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Chapter 1

About the AG-24/30/48/60 Boards

1.1 Introduction
1.2 About the AG-24/30/48/60 Boards
1.3 Software Components
1.3.1 About CT Access
1.3.2 About Runtime Software
1.3.3 About the AG Configuration File
1.3.4 About Trunk Control Programs (TCPs)
1.4 Installation Summary

1.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the AG-24/30/48/60 boards and their capabilities. It also provides background information about the software components you will need to build an application using AG-24/30/48/60 boards, and summarizes the installation procedure.

1.2 About the AG-24/30/48/60 Boards

The AG-24/30/48/60 boards provide DSP resources without line interfaces or switches. They are designed to be part of a multiple-board system, which typically includes at least one network interface board.

For example, an AG-24 board can support 24 ports of voice and call processing. It receives its data from another board in the system over a telephony bus, or from the host.

Figure 1 shows an example single-chassis system. A T Connect board provides telephone network line interfaces and the bus clock source, and an AG-24 board provides DSP resources for voice and call processing.

Figure 1. An Example Hardware Configuration
The AG-24/30/48/60 boards have the following features:

All AG boards are controlled by a common board driver, configured by a single AG configuration file (ag.cfg), and are loaded and initialized with the same utility program, agmon.

The following table summarizes the AG-24/30/48/60 boards and their capabilities:

Board

 Number of DSPs

 Capabilities

AG-24

 6

 24 ports, 7 MIPS per port

AG-30

 6

 30 ports, 5.7 MIPS per port

AG-48

 14 (6 on the baseboard and 8 on a daughterboard)

 48 ports, 8.3 MIPS per port

AG-60

 14 (6 on the baseboard and 8 on a daughterboard)

 60 ports, 6.6 MIPS per port

Note: You can use Diva II daughterboards with AG-24 and AG-30 boards for speech recognition and text-to-speech applications. NaturalRecognition and NaturalText provide software support for speech recognition and text-to-speech application development.

1.3 Software Components

Applications based on AG-24/30/48/60 boards are built using CT Access. CT Access is an NMS software development environment that contains:

1.3.1 About CT Access

CT Access is a complete software development environment for telephony applications. It provides a standard set of telephony functions grouped into logical services. Each service has a standard programming interface. CT Access services include call control, DTMF generation and detection, and voice playing and recording.

CT Access includes the ADI service, which controls AG boards, the Switching service, which controls switching on MVIP compliant devices, and the Voice Message service, which provides additional voice processing an file management functions. The Switching service is used to make or break connections, send patterns, and to sample data. Natural Media products, which can be added to CT Access as extension services, include NaturalRecognition, NaturalFax, and NaturalText. The Natural Media products provide the hardware and software to perform speech recognition, fax transmission and reception, and text-to-speech.

1.3.2 About Runtime Software

Figure 2 shows the relationship between AG software and hardware components. AG-48 and AG-60 boards use the same software components as the AG-24 and AG-30 boards, but add a daughterboard with 8 more DSPs to the AG baseboard.

Figure 2. AG Software Components



The AG runtime software is installed as part of CT Access. It includes:




  • agmon, the utility that loads and monitors AG boards.

    

    

    For detailed information about agmon, see the AG Runtime Configuration and Developer's Manual. For more information about the DSP files shipped with CT Access, see the ADI Service Function Reference Manual.
    

    • 

    

    1.3.3	 About the AG Configuration File
    

    


    When you set up your system, you specify configuration information (such as whether an AG board is connected to the MVIP bus, which AG board is the bus clock master, or which software modules to transfer to the AG board's memory on startup) for all AG boards in the system using an AG configuration file (ag.cfg). Chapter 3 describes how to create an AG configuration file for your system.
    


    To initialize your boards based on the information in the AG configuration file, run the agmon utility. agmon transfers to each board all software modules specified in the file, and performs any other configuration activities. It then monitors the boards for errors and other events.
    


    Whenever you make a change to the AG configuration file, run agmon again to make your changes effective.
    

 
    

    

    

    1.3.4	 About Trunk Control Programs (TCPs)
    

    


    AG-24/30/48/60 boards are compatible with a variety of signaling schemes called protocols. To use a specific protocol on AG-24/30/48/60 boards, a Trunk Control Program (TCP) is loaded onto the board at board initialization, and the protocol is later started up from within the application. TCPs are specified in the AG configuration file. They are downloaded to the board by agmon. TCPs run on the board, relieving the host computer from the task of processing the protocol directly.
    


    A TCP performs all of the signaling tasks associated with the protocol used on the telephone network line. Several different protocol standards are in use throughout the world. These standards differ from country to country. For these reasons, different TCPs are supplied for various protocols and country-specific variations. Some TCPs come with CT Access software; others are supplied as separate software packages. Applications that support multiple protocols can load more than one TCP to an AG board at a time. 
    

 
    

    

    

    1.4	 Installation Summary
    

    


    To install an AG-24/30/48/60 board and its application development environment:
    

  

    


    
 Step
    

    		
 Description
    

    		
 For details, see...
    


    
 1
    

    		
 Install CT Access, including the ADI service and the AG board driver.
    

    		
 The CT Access Installation Manual.
    


    
 2
    

    		
 Install the AG-24/30/48/60 board into one of your computer's ISA bus slots.
    

    		
 Chapter 2 of this manual.
    


    
 3
    

    		
 Connect the MVIP bus connector to the 
    AG-24/30/48/60 board and to the other MVIP boards in your system.
    

    		
 Chapter 2 of this manual.
    


    
 4
    

    		
 Edit the AG configuration file to enable MVIP connectivity. AG-24/30/48/60 boards can only act as clock slaves. 
    

 Make sure another MVIP board in the system is configured to be the MVIP bus clock master.
    

 Make sure the bus clock master is the first board to be initialized. You cannot initialize a clock slave board until a bus clock master is driving the bus clock.
    

    		
 Chapter 3 of this manual. For more details, see the AG Runtime Configuration and Developer's Manual.
    

 For information about a clock master board, see the installation manual that came with the board. 
    

 For more information about MVIP switching and bus clocking, see the Getting Started With MVIP Switching manual.
    


    
 5
    

    		
 Run agmon to configure your AG-24/30/48/60 board as specified in the AG configuration file and to verify your installation.
    

    		
 Chapter 4 of this manual. For more details, see the AG Runtime Configuration and Developer's Manual.
    


    
 6
    

    		
 Verify that your installation is operational.
    

    		
 Chapter 4 of this manual.
    



    


    

    

    

    


    


    

    

    


    
 
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