RipEX settings

Use our calculations for a simplistic overview of RipEX network performance. RipEX settings are common for both independent parts – Payload bitrate and Netwok performance. Payload bitrate gives you a quick and easy idea of the possible bitrate in the RipEX network. Network performance is the more robust and detailed option. See the details in respective helps.

Payload bitrate 

Based on this calculation, one can see the effect packet length has on the resulting bitrate. Since the RipEX radio protocol overhead per packet is fixed, the longer the user data are, the higher the payload bitrate.

Network performance 

Network performance calculation is intended to give you a quick performance overview based on several basic parameters.

Total Number of sites
Number of RipEX units in the network. The minimum number of RipEX units is three (including the local unit). The calculations work with collision probabilities in the report-by-exception type of networks and are mainly intended for networks with many (> 5) units.
Average hops per path to remote
Average hop count to the remote sites. E.g. 9 remote stations directly connected to the center (one radio hop) and one remote station over one repeater (two radio hops) results in 1.1.
Average message size
User data size without any headers (IP, TCP, UDP, …).
center => remote	bytes
remote => center	bytes
Interface speed
Ethernet interface speed or the baud rate [bps] for the serial (COM) interface. Using TCP instead of UDP lowers the total network capacity due to the higher TCP overhead (ETH – UDP/IP and serial options are equal.
center	N/A
remote	N/A
Processing time
Time for the RTUs / SCADA devices to process queries.
center	msec
remote	msec
Polling Cycle (Single master)
Average RTT per remote	msec
Round Trip Time (RTT) is the time required for a packet to travel from the source (SCADA center) to the destination (remote RTU) and back again.
Total polling cycle	sec
The time required for the master (SCADA center) to poll all slaves (remote RTUs) one by one and to receive their responses.
Mesh mode
In mesh type networks, all radio modems can access each other randomly and spontaneously. Mesh networks can also host polling or report-by-exception applications, even in several instances.
Total IP network capacity	bytes/sec
Total network capacity in bytes per second (includes IP packet overhead). The resulting number refers to the maximum number in the optimally designed RipEX network. The more hops per path, the less overlap, and consequently more capacity left for simultaneous transmissions from different remotes. That is the reason for a higher capacity with more hops in the network. Nevertheless, that figure can be fully used only when there is a significant portion of communication load among the remotes themselves, or from remotes to e.g. local concentrators. When all messages have eventually to reach the single master station over the same radio channel, any calculation of total network capacity loses its sense, for obvious reasons. Certainly such a "central radio bottleneck" can (and should) be eliminated by e.g. adding extra channels or wire connections to dominant repeaters or bypass dominant repeaters using more radio hops. Generally, every network employing narrowband radios requires "capacity-aware design". Note: Total network capacity assumes that all radios in the network operate on the same RF channel.
Total application network capacity	bytes/sec
Total network capacity in bytes per second, but no IP packet overhead is included.
Average message delivery time	msec
Average time required for a message to be successfully delivered within the RipEX network in the report-by-exception mode (i.e. from the center to the remote unit).
Radio protocol Flexible only
Radio protocol Flexible only (Operating Mode = Router)