Quote:
Originally Posted by cbale2000
<SNIP>
Robots and the field System
Use the 5GHz band on a WLAN
<SNIP>
I guess I've always wondered about the rational for some of the wireless rules FIRST imposes too. Frankly the way I see it is that it is almost impossible to go anywhere these days where these signals are not present. I can understand FIRST trying to keep traffic off of the band they are using (5GHz) but to restrict the use of other wireless signals that aren't even anywhere close to the same wavelength seems a bit silly to me (Granted I am not a professional in the realm of wireless communications, but I'm still pretty sure). There are so many signals already in effect, what difference is a few walkie-talkies, bluetooth mics, or WLANs going to make?
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The above is incorrect. The field and robots use 802.11n which is a dual band 2.4GHZ and 5GHZ band. Thus other WLANs, Bluetooth, and some cell phones can (and will) interfere with the field system (which is very tolerant of most interference).
FIRST has made all communications with the field illegal to avoid a competitive edge by having more information (from the stands?) given to the drivers.
Most field crews use walkie-talkies and thus need that form of communication left undesturbed by random chatter.
So what difference would a few walkie-talkies or bluetooth mics make? maybe none ... or maybe a lot. Thus the rules.