Connectivity Issues

When I try to connect to the robot with my computer via wifi connection the communications and robot code LEDs on the driver station do not turn green:(

Messages in the diagnostics section are attatched.

The settings on the D-Link are as follows:
switch set to AP 2.4GHz
power is correct
CRio plugged in via ethernet cable
Camera plugged in via ethernet cable

Then I tried plugging straight into the cRIO with an ethernet cable and every 4 seconds or so the message on the diagnostics section of the driver station switched from cRIO(.2)-GOOD to cRIO(.2)-bad

When I plugged straight into the DS Radio, via Ethernet cable as well, it didn’t improve the connection situation either.

I can not see why it does not work:(
If anyone can help I would be very greatful!

I’d suggest starting with as simple a setup as possible and get that working before adding extra devices into the mix.
That means connecting your laptop directly to the cRIO and debugging that connection first.

The obvious things to check are:

  • Turn off any Firewalls or anti-virus that may be running on the laptop
  • Fireup the Driver Station app and check that it is allowed to change the IP settings automatically. (See the Setup tab).
  • Verify that the team number on the Setup tab is correct.
  • After the Driver Station sets the IP addresses, directly verify that they are correct. (Control Panel -> Network Connections -> adapter settings)
  • You can also bring up a CMD prompt window and verify your network settings with “ipconfig /all” . Then use “arp -av” to see what shows as connected to your laptop.
    Once that works reliably connect via Ethernet through the DLink and that should work identically.

Once that’s confirmed you can try wireless between the laptop and the DLink.

  • Does the DLink wireless network show up on your laptop’s list of available wireless networks?
    *]Can you manually connect to the DLink SSID from the laptop?

Have you previously run your robot since your last event that used FMS?

If you have not, I suspect you may have forgotten to reset the security on the radio. If you have, disregard this question.

I have run it…but I have no idea what you mean by resetting the security

At events, the router is set up for operation with the field. Each robot has its own “key”. Often, after an event, teams will forget to shut the “key” off for home-field running. This takes a couple minutes and a reset of the security settings.

Seeing as the robot has been run since the last event it was at, though, this isn’t the issue.

Could you elaborate on how exactly to do this, or at least link me to a place that explains how. I’m definitely breaking the search before I post rule, but my team just spent 3 hours tonight trying to connect to our robot and I would appreciate it if you made my life a little easier.

Make sure the router is not in bridge mode. If its not, see if a ping works. Also try and reset the router.

Sorry, but I’m a mechanical guy. I’ve seen it done, and with coaching helped to do it in a pinch, but I’ve never done it and don’t know where the documentation is (but I’m willing to bet that a CD search about “WPA key” or somesuch phrase will turn up something). Should be a few pretty recent ones–every year someone forgets.

One of the tools that FIRST gave us this season is the2013 FRC Bridge Configuration UtilityIf you already have it, then a shortcut was probably added to your desktop.
Just connect the DLink to your laptop via Ethernet, run the utility and follow directions.

There are also written directions in Getting Started with the 2013 Control System beginning on page 23.
or
Screensteps: Programming your Radio for Home Use

You might have to do a hard reset of the bridge.

Make sure the bridge is powered on completely. It can brick if you don’t wait to reset it.

Alright I just got into the shop to work on our robot and the wifi started working when I unplugged the camera! I think it has something to do with the IP address or something…I’ll look into it.

To the guy that is having connection issues like me: make sure you just start with the basics…if you’re having issues try to unplug any accessories (like the camera) from the DS Radio

Good luck and I’ll keep you all updated!

To everyone who responded to me, thank you so much. I have gotten wireless communication between the driver station and the CRIO. Unfortunately, I’ve been working on this from my house using an empty CRIO and a router running off a power outlet, and because I don’t have an analog breakout board attached NetBeans won’t let me upload code and test it out. I will be getting to a robot on Monday, so I should be able to confirm everything works then.

Here’s my new question: how do I change the SSID of the router. I know before the SSIDs on our robots used to be 3958_ROBOT_NAME, but now its just 3958. I imagine this would get confusing when there are multiple robots going at the same time. I have tried putting the IP address into my browser, but chrome is just saying that the webpage is not available.

The SSID doesn’t really matter for at home use, but you have to be able to connect and browse to the DLink to change it to something else.
Since you are unable to browse directly to the router (and I assume you’ve connected them by wire or wireless), that probably means that your laptop and router do not have compatible IP addresses and netmasks.
Interestingly enough the DLink & laptop don’t require compatible IP addresses unless you want to browse specifically to the DLink.

You can use the Radio Config utility I mentioned earlier if the router is one of the 1522 DLinks. The utility will change the SSID to your team number as well as set the router IP/netmask correctly. It will do so by changing the laptop IP/netmask to be compatible with the DLink in either it’s factory default or FRC standard settings.

Or you can browse to the DLink or third-party router manually and change the router settings by hand, by resetting the laptop IP to match what you think the router settings are. For instance, if you think the DLink has an IP address of 10.39.58.1 then make sure your laptop IP address is 10.39.58.5, so they are in compatible IP ranges.
If however, the DLink is using a factory default IP address (192.168.0.50), then you will have to make your laptop IP 192.168.0.5 (and browse to the default IP address of course).

Our connectivity works now!
It turns out that when I went to set up our camera I accidentally changed the IP address of the DS Radio to the camera. As a result, the computer was trying to find the signal in the camera…so it didn’t work.
I was able to go and correct this and then it connected!
Thanks everyone for your help:)