Quote:
Originally Posted by Nibbles
I wanted to collect ideas on how you think the field control system might work this year. In the past the lights, team numbers, and operator interface were connected to a system that managed the robot, and that was connected to a central computer that kept scores and judges data, which the front screen was also connected to.
With the change to Wi-Fi, I would like to see high- and low-level outlines of how all this might work this year. Some problems to consider are how robots will find their operator controller over IP, how the Wi-Fi setup will work to prevent interference and prevent anything then a competition robot from connecting, how autonomous and disable will work, and how teams will be able to do the same thing.
I wanted a 5Ghz WiFi network, with a single, FIRST-managed access point that teams plug into via Ethernet for the operator controller, robots connect through a WiFi-Ethernet bridge, which would probable have to be custom manufactured, that would connect to the AP, and DHCP basic information about the arena, maybe using an additional service location server, RFC 887 specified with DHCP option 11. The robot, and team controller, would then have to discover the field controller server, which would collect team numbers and bring the robot controller and driver controller together.
That is enough of me talking, what do you all want? |
I think using DHCP to at least configure the IP addresses would make life easier. Doing something that isn't supported in most off the shelf DHCP servers and clients may not be a good idea, though. That's just one more piece of custom software without enough testing that won't quite work right.
It would also be nice if the driver station could be a DHCP server for the laptop. This way the laptop can remain a DHCP client like it normaly would be to plug into a campus network or something, and can also plug into the driver station to be a dashboard without having to reconfigure the network settings.
Would everyone be OK with needing to set static IP addresses on each piece of equipment on the network? Is that easy enough to do that it's not a problem and not worth developing a system that uses DHCP?
-Joe