[techhelpbb]

I am certainly not speaking from any authority, but when we make parts electronically for the cRIO, we open source the design. Such as the encoder splitter we worked on...and a few other things I hope we open up for everyone's examination.

So in this sense, it doesn't step on any rules about things designed before the start of the build season...it doesn't exclude other people from learning or contributing...and it makes it closer to a COTS system (Complete/Commercial Off The Shelf) system.

For more about COTS:
"A COTS item must be a standard (i.e. not custom order) part commonly available from the VENDOR, available from a non-team source, and available to all teams for purchase."

I can certainly see how some might not agree with my interpretation of the COTS rules, but it's not very hard to openly sell these items, even if you open source the process of developing it. This was one of the first years we ever really ran into a situation that warranted the development of any additional hardware and that anyone really sunk their teeth into trying to achieve it (so to be honest...other than research there are probably things in this process I might not be aware of).

Your other question is extremely broad. I suggest you review the extensive documentation for the cRIO. There are I/O ports on the Digital Sidecar, the Analog Bumper, and the cRIO itself (the serial and ethernet ports). Also there are ports on the Jaguar speed controls.