The SX10509 connects to a SPLat controller via Xwire on one side and to the Internet, via Ethernet (“blue cable”), on the other side.

The SX10509 has been designed to communicate with an Internet server. The server can be yours, if you have such facilities, ours, if you want us to provide a service, or part of a regular web site hosting package with a 3rd party web host. Typically the SX10509 sends information to the server, where it is saved in an SQL database. A remote user can then access it (typically from a web browser). The SX10509 also extracts information (say commands and settings) from the server. In this way the server acts as an intermediate “drop box” between the SX10509 and the remote user. The server also serves as a powerful platform for advanced application programming.

All data exchanges are initiated by the SPLat controller via the SX10509. The SX10509 will look just like a regular web browser. It will therefore (more often than not) get out through the local firewalls to the Internet, without the need for any special configuration of the LAN it is connected to. This “little trick” is why we call it SPLat Call Home. The SPLat always “calls home” to send (upload) data and ask for (download) instructions. The alternative would be to have a web server in the SX10509. That would however mean any remote contact requests would have to get in through a firewall. This could require significant network administration skills. It would also make the programming much more complicated.

You do require programming on the server side. This is typically done as a php script. php programming skills are quite common – most capable web site programmers know php, and the related data base programming. Also, there exists a vast body of free tools and paid services for data management and presentation (graphs, tables, spread sheet files, sending emails etc).

On the SPLat side you program the SPLat controller to manage the SX10509, using regular SPLat instructions.

The SX10509 has separate Xwire addresses for:

• Data to and from the server and commands to and from the SX10509 itself. This is called the Network Address. Commands include writing and reading data, setting the server and script file names and various other housekeeping functions.
• Reading the time (derived from an Internet time server)
• Reading the date (derived from an Internet time server)

The time and date addresses are very easy to read out, using the simplest Xwire technique that automatically copies the data to RAM in the SPLat. The Network address uses a simple technique for sending a range of commands and data to the SX10509 and reading data back from it.