[Levansic]

I appreciate the citing of specs and bold admonitions about signal reflectance voodoo, but a star topology is not all that dangerous or bad for CAN. The physical size of the robots tend to make the overall length of the CAN bus, regardless of topology, far shorter than what is allowed by the specifications.

We all need to keep in mind that FRC is about STEM education. Instead of dispensing absolute expert opinions, we should be encouraging students and mentors to test their ideas to see if they are valid.

Granted the new securely connected 2-wire CAN interface in this year's control system does make the daisy chain a much more reliable bus topology than in the past. Our team could not successfully utilize CAN Jaguars, without a star topology. The improved in connections this year do not mean that a star or partial star is no longer viable, especially for teams who decide to continue using Jaguars.

In summary, if you are considering using a star or a hybrid, you need to construct your network and test it against a plain daisy chain. You may find no difference, or you could find that parts of your network don't work. Don't blindly take the opinions offered here as fact. Very little is absolute when it comes to CAN usage, aside from unique addresses and bus terminatons.