2012 Team Update 4

[Aren Siekmeier]

I just don't understand why we are using wifi at all. Sure switching to a bigger, more powerful controller is great (despite all the overhead of using an FPGA and not really taking advantage of it), but when all the wireless connections needed are known, specifically, FMS to 6 and only 6 robots, why do we need a protocol that is inherently built for arbitrary connectivity? Isn't this just asking for problems? And it gains us nothing. I think it would make a lot of sense to stick with a proprietary radio connection, and if you must use IP, establish a forward of the wired network run by the FMS over this radio link. I may be oversimplifying things, but the current situation is hardly simple.

So stick with the cRio and fancy shmancy Driver Station laptops, but stick with a wireless connection that works and is not so heavily dependent on a friendly environment.

[theprgramerdude]

Originally Posted by compwiztobe

I just don't understand why we are using wifi at all. Sure switching to a bigger, more powerful controller is great (despite all the overhead of using an FPGA and not really taking advantage of it), but when all the wireless connections needed are known, specifically, FMS to 6 and only 6 robots, why do we need a protocol that is inherently built for arbitrary connectivity? Isn't this just asking for problems? And it gains us nothing. I think it would make a lot of sense to stick with a proprietary radio connection, and if you must use IP, establish a forward of the wired network run by the FMS over this radio link. I may be oversimplifying things, but the current situation is hardly simple.

So stick with the cRio and fancy shmancy Driver Station laptops, but stick with a wireless connection that works and is not so heavily dependent on a friendly environment.

I can't tell if this is a pointless rant or if you're being serious.



What wireless protocol and frequency would you use? 2.4Ghz? 5Ghz? Something other than wi-fi? There isn't much to switch to that isn't regulated.

[Aren Siekmeier]

Originally Posted by theprgramerdude

What wireless protocol and frequency would you use? 2.4Ghz? 5Ghz? Something other than wi-fi? There isn't much to switch to that isn't regulated.

The frequency is only part of the problem. Sure there is a lot of noise at 2.4 GHz because of the prevalence of Wifi, but I feel like most of the problem is the protocol. There are numerous hobby/RC bands just outside of 2.4 GHz that have no trouble maintaining a connection, even with several hundred controller/vehicle pairs in a smallish area, and I feel it's mostly because the nodes know exactly who are they are trying to talk to and don't have to deal with traffic from a gazillion other nodes (or if they do, because it's not fully scalable like IP, it doesn't have to look through and potentially forward every packet coming in, it can just ignore most of them). FIRST itself had a band for its own competition in 2008 and prior. In terms of regulations, for short range broadcasting I'm fairly certain there are a lot of bands where you don't need to tell anyone about what you're doing (I'm talking something like less than a few hundred meters). I'm sure there are some Ham radio buffs around here somewhere who know all about this.