D-Link DAP-1522 firmware issue

[Alan Anderson]

At The CAGE Match off-season competition this past weekend, we ran into a problem with newly purchased D-Link DAP-1522 "robot radio" bridges. The one for the TechnoKats' practice robot couldn't be configured successfully using the WAP kiosk, and when we tried configuring it manually it still wouldn't connect to the FMS. One other team had a newer DAP-1522 and it also had the same problem.

Our team's student programmer determined that the firmware version on the new units was 1.40, while the ones everyone had received in the Kit of Parts had version 1.21 instead. The D-Link web site indicates that one of the changes made in the meantime was "Closed a publicly disclosed potential vulnerability." We surmise that this change broke the process used by the kiosk to do its work. The school network we were using apparently blocks FTP so we couldn't download the older 1.21 version, but happily the file was already on my computer. The "Emergency Web Server" fix that was posted on the 2011 FRC Kit of Parts web page includes exactly what was required.

Downgrading the DAP-1522 firmware to Version 1.21 resulted in a successful configuration at the WAP kiosk and perfect communication with the field network. This worked for three DAPs. Any teams buying new ones should be aware of the potential problem and the simple resolution.