DLink Communication Problems

[rclothier]

I'm trying to get the computer to talk to the robot via the DLink. I have followed the instructions in "How to Configure Your Radio" umpteen times. It's all good till the end of the instructions.

Then what??

Once it is set up, shouldn't you be able to ping the DLink? I can do it when it's connected with an ethernet cable, but when I disconnect the cable, I get "Destination Host Unreachable." It's the same for Bridge and AP.

I'm basically a dummy when it comes to communications. I've been reading all the threads I can find, and have gotten nowhere. So, I apologize if the questions are elementary, but here goes.

How can you confirm that the DLink is communicating with the computer?
What IP should the computer have when driving the robot?
If the DLink isn't communicating, what do you do next?
Extra dumb question: is the wireless on my laptop going to reach the length of the field?
Do we need the router at all anymore?

I don't even want to tell you how many hours I've wasted on this. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Mark McLeod]

After the network is all set you do have to tell your laptop to connect to the new wireless network you've created.

The first thing to check is to see what wireless networks are visible to your laptop. You should see a wireless icon in the lower right of the Windows bottom-of-the-page toolbar. If you click on that it should list all the wireless networks it can detect. There may be several if you have a school or household wireless network running as well. This will give you the option to choose one of the wireless networks and connect.

That is the best indicator of if you are communicating with the DLink.

Your laptop wireless will reach the length of a standard playing field. It won't have to at a real competition, since those use the wired Ethernet connection instead of the laptop wireless.

The 2009/2010 router isn't necessary with the DLink/laptop wireless combo. If you still use the old robot bridge on a second robot, then you will need the router.

[Alan Anderson]

When you're done configuring the DAP, its IP address will be 10.17.23.1 (for FRC Team #1723). Your computer's IP address will need to be compatible in order for them to communicate. For a Driver Station using a wireless connection, the preferred IP address is 10.17.23.9 (again, for Team #1723). Since you can ping the DAP when connected by a wire, it sounds like you've gotten that far.

Before you can ping the DAP wirelessly, you need to establish an actual wireless connection. Do that just like connecting to any wireless access point. You probably set the SSID to "1723" with no security. One bit of trivia has tripped up several teams at this point: your computer probably is capable only of 2.4 GHz networking. If that's the case, make sure you haven't told the DAP to use only the 5 GHz band.

802.11 is good for several hundred feet. Unless you've buried the DAP under motors or metal structure, you shouldn't have any problems maintaining communication on the field.

And you don't need the old blue/black router.

[rclothier]

Thank you thank you thank you! It's working now. I didn't take the step of establishing the wireless connection. (Like I said, not an expert on these things. I can follow directions, but if it's not in the directions, I'm lost.)

Thanks for your time!