Disclaimer: I have never run an offseason event, but during the CARD event in St Louis I had to troubleshoot my team's communication system which is a rip-off of the FRC system, and I've spent too much time exploring the inner workings of the FRC protocal.
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Originally Posted by sst.thad
one way i found was to download the FMS FIRST posted in 2009. this would have used just 1 router instead of 6, and would have worked just like the competition.
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You do not need to use the FMS to use a single router. You can run a single router with multiple robots so long as their IP address as configured per the FRC specs. Just have all of the robots get configured to connect to your router, and have all of the ClassMates wired into the router to reduce wireless traffic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dale
Do the Classmates do N band? ... Being down in the crowded 2.4Ghz band would be very bad!
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The ClassMates are B/G only.
My suggestion would be to invest in a business grade, NOT small business and NOT gaming, access point, and have all teams connect to your AP. Run wired connections from your AP to each of the driver's stations. You do no need the FMS to do this.
A good router and three switches (one for each alliance station and one for by the AP) will probably cost you $600-800, but I believe this would resolve most of the issues.
The AP should also be placed near the center of the field to reduce the maximum distance it needs to communicate.
You may be able to get by with less than this. We tried 4 different consumer routers in St. Louis which all preformed great in the lab, but fell down when they were in such a noisy environment. When we finally got a good AP everything was perfect. Your experiance may be different.