WiFi at a week zero event

[jvdiv]

We are hosting a week zero event, and are wondering how much effect having our schools WiFi networks on during the competition would have. The gym where we are setting up the field has at least 3 access points, each broadcasting the same 3 ssids in both 2.4 and 5ghz. Thanks for any input you can give, as it will help us when discussing this with the school district network administrator.

[Jon Stratis]

We have seen issues with Wi-Fi at other off-season events. While those three access points may not cause much of an issue, having two dozen robots in the room using Wi-Fi can! As a best practice, you should try to eliminate as many sources of interference as possible, since the teams will bring plenty of their own.

Edit: I'll also be there at your event to help look over robots. I love having a couple of options for Sunday week 0 events in addition to all of the Saturday ones!

[Mark McLeod]

Do the school APs use or serve DHCP addresses in the 10. range?
That might cause a conflict if you aren't careful to avoid connecting to them, or if the APs have the same 10. address as one of your teams.

Otherwise, I think leaving those three school AP's on will work okay for week 0 play. How many teams are you thinking?

You will have to keep an eye on the active network which you can do with a tool like InSSIDer. You may need to shift channels on whatever field AP you may be using.

Will you be using FMS Lite with a central field AP?

[jvdiv]

The school does use IP addresses in the 10. range. We are using a central ap for the field, and are planning to run Cheesy Arena for the software.

[Mark McLeod]

You'll need to keep an eye on bandwidth utilization by the teams.
The particular problem is heavy camera use (multiple, high-res, low compression) will impact that kind of environment.

Do you have some test robots (or just radios & roboRIO/cRIO) you can check running simultaneously in the gym connecting through your field AP?

[EmileH]

The 5GHz wifi shouldn't affect the competition because the D-Link AP's use 2.4 during competition. The 2.4G wifi ap's in your gymnasium may possibly interfere with the FMS during competition.

Also doesn't this year's FMS use mDNS so that the roboRIO connects via roborio-####.local and only uses a static IP as a fallback? The routers are configured to assign the RoboRIO a DHCP address (at home use) which I believe can vary should you be using other ethernet devices, such as Axis cameras.

I know thats how we configure them for home use but the competition bridge config may change to set Static IPs. Hopefully FIRST releases some information & if they did we should take a look at the way the FMS connects to the robots.

[rich2202]

What channel(s) is(are) the school using?

Channels 1, 6, and 11 are non-overlapping. If you can stay away from the School's channels, you should be ok. If you are on the same channel as the school, then you could overload the network. Everyone using the School's wifi could interfere with using the field wifi.

[Taylor]

We've found interference with teams numbered 15XX at our offseason event. We had to disable the school wifi.

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by Taylor

We've found interference with teams numbered 15XX at our offseason event. We had to disable the school wifi.

I can't think of any team who has numbers in that range... "

[jvdiv]

Here is a scan of the networks and channels from in the gym. We have last year's robot and this years robot that we may be able to test.

[MrRoboSteve]

It's more fundamental than IP addresses.

You don't want to be competing with other wifi access points for the same radio channels. Otherwise you'll have difficulty providing 7mbps to each driver station <--> robot pair.

[Bryan Herbst]

Originally Posted by emileh3467

roborio-####.local and only uses a static IP as a fallback? The routers are configured to assign the RoboRIO a DHCP address (at home use) which I believe can vary should you be using other ethernet devices, such as Axis cameras.

I know thats how we configure them for home use but the competition bridge config may change to set Static IPs. Hopefully FIRST releases some information & if they did we should take a look at the way the FMS connects to the robots.

For real competitions this year the RoboRIO and Drivers Stations will still be using mDNS and getting IPs via DHCP.

Since week zero events will be using last year's FMS (or a third party FMS such as Cheesy Arena), you will need to go into the RoboRIO's settings and set it to a static IP of 10.xx.yy.2, and make sure the radio isn't trying to serve out IPs via DHCP.

Similarly, you'll want to make sure everyone has their driver station configured for the correct IP (10.xx.yy.5).

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by jvdiv

Here is a scan of the networks and channels from in the gym. We have last year's robot and this years robot that we may be able to test.

That looks pretty ugly to me... I would definitely see if you could get some of those access points in and near the gym turned off for the day.

[totesmagotes]

So we all know that creating hotspots is not allowed as well as walkie talkies. However, is there any rule against CPC radios?

[xXhunter47Xx]

Originally Posted by totesmagotes

So we all know that creating hotspots is not allowed as well as walkie talkies. However, is there any rule against CPC radios?

5.5.8 Special Equipment Rules
T21 The only equipment, provided it does not jam or interfere with the remote sensing capabilities of another Team, including vision
systems, acoustic range finders, sonars, infrared proximity detectors, etc. (e.g. including imagery that, to a reasonably astute
observer, mimics the Vision Guides), that may be brought in to the ALLIANCE STATION are as follows:
A. the OPERATOR CONSOLE,
B. non-powered signaling devices,
C. reasonable decorative items,
D. special clothing and/or equipment required due to a disability
E. devices used solely for the purpose of planning or tracking strategy provided they meet all of the following conditions:
1. do not connect or attach to the OPERATOR CONSOLE
2. do not connect or attach to the FIELD or ARENA
3. do not connect or attach to another ALLIANCE member
4. do not communicate with anything or anyone outside of the ARENA.
5. do not include any form of enabled wireless electronic communication (e.g. radios, walkie-talkies, cell phones,
Bluetooth communications, Wi-Fi, etc.)
6. do not in any way affect the outcome of a MATCH, other than by allowing PLAYERS to plan or track strategy for the
purposes of communication of that strategy to other ALLIANCE members..


Emphasis on the bolded part, unless CPC radios involve extreme tethering.