How to use a Cisco router instead of the Netgear Router Rev B

[FIRSTgenius]

Our Netgear Router recently crapped out, and we are using a demo robot to provide demonstrations in the community. It is not necessary to have all FRC legal parts for this demonstration. We are trying to figure out how to configure this cisco router so we can use a camera and download code to use as a demo robot in the FRC Driver Station.


Please help us!!!!

[Domenic Rodriguez]

While using a different router is obviously not supported by FIRST, it seems to me that if you configure a router manually the same way it should work. I've not tried this before, so I can't confirm if this is the case.

Here are the documents that explain the router configuration process from the 2011 and 2012 seasons, before FIRST gave us the Bridge Configuration Tool.

2011: http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...Your_Radio.pdf
2012: http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default...20System_2.pdf (Starting on page 29)

The basic process should be something like this:
1. Set the router to Access Point mode
2. Log in to the router's web configuration (reset router if needed)
3. Configure the router settings (described below)
4. Log out and restart the router

Here are the settings that you will need to change:

• Network Name (SSID) should be set to your team number
• 802.11 Band usually should be set to 2.4 GHz, unless your laptop supports 5.0 GHz
• Wireless Security is optional, and you probably won't need it in this case
• WiFi Protected Setup/WCN 2.0 should be disabled if available
• The router's IP should be static with the form 10.xx.yy.1, where xxyy is your team number
• The subnet mask should be set to 255.0.0.0
• The default gateway should be set to 10.xx.yy.4, again where xxyy is your team number

If you configure your radio this way, you might be able to use it on your robot. Again, since I've not actually done this before, I can not confirm that it will work. Refer to the linked documents for more details.

After typing this out, I realize that you mentioned a Netgear router, not the D-Link from the KOP. The router used on a FRC robot for 2013 is a D-Link DAP-1522 Rev B. Is this the router you are referring to, or are you talking about something else?

[Garrett.d.w]

DomenicR has it right. We use an old cisco router on our offseason projects all of the time. We simply set it up as if it were the D-link one. In reality, you can use any wireless router as long as you can provide it with the correct input voltage. If you are talking about the cisco router from 2009, you will want to run 12 volts to it on the robot. Don't take my word for this! It is really easy to fry a router if you run too much power too it.

As a side note, use a router that has 5.0Gz Wireless N. It will save you many headaches as those radios are less prone to interference.