Network Switch

[baumgartensam]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Sam,
I have to ask what you are trying to accomplish.

The reason why this has come up is this year our robot has 5 co-processors. We considered using the SPI or I2C bus; however, ultimately we decided on using IP based communication. We only have 4 ports on the access point and we need 5 ports for processors, 1 for programming, 1 for roboRIO, 1 for camera, and potentially 1 for a driver station at comps. This adds up pretty quickly and we are looking at 9 ports.

An alternative is to switch to a different communication method; however, UDP is working pretty well and we have the most experience with it.

I will ask whether it is legal to use a switch in the QA. If they conclude that it isn't, does anyone have any experience with SPI or I2C and/or have any suggestions on what to use (or another communication protocol/bus I am missing).