[FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments

[Whippet]

That PCB is green. Green is a combination of yellow and blue. Water is typically depicted as being blue. Clearly, this signifies a water game.

[Michael Hill]

Here's my opinion so far

[mman1506]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Here's my opinion so far

Didn't CTRE say they were making a external solenoid controller? I think they may be analog inputs.

[Michael Hill]

Ya, you could be right. The controller had to speak to the pneumatic controller somehow. Was that CAN-based? (I'm on my phone right now and can't look stuff up)

[mman1506]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Ya, you could be right. The controller had to speak to the pneumatic controller somehow. Was that CAN-based? (I'm on my phone right now and can't look stuff up)

yup http://i.imgur.com/276hmyB.jpg

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Here's my opinion so far

I think the Ethernet jack is to the right of the one you specified. I could be wrong (and frequently am...)

And USB! Hooray!

Not sure if there would be 20 PWMs and no DIO or Relay ports though.

Looks a lot like the footprint of the IFI controller, eh?

[joelg236]

Nobody has talked about form factor. Anyone have any idea about the size?

[Michael Hill]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

I think the Ethernet jack is to the right of the one you specified. I could be wrong (and frequently am...)

And USB! Hooray!

Not sure if there would be 20 PWMs and no DIO or Relay ports though.

Looks a lot like the footprint of the IFI controller, eh?

I don't think IFI actually makes microcontrollers (?). Surely they don't have a fab or got an ASIC produced. I can see them rebadging something. I'm going to guess an ARM microprocessor solely because of it's ability to handle vxworks.

[Michael Hill]

I've tried to unskew it the best I can and based off of my assumption that the headers are 0.1" pin pitch, it looks like it will be about 5.5" x 5". The rectangles are my best attempt at making 1" long segments.

[mman1506]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

I think the Ethernet jack is to the right of the one you specified. I could be wrong (and frequently am...)

And USB! Hooray!

Not sure if there would be 20 PWMs and no DIO or Relay ports though.

Looks a lot like the footprint of the IFI controller, eh?

I wonder if they will phase out spikes because of the new pneumatics board.

[Peter Johnson]

Originally Posted by mman1506

I'm going to guess that the IDE style connector will got to a CAN "sidecar" like the CRE crosslink.
also the ethernet and the USB-B port look like right angle parts. hmmh....

I think the big connector is simply the "custom electronics port". The Ethernet and USB ports look vertical style instead of right angle (if it was right angle, the Ethernet port would be facing the center of the board). Also, vertical style ports would be consistent with the cRIO style and make possible more compact electronic layouts (no ports off to the sides!).

[Peter Johnson]

Originally Posted by mman1506

I wonder if they will phase out spikes because of the new pneumatics board.

Nope, they still show "relay control" outputs in the new system (http://i.imgur.com/eA3Bvfu.jpg). Spikes can be useful for driving normal motors as well. Which makes me wonder where those outputs are on this board layout..

[ebmonon36]

4 pin headers are probably I2C and SPI

[Michael Hill]

Upon second look, those aren't potentiometers (the silk screen threw me off). I think they're push button switches. I should really learn to count.

[apples000]

28 i/o
That puts us at 7 analog, 7 relay, 7 dio, 7 pwm...
That's not enough for some teams, so I think that the large ide cable thing is a bunch more io.
Also, it the pin pitch is 0.1", the board is 5 inches deep, and either 5" or 5.25" wide so its pretty small...