Rah Cha Cha Rukus (Rochester, NY) Observations

[esquared]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

The reason it applies here is that IFI has asked that the radio modem control protocol remain a secret. Someone with sufficient skill can figure it out (and some have done so), but having those skills often implies a level of maturity and wisdom that keeps one from using the knowledge for ill purposes. If the protocol were published openly, however, any random script kiddie would be able to hack together something to disrupt a FRC competition.

I think more what we're looking for is how to use the competition port to automagically set radio channel numbers, not how their radio modem protocol works. As it stands right now, anyone with a moderately powerful transmitter in the 900MHz band is going to cause some havoc if they get near the field. For a script kiddie to use the competition port information to cause havoc, they will still need to pick up an RC or OI, the radio modem, and a battery, package it, and carry it around. Given the cost of IFI parts, if someone really wanted to disrupt a FIRST field, it'd be cheaper and easier to just make or buy a transmitter in the same band.

For pre-ship and/or off-season events where you don't have access to an official FIRST field, we run the risk of untethered robots in the pits interfering with robots competing in matches. It's not just a risk, it happened! This is the same risk that official competitions would have if we had access to the competition port, so I can understand why IFI would be reluctant to release it. The main difference is that the interface to the competition port is not going to be as simple as building yourself an autonomous/disable switch box, so it's highly unlikely teams will accidentally leave them connected to their competition port in the pits.

For the Rochester pre-ship meet next year, I'll spend the time needed to get the protocol extracted and work with our Labview Guru to integrate it with his field control system. Hopefully that will resolve the radio channel issues we have to fight with during these unofficial events.

--Eric