Did you like the 802.11b Wireless LAN at EPC@T

[soap108]

(also any feedback from wireless at Moto-Midwest would be appreciated)

So for those of you who used the soap_wireless SSID, pls provide some feedback, both the good and the bad.

Certainly a part of the good news is we were able to deploy it and not interfere with FIRST operations (that'll help us bring it back next year). Also, CISCO- the major supplier of the WAPs- was impressed by its utilization and wants to take wireless to the next level at FIRST events, especially EPC@T.

I wish we'd had tested more items like getting the soap video stream working over the network, not just the wireless part, but also in Raytheon's Inet Tent. Also the DHCP server inside some of our routers couldn't quite handle the amount of clients that connected. (but that's actually a "good problem" as we now know where to beef up the system for 2003)

Also, you might say security was not very high on the wireless..........a subject that will be looked at with great interest for next year.

Thanks for any feedback,
KA-108
Team 108 - SigmaC@T

[Ian W.]

there was a wireless network at nets!?! WHY DO YOU TELL ME NOW!?!!!!

how fast was the network? i'm guessing a high speed one (11 MBPS i think). oh well, if i can come next year, count me in on using it.

[Dave Flowerday]

I used it at the Motorola regional and was really glad you provided it. We were able to send email updates on our progress to friends who weren't able to attend, and I know they appreciated it. Also a friend of mine was able to watch our matches on the webcast you provided at MMR which was cool.

Are there any plans to provide some type of internal web site on the wireless LAN next year? I'm thinking of a site which could provide all the match information that's up on the pit displays and probably a whole lot more. Obviously you could provide SOAP data that way as well. Or was there already such a system in place that I wasn't aware of?

[soap108]

Yes. The IP 192.168.108.108 had the SOAP "Internal" Website which had links to the "Internal" video stream, pre-recorded (digitized) video. We didn't advertise it too much since there were a few issues that got put on the back burner.

Something to the effect of an internal site that did scores, on deck, seeding, and you-name-it in a Bloomberg-esque manner was Beta-tested this year. It should be a "go" for next year to replace the current Access-driven Pit Displays....

There will probably be two flavours of this "site"- one for FIRST (which does the basics) and SOAP's own version which can do the stuff most teams like to see: Detailed STATS!!

Any other ideas? .... Now's a good time to suggest stuff for 2003.

KA-108

[Quain]

Thats an incredible idea... you guys rock... I wish I had known about it... Maybe you could incorporate a chatroom or something so teams can converse and such.. or a messaging system so you can leave things for other teams if you don't have a chance to tell them.... maybe a way to contact your disheartened team members @ home... so many possibility... so little time...

[Alfred Thompson]

Every time I cam by to ask for the connect info I was told to hook into an open ethernet wire. I would have prefered to use the wireless NIC (I always travel with both).

Two suggestions: One try and get someone to mount an access point high up. Or better yet, two access points in different parts of the tent so that range is improved.
Two, print up a handout with the lan settings required for connection. That will save time.

[DanBlock]

I used the 802.11 wireless lan, and It worked perfectly. Unfurtunatly, the scores were not being updated real time (unless it was working later on in the competition). Also I was using it on a pocket pc which unfurtunatly does not have java so I could not access the soap website, since it is all in java. Other then that It was really cool and I hope you do it in years to come.

Thanks for the Net access,
Dan

[Justin]

Hi,

Being a computer geek and having a little expirence with wireless, I'm curious as to how you guys were able to deal with bandwitdh? Most 802.11b access points I know of are "shared" ie. divide 11 by # of people connected on that access point and they is their throughput (for the most part)....how many access points did you employ?? I think this is an awsome idea BTW and it was only a matter of time...nice job on a good service SOAP perhaps i'll get to use it next year if I'm in FL...i heard rumors of a similar effort being made for the UTC regional next year.

Very cool,

-Justin

[Alfred Thompson]

Originally posted by Justin
Hi,

Being a computer geek and having a little expirence with wireless, I'm curious as to how you guys were able to deal with bandwitdh? Most 802.11b access points I know of are "shared" ie. divide 11 by # of people connected on that access point and they is their throughput (for the most part)...

Very cool,

-Justin

First off, rememebr that 11 is more than the average 10 of a wired ethernet. Of course a lot of backbones and more and more hubs are supporting 100 but 11 is still a lot. It's a whole lot more than the 1.4-1.5 of a T-1 in any case. Also remember that unless one is downloading a large file you are only sending or recieving part of the time. At our school we set up 20 laptops using the internet through one wireless access point all the time. Not a problem.

[soap108]

Originally posted by Alfred Thompson
Every time I cam by to ask for the connect info I was told to hook into an open ethernet wire. I would have prefered to use the wireless NIC (I always travel with both).

Two suggestions: One try and get someone to mount an access point high up. Or better yet, two access points in different parts of the tent so that range is improved.
Two, print up a handout with the lan settings required for connection. That will save time.

Yeah, I pointed you to the wired LAN since I knew 100% that it would work with no hassle. I'm surprised as many people had a good time on the 80211 since we didn't have a well thought out requirements, design, and implementation plan in place. We kinda made things up as we went.....

There were several access points (at least 3 that I know of) that had the soap_wireless SSID throughout the Pit. There may have been one or two near Curie..... Joel- where'd you put them?

Yes, bandwidth is shared...more or less.... 11Mbps max in theory 3-4Mbps in reality.

There were enough higher priority issues with the scoring system that the widget that updates SOAP wasn't monitored the way it was at Chicago.

We will work much closer with the production companies to get the WAPS higher up. Thanks for the idea.

Adding IM or chat or something would not be too hard, but I'd rather see people "talk" IRL.....

KA-108

[SoapSudSilver]

Hey guys. Sup kenny. Another soapsud here who helped set it up. Im glad so many people liked it. Hey dan (the one with the pocket pc), im sorry i couldnt get your PPC to work with the SOAP site, i remember trying to get it to work and it couldnt do JavaScript. Next year is gonna be cool.


-Silver
SO@P Coder
C/O 2002
W@SH with SO@P

[ChrisA]

lets get a big yay for kenny....

....yay....


i still want my phone back kenny