Field Issues

[rrossbach]

Some additional detail based on my observations at Trenton (thanks Mark for the great list!)

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Radios:

• ...
• When setting the WPA, plug in Ethernet before power.
• ...

To expand on the situation behind this - the WPA configuration kiosk apparently has sporadic problems and will report a "failure to configure IP, wrong operating system" error (or something like that - can't remember the exact wording, sorry!). Usually the bridge will still be configured OK, but better safe than sorry. Hopefully the word can get out to the other regional volunteers so everyone knows the correct kiosk procedure is to plug in ethernet 1st, then power 2nd.

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Driver Station:

• Wrong rev. Must be this year. Either 01.05.11.00 or 02.27.11.00 are fine. Older ones mean your robot will never link to the field.
• ...

To expand on this, using DS Rev 01.05.11.00 but having multiple IP addresses configured on the network adapter will also mean your robot will never link to the field. I think this is what jhersh meant when he euphemistically explained that DS rev 02.27.11.00 would "ease proper configuration of the driver station laptop's IP configuration (making you more likely to successfully connect to the field)." Prior to rev 02.27.11.00, setting the team number in the DS config just set the additional IP for your team without getting rid of any additional pre-existing IP addresses that may have been configured.

Several teams at the Trenton regional found this out the hard way when they borrowed Classmates from spare parts - the spare parts classmates all had DS rev 01.05.11.00, and also had an existing IP of 10.0.0.5. - so any team using a spare parts Classmate could not connect to the field initially.

Again, better safe than sorry - probably best not to consider DS rev 02.27.11.00 "optional".

Huge thanks to all the Trenton volunteers but especially Mark, "NI Greg", "NI Ben", and "FTA Pete" for all the hard work!

- Ron
Team #2607 controls mentor