WIFI at St. Louis?

[Pat Fairbank]

I'll clear this up since I was involved in the issue at FLR, and in subsequently making sure it wouldn't be a problem at Waterloo and GTR.

The problem is with the new Wi-Fi bridges on the robots. In "bridge" mode, there is no way to force them to look only for 5GHz networks as there was with the previous years' models. When initially trying to link up to the 5GHz network from the field corresponding to the robot's team number, their mode of operation is to first scan through all the 2.4GHz networks present looking for a match before trying the 5GHz networks.

To compound this, there is some kind of issue where if there are more than a certain number of access points present (not just networks, as multiple AP's can be broadcasting the same SSID), it fills up some internal buffer, and the bridge can't see any networks past that. This results in the bridge never finding the correct 5GHz network to connect to.

The number I've heard that starts happening at is 30, so if more than 30 AP's are present in a venue, whether they're 2.4GHz or 5GHz, the only solution is to shut some of them down.

[Joe Ross]

According to the Championship A-Z document (updated 4/15):

Free wireless internet access is now available in the common areas of the America’s
Center. This access is not available on the pit floor. Due to the wireless nature of
FIRST control systems, wireless availability will be evaluated during the course of the
event. Teams will not be allowed to set up their own wireless networks at the
Championship. While we certainly appreciate the positive potential team-created
wireless networks could represent, there is a chance such wireless networks could
interfere with planned activities during the event.