versions of all the CROSSPOINT, PROTECT and NAMES commands are supported
Special Properties
For outgoing connections, the following properties can be set directly in Helm Designer, or in the RouteMaster configuration file.
NameLength |
“Short, “Medium”, “Long”, “Long16″ and”Long32” | Selects 4,8,12, 16 or 32 character names. 16 and 32 variants require RouteMaster 2.3.1 and Helm 4.8.2 onwards. |
Matrix |
0-255 | Matrix to address |
TallyDump |
true/false | If true, TALLY DUMP messages are sent on connection instead of a series of INTERROGATE messages. |