When a coupler is in a DOWN state it must NOT

increase it heart beats which itself will cause
dependent couplers to detect that a coupler is DOWN.

coupler/keep_alive.h

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ char *NETWORK_INTERFACE = "";
 static unsigned int HEART_BEATS = 0;
 
 // handling coupler's state
-static unsigned int CURRENT_STATE;
+static int CURRENT_STATE=-1;
 const int STATE_UP = 1;
 const int STATE_DOWN = 0;
 const int STATE_NO_INITIAL_HEART_BEAT = 2;

coupler/keep_alive_publisher.h

@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ static void addPubSubDataSetField(UA_Server *server, PublishedVariable varDetail
 
 void callbackTicHeartBeat()
 {
+    if (CURRENT_STATE != STATE_DOWN) {
       /* Increase periodically heart beats of the server */
       HEART_BEATS += 1;
 
@@ -174,6 +175,7 @@ void callbackTicHeartBeat()
       UA_Variant_init(&myVar);
       UA_Variant_setScalar(&myVar, &myFloat, &UA_TYPES[UA_TYPES_FLOAT]);
       UA_Server_writeValue(server, myFloatNodeId, myVar);
+    }
 }
 
 static void enablePublishHeartBeat(UA_Server *server){