Analog break out problem.

[Gdeaver]

I want to bring up a analog break out problem that we had this weekend. We used many sensors this year. We used 4 mid range sharp IR sensors, 2 long range sharp Ir sensors, a ultra sonic sensor and 5 Vishay absolute angle sensors. We have had noise problems all year and they were handled by software filtering in labview. We thought everything was under control until Philly on Thursday. We could not control our arm and the drivers were complaining about our 4 wheel independent steering. It drove us insane all day and really were not prepared to tackle this problem with all the other issues we had. Thursday night we were able to track it down to power line noise. No we didn't put a scope on it. We don't have one. On Friday morning we added a 10 uf cap to a spare port on each analog and bang our problem went away. Instant improvement on everything. Rock solid analogs. The robot ran the way we designed it. Some of the filtering was removed or modified and wow what a difference. So after this experience I would recommend adding some caps to the analog break out power even if your not having problems just to be safe. The problem may be there and you haven't noticed it. I would be interested with what the designer has to say. I think his name is Eric.