Using the school's Network as the Bridge

[DavisC]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

You could of course link your laptop directly to the robot DAP-1522 without any router of any kind, but if by "robot radio" you mean one of the older FRC bridges, then yes you do need a router as an intermediary.

Is this so you can remotely drive the robot all over the school without leaving your room?

Yea pretty much, cause this year my school resetup its internet system so that all of the routers (we got like 15 or so in the school) are under 1 common SSID so that throughout the campus, you only need to connect once (unlike previous yrs where we had E-Hall, E-Hall 2, B-Hall, and etc).
So while I can connect directly to the DAP I would like to use the schools routers and a tie.

I have been testing the setup and if I changed the IP of the cRIO (using MAX) to say 192.168.2.2, my Laptop to 192.168.2.6, and the DS team # to 16802 (balances the numbers to 168.2) I am unable to detect the cRIO through wired connection. I believe this is because the actual DS still attempts to find a cRIO with the IP of 10.168.2.2...
If I remember correctly their was a way to edit/make your own DS or Dashboard, and it would probably be possible to change the default search address their (but I don't remember anything about it).

I still have not attempted Static IPs but it seems impossable for my home routers because with the default address, I can only assign static IPs of 192.168.2.zz...

Now in the presentation it has a Laptop able to access the web and another access the Robot but that sends it through the WRT router then the typical Internet router...

Looks like this is goin to be one tough cookie...

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by DavisC

I still have not attempted Static IPs but it seems impossible for my home router because with the default address, I can only assign static IPs of 192.168.2.zz...

Your static IPs can be whatever you wish regardless of your home router's IP address.
It's a router's job to be uniquely different than everyone else.
It's convention to keep local devices in the same IP address space. It makes it easier to talk about it and catch mismatches, but it also misleads you into thinking that's the only way it will work.
For instance, my home router/gateway uses a 71.190. address (necessary since a private network IP cannot talk directly to the Internet), but the dozen or so computers in the house are all assigned private 192.168. addresses (one uses 132.), except for when the robots are visiting and I run a mixture of 192. and 10. addresses. (192.168. is one of the private address ranges, like 10.)

You won't get very far trying to completely makeover how our 10. robot networks are setup. Why are you doing that, just experimenting?
It is a good learning experience to dig into things like that.

It's actually a pretty trivial problem. It just takes getting used to the concepts involved.
There are a huge number of variations possible (IP is a pretty big space), but also many ways to foul it up until you learn what's important.

[DavisC]

Yea, I was changing the whole 10.x system because I wasn't able to get it to work with 192.x ...
So it is my understanding that it is possible to have the Home Router set to its default (192.168) and still connect through it (with my Laptop set to 10.xx) to the Robot Radio (set to 10.xx)? Ok, so what on each components (referring to DS side, intermediate Router, and cRIO side) would be of importance.
For yours, it is my understanding that you have your home Router (one which your computers connect through) with an IP of 71.190 (so it connects to the robot and and indirectly, the internet) which from their, could connect to your Robot Radio or through another Router set at 192.168 to the Internet?

Would this be possible while having the Middle Router which (though a line) connects to the Internet and the robot, set to an IP of 192.168...?

[Mark McLeod]

For simplicity's sake you want no more than a single router in the direct robot network. It can complicate things going router to router and can take a little more expertise to track down problems. Your school IT folks can handle that if it's necessary.

I have a test rig at home that I hook up a half dozen different ways depending on how lazy I am and what I'm doing at the time.
For some programming tests I leave a cRIO sitting in one room running off a regulated power supply while I wander the house with my laptop using the house wireless to download and test example code of the cRIO. I can keep my wife company at the dining room table that way.

I just turned it on a minute ago and did it this way:

1. My laptop connects wirelessly directly to my home router (IP must be 10., netmask doesn't matter as long as it's valid)
   • IP: 10.3.58.9 (I also tested IP 10.3.58.8 just for fun)
   • netmask: 255.0.0.0 (I also confirmed that 255.255.255.0 works fine too)
2. The router connects to the cRIO via my household Ethernet -> switch -> cRIO
   • IP: 192.168.1.1 (doesn't matter what IP or netmask is used)
   • netmask: 255.255.255.0

If I wanted to use the Internet, then I would connect Ethernet to my laptop and set the Ethernet port to DHCP.
My Gateway IP for Internet traffic is 71.190.x.y

If you add in a robot bridge, then just use a 10. IP and make sure the SSID/Security matches your router/AP.

[DavisC]

Hmm.. thats an interesting point i forgot to do in my tests. when i setup the Robot Radio (DAP) I never though of making it the same SSID as the as the school's network (and yea im testing this with 1 network router to begin).

Also, I will start doing this but 1 tech teacher mentioned to just start with having my Laptop wired to the Network and the only wireless was to the Robot (just to decomplicate things some).

Then when we get to multiple routers it should be interesting cause our setup is something like this:
(all the switches are 20 ports)
Modem > Server > Switch > Ethernet/Wifi (many like this)
Switch > Switch > Ethernet/Wifi (many like this)
Switch > Switch > Enthernet/Wifi (many like this)
Etc, this kinda follows to get enough ports for each building and to get to enough Wifi access points for each building (total of 5 buildings now (kinda spread out))

[Mark McLeod]

It's a good plan begin with as simple a network as possible.
To start, I'd actually recommend connecting both your laptop and your cRIO directly via Ethernet to your school network and confirm you can run your Driver Station successfully.
Then you are starting with something simple that you are sure works and you can add one new wrinkle at a time:

1. laptop->school router->cRIO (Ethernet all)
2. DAP dropped in via Ethernet (laptop->school router->DAP->cRIO)
3. Laptop to wireless (laptop/school AP/router->DAP->cRIO)
4. DAP to wireless (laptop/school AP/router/DAP->cRIO)

Make sure the DAP is set to bridge mode, not AP.

The multiple switches won't matter.
I oversimplified my home network, it actually goes:

AP/router -> 16-port switch -> 8-port switch -> cRIO

[DavisC]

Well I made a new attemp yet again today, and I used the components that come with FIRST so y'all can test it yourself if ya want (used: DAP-1522, WRT610N, and all the other normal robot components).

-First I reset the DAP-1522 (pressed and held "reset" button) and followed the FRC manual for configuring it (IP, SSID, etc).
-Then I reset the WRT610N (held "reset" button) and left the IP as the default (192.168.1.1, I believe) and changed the SSID to 539.
-So I connected my Laptop (IP of 10.5.39.6) to the WRT via cable, and the WRT was connected to the DAP via cable, and the DAP was connected to the cRIO via cable.
-----From that, I recieved communication to the cRIO in the Driver Station.
-So I disconnected the cable going from the WRT to the DAP.
-----I was not able to recieve communication by doing that.

So, any suggestions?

[Mark McLeod]

What mode is the DAP in (AP/Auto/Bridge)?
What part of the FRC manual did you follow (there are two different ways given to setup the DAP as I recall)?

(and why are you using the WRT? Sort of a pretend school router?)

[DavisC]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

What mode is the DAP in (AP/Auto/Bridge)?
What part of the FRC manual did you follow (there are two different ways given to setup the DAP as I recall)?

(and why are you using the WRT? Sort of a pretend school router?)

The DAP was in Bridge mode. I followed the way where I clicked config manually > put in the correct team # > gave it correct IP > did not password protect (I don't have access to the manual right now so I hope thats enough description).

And yes, I am using the WRT as a "pretend school router" to just simplify things. I had also named that as well to 539 b/c, while my school network is named TES, I do have the flexability for "go time" to name the DAP to "TES" as well.

any ideas?

[Mark McLeod]

You took a good first step by testing everything while directly connected.
Since it works while connected via Ethernet, that proves your basic networking IP/netmasks are set correctly.

Your second step failed showing that just your wireless settings between the WRT and DAP are not compatible.
So compare the purely wireless settings between the boxes.

• 2.4 vs 5 Gz
• SSID (539)
• Security (none)
• etc.

[DavisC]

Thank You all!

well, I was reconfiguring settings (tested with wired connection 1st) and just when I was out, a little green light came up on the Driver Station signifying I had communication (I was Wired to to the WRT, which was Wifi to the DAP, wired to the cRIO)!!!!!
I had finally connected with the DAP and WRT connected via WIFI! But I decided to go on, and with a breeze I changed the IP of my Laptops wifi and connected to the WRT via Wifi; this too gave me communication!
So, finally managed do: Laptop > -Wifi- > WRT > -Wifi- > DAP > -wired- > cRIO.

Thanks everybody for your help. I took screenshots of the config settings for the DAP (D-Link) and the WRT (Cisco/Linksys), they are in the attached ZIP folder.

Just gotta see sometime if I can config it properly to the schools network (might pose difficulties because of their new Security System where every student has a username and password which is kept on a school server).

[DavisC]

Just an update on how it is goin (had some delays cause I had to prep everything for anoffseason event).

The Internet security server at my school has posed some difficulties (we are setup with WPA2-Enterprise) and I (and the school teachers) are not sure that it is possible to setup a wirelessly bridged connection.

How it currently works (on life support), I have it as follows (dashed for wifi, line for wired):
MyLaptop- - - - - -SchoolsNetwork- - - - - -SecondLaptop------RobotRouter------cRIO

So I have to have a SecondLaptop on the robot to logon to the SchoolsNetwork (the SecondLaptop has its wifi and wired connection bridged). Also the RobotRouter doesn't really serve a purpose in this scenario unless I'm using it to connect the camera too.

But our camera is dead so I currently plan have a USB Webcam connected to the SecondLaptop and use some online videochat system (if I manage to bridge the RobotRouter to the SchoolsNetwork I have an alternate way which would work).

-Davis