Task 3.27.2 Installing Com Splitter

Com Port Conflicts

Com ports are designed to work with only one application at a time. If, for example, you have Streets &Trips software open, it will take over the com port exclusively and prevent the TLT from reading the incoming data.

One alternative is to only run one GPS enabled program at a time. This is hardly practical in the real world. Fortunately, there is a special piece of software called a “com splitter” that can help. When the com splitter is used, the com splitter program takes over the com port exclusively. In other words, the com splitter is assigned to the com port that is receiving the GPS data. The com splitter then creates two or more emulated com ports with new com port numbers. You then reconfigure each piece of GPS enabled software to use one of newly created com ports.

Installing the Com Splitter

1. If an older version of the com splitter was previously installed, you must remove it.

   1. Open the windows control panel and select Programs and Features.

      1. Uninstall TraCS COM Splitter.

      2. Uninstall SPS Core Setup.

   2. Restart the computer.

2. Run TraCSCOMSPlitterSetup2.2.EXE (found in tracs10.zip) and follow the on screen instructions.

3. Restart the computer.

4. After restarting, run C:\program files (x86)\TraCS\split.exe to perform the actual port splitting:

5. Click Port | Split… to open up the splitting options

   Open

   

   1. Select the COM Port that you wish to split:

      Open

      

   2. Click the green plus symbol to select the port(s) you are splitting to:

      Open

      

   3. Once you have selected all the ports you are splitting to, click the Settings button:

      Open

      

   4. Check each of the boxes that are shown and ensure that the settings match to the port being used:

      Open

      

   5. Click ‘OK’ to save your settings

6. Your port has been successfully split, and can now be used within TraCS:

   Open

   

7. You can now close the ‘split.exe’ application

Troubleshooting

Com ports can be difficult to work with. Most problems arise from either having the wrong com port selected or more than one program trying to take exclusive hold of the com port. The following suggestions should help you resolve most com port issues.

1. Make sure you know which com port has the GPS signal.

   1. If you need to use an emulator, is it installed and configured? Which com port was selected when the emulator was installed?

   2. Check the Windows device manager for the list of available com ports. Did you configure the TLT for the correct port?

   3. If you have another program that is processing the GPS signal correctly, check the settings in this program. What com port does it list?

      1. Shut down all GPS enabled software including the TLT.

      2. Restart the TLT and configure the TLT to use this com port.

      3. If you see the GPS window in the lower right corner of the screen you have found the correct com port. If you need more than one piece of software to receive GPS data, proceed to step 2b.

      4. If you do not see the GPS window you may still have com port conflicts or possibly just a very weak signal. Proceed to step 2a.

      5. If you see the GPS window in the lower right you cannot move the TLT puck via your cursor. If you do it will break the GPS signal and you will have to restart TLT.

2. Once the correct com port is known, make sure the com port is available for the TLT to use.

   1. Stop all programs and services that may be using the com port.

      1. In the Windows task manager, close all applications and processes that may be using the com port.

      2. In the Windows start up folder, remove all programs that may be using the com port.

      3. Stop all Windows services that may be using the com port and change the start up type to Manual. Document which services you stop. Note: be careful; if you stop important services, your computer may stop working properly. Only stop a service if you know it is related to com port use. These are typically other com splitters that may be installed.

      4. Reboot the computer.

      5. Check the Windows task manager and Windows services one more time for anything that might be using the com port.

      6. Start the TLT and configure the com port.

      7. If you see the GPS window in the lower right corner of the screen you have the correct com port and the com port is available.

      8. Re-enable Windows services and start-up applications a few at a time and reboot the computer.

         1. Restart the TLT

         2. Do you still see the GPS window in the lower right corner?

         3. If no, one of the Windows services or start up applications is causing an issue. Try stopping services and/or removing applications from the start up folder to try to identify which application or service is causing the problem. Don’t forget to reboot after stopping services or removing applications.

         4. Once you’ve identified the services/applications that also use the com port, leave them disabled for now and proceed to step 2b.

   2. Install the serial port splitter.

      1. Close the TLT.

      2. Install the com splitter utility as explained in task 1-3 step 4 of the Installation Guide.

         1. The com port to be split will be the com port identified in step 1 of this troubleshooting guide.

         2. Split the com port into 2 or more new com ports.

         3. Each application will use one of the new com ports.

            1. Configure the TLT to use one of the new com ports.

            2. Configure each of the additional GPS enabled application with one of the new com port, ensuring that each application has a unique com port number assigned.

         4. Reboot and test all applications.

Example 1

I have a USB GPS device that I need to use with Streets & Trips and the TLT. I installed the com port emulator associated with my GPS device and set it to COM 5. To make the com port available to both applications, I install the com splitter and split com port 5 into com ports 6 and 7. I configure Streets & Trips to use com port 6 and the TLT to use com port 7.

Example 2

I have a USB GPS device with com port emulation set to COM 5. I have another GPS application that MUST use com port 5. In this case, I use the Windows Device Manager to change the com port emulation to another port number, for example COM 6. I install the com splitter and then split com port 6 into com ports 5 and and 7. Com port 7 is assigned to the TLT and com port 5 is assigned to the other application.

Example 3

I used to use the com splitter from TraCS 7.3. I see that this com splitter is in the Windows start up folder. In order for the TraCS 10 com splitter to work, I must first remove the old com splitter from the start up folder. I then configure the new com splitter.

USB Devices

The TLT cannot work directly with USB devices. If your GPS device plugs into a USB port, you will need a serial port emulator. This driver is usually provided free of charge from the manufacturer of the GPS device.

• Install the emulator according to manufacturer’s instructions.

• Make a note of the assigned com port number.

• Use the assigned com port number to configure the TLT

TCP/IP

If you receive GPS data over TCP/IP, you will have to find a com port emulator that works with TCP/IP. Contact the vendor that set up your GPS data over TCP/IP to see if they have a driver that will also emulate a com port or research 3^rd party products that have this capability. Our understanding is that GPSGate (http://gpsgate.com) is capable of bridging UDP to COM. Please note that Badger TraCS makes no recommendation for or endorsement of any third-party product. The above link is provided for informational purposes only. Please do your own evaluation of products to determine if they are fit for your purposes.

1. Install the emulator according to manufacturer’s instructions.

2. Make a note of the assigned com port number.

3. Use the assigned com port number to configure the TLT as explained in task 1-3 of the installation guide.

Panasonic patch for certain Toughbook models

Certain Panasonic Toughbook models come with an internal GPS with a U-blox chip that returns GLONASS sentences instead of NMEA. The patch applies to models:

CF-31mk5, CF-19mk8, CF-54mk1, CF-53mk4

1. Make sure that when you are installing the Com Splitter that you do not upgrade to a later version or trial version. If you do it is very difficult to get rid of it and TraCS may get the error “Incorrect version of program service is installed. Reinstall Serial Port Splitter”.

2. Patch files can be found on the extranet at https://trust.dot.state.wi.us/tracs/software/Ublox GPS fix.zip

3. Copy and extract the files to the desktop into a folder named Ublox GPS fix

4. Find the name of the path of the unzipped files on the desktop via a File Explorer window. (eg. C:\Users\your-windows-userid\Desktop\Ublox GPS fix)

   1. Where the string your-windows-userid is the windows userid that was used to login to machine.

5. In a DOS command window that is started via Run as Administrator (important) change the directory to the desktop folder Ublox GPS fix via the DOS cd command.

6. In Device Manager look to see what COM port the GPS is using.

7. Open the Readme.txt file containing the patch commands that are in the desktop folder Ublox GPS fix

8. Based on the model number of the machine copy the appropriate command from below:

   1. For models CF-31mk5, CF-19mk8 or G1mk2 that are using COM port 3 for the GPS, the DOS command is:

      1. Ubx_update_serial.bat 3

   2. For models CF-54mk1 or FZ-M1mk1 that are using COM port 4 for the GPS, the DOS command is:

      1. Ubx_update_USB.bat 4

   3. For model CF-53mk4 that is using COM port 3 for the GPS, the DOS command is:

      1. Ubx_update_USB.bat 3

9. Paste the command into your DOS command window and change the number at the end of the DOS command to match the number of the COM port that the GPS is using.

10. You may want to verify that you have a good GPS signal on the machine by using the GPSViewer which is usually found in the Programs/Panasonic folder.

11. Using the TraCS COM Splitter split the GPS port into two unused ports of your choosing.

12. Change the COM port for TLT to one of the split ports by following the instructions in step 4 of task 1-3 in the TraCS 10 Installation Guide or run the program  libSetGPSPort.exe that can be found in the TLT folder named C:\Program Files (x86)\CTRE\Incident Location Tool and change the COM Port to the port that you want TLT to use. If you don’t have an ProgramFiles(x86)  folder then look in the ProgramFiles\CTRE etc.