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Unread 25-04-2008, 00:09
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Re: NEW 2009 Control System Released

Quote:
Originally Posted by qnetjoe View Post
I keep seeing a lot people of keeping talking about how the FPGA is off limits. I really don't think that FIRST would go that far, because without access to the FPGA what is the real benefit of the new controller?

I would take a guess to say that there will be a custom VI that allows us to tailor the use of the FPGA while allowing FIRST to maintain their required supervisory control. I have done things very similar to this with my cRIO's and PXI chassis with RT controllers.

For years with FIRST safety has only been skin deep. Change a few registars from any of the 2004-2007 controllers and your robot can be really dangerous.

Besides you have 20 engineers at FIRST/NI vs a FRC community of 20k with a passion for this stuff. We WILL find a way to program that FGPA.
Actually, I think it's well nigh impossible for you to programmatically override the supervisory control of the master processor in the IFI controller. All the outputs controlling real world devices sent through buffers controlled by the master processor, so it has the final say if a motor's turning or not. And it takes very little data back from the User Processor in a very controlled manner, so I don't think you could even reliably override it with packet overruns or something.
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