Quote:
Originally Posted by techhelpbb
If you want to do that, then FIRST doesn't need to police the WiFi band any more and the camera limits go away. So this is probably exactly the opposite of the issue. As long as FIRST allows teams to continue to use WiFi and puts FMS only on the 900Mhz then there is no real issue except a slightly more heavy robot.
In point of fact during the bid round in which the RoboRIO was accepted I proposed in writing to FIRST this exact solution.
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So much this. The only real benefit to using WiFi instead of Serial over 900Mhz is the ability to have live video feedback to the driver station, actual command signals take far less bandwidth.
Considering that for most teams reliable video feeds from the robot is nice to have but not a necessity (except those doing vision processing on the laptops of course), to me it makes far more sense to ensure a reliable command signal to the robots over the luxury of a video feed. The old radios (pre-2009) would boot and connect in under 5 seconds, and were supported by a backup battery (through the controller), meaning even if you did somehow drop connection, you'd pick it back up almost instantly, no more sitting on the field for half of the match because of a momentary brownout or sudden impact.
Switching away from the overcrowded 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies alone would be a huge benefit to field connectivity (plus people could set up WiFi in the pits again), and separating control signals from video could open up more bandwidth for both. Plus these days there are a ton of options available for compact radios of various frequencies due to the growth in the RC aircraft and DIY electronics communities, so finding a suitable Transmitter + Receiver for FRC uses should be much easier now than it was 10 years ago.