[FRC Blog] New 2015 FRC controller from National Instruments

[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.

[TheMadCADer]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

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.

IFI used to provide the robot controller for FRC. Here's the one from 2004.

[codes02]

Originally Posted by TheMadCADer

IFI used to provide the robot controller for FRC. Here's the one from 2004.

Right, but that is just a box with a circuit board (like this one) in it, and a bunch of chips attached to it. One of those chips is a microcontroller (on the old IFI board, it was a PIC, made by Microchip).

[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 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

[Tom Line]

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'd be fairly disappointed if they incorporated the relays onto a PCB without adding external lights like the current digital sidecar. Those are both useful troubleshooting tools when trying to narrow down problems.

[cgmv123]

Post all discussion/reactions during/after announcement here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=118311