For more on this topic, see How to Troubleshoot Hardware Communication Problems, Troubleshooting With Observant Global and Technical Note — Antenna Installation Guidelines.
An Observant field unit will raise an error notification if the field unit can not reliably communicate with its attached devices.
Types of Communication Errors
Types of device communication errors include:
| Error message | Meaning |
| Device Communications Timeout | Attempted to communicate but did not get a response. |
| Device Checksum error | Attempted to communicate but got an unintelligible response. |
| Device Communications Incomplete | Attempted to communicate but only received a partial response. |
| Device Communications Unparsable Field |
Failed to understand (parse) a field description while communicating with device |
| DeviceCommunications Bad Structure |
Attempted to communicate but unable to understand structure of communication data |
| Device Communications Byte Error |
Device Comms byte error detected while communicating with device e.g. frame, overrun or parity |
Diagnosing and Addressing Communication Errors
Device communications errors are often a symptom of:
- Damaged cabling.
- Dislodged field unit connector(s).
- A faulty or damaged sensor.
To diagnose and rectify the cause:
- Ensure that the cabling from the sensor to the Observant field unit is intact and undamaged.
- Confirm that all connectors to the Observant field unit are firmly seated.
- If these steps do not resolve the problem, substitute a known good cable and/or device to isolate the problem further.