Quote:
Originally Posted by Zach Purser
I'm trying to figure out if there's anything field related that we should be watching for once we've eliminated the usual suspects?
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There is no substitute for using all the status lights and the error messages the Driver Station provides on the Diagnostics tab. When there's a problem your coach should be noting and remembering everything those indicators show. The drivers should switch to that display before the match or during a failure on the field. The coach should note what the drivers are doing when a status light goes red. The most common example is when communication goes red when the driver leans on the joysticks. That indicates the cRIO or bridge just rebooted due to battery voltage suddenly being pulled really low by the drive train. If the RSL goes out, then it's the cRIO that rebooted.
The primary thing that FMS "controls" that your drivers should watch for, is Communications:
The DS displays the status of communication with both the FMS and the robot. When the robot fails to respond those status lights on the DS Diagnostic panel are the first thing your drivers should look at. The DS is just pinging each of those devices by-the-way. If the lights are all green, the problem is not communications.
FMS keeps a count of all the packets sent by both the DS and by the robot, tracks the number of dropped packets and when no packets are received. Status lights go red at the FMS station when one or the other fails to communicate. If the lights are all green, the problem is not communications.
The packets going between the DS and robot are just going through switches and the wireless field router. Technically, FMS doesn't really control this, it just monitors it. So when communications fail it could be:
- The Ethernet cable/connections between the DS and the Field end switch (affects only one Driver Station)
- The Ethernet cable/connection from the field-end switch to the field router (affects all single-alliance Driver Stations)
- The field router (affects all robots)
- The robot bridge (affects one robot)
- The Ethernet cable/connections between the robot bridge and the cRIO (affects one robot)
FMS will note and record lost packets caused by any of these failures, so they are all traceable from the FMS station.
It's just a LAN, nothing special. FMS is just a monitor.
The FMS is also responsible for ordering the DS into whatever mode the field wants- Disabled, Auto, Teleop.
These modes also show up on the DS, so the drivers should take note of these too when problems with the field arise.