How do I program the FRC radio to be identical to competition? Not simulate it, exactly like competition. As if I went there. Thanks.
Step one: find a team that is going to a competition this weekend.
Step two: “hey, can you reprogram this radio for me?”
But Why?
I have a problem that only happens when the robot is in field mode. It does not happen even when the router is in bridge mode. I need the radio to be programmed as a comp radio to debug this issue.
Please describe exactly what you are trying to do.
How do you have the IP set on both the DS and RoboRio?
This will help us help you.
Basically, there are enough differences in the set up for the field and home use, that these details will help reveal where the issue is and hopefully how to resolve them.
If you are trying to set the radio into the field mode you need a lot more networking infrastructure to properly replicate the field environment.
You cannot simulate the “EXACT” scenario that the field sets up due to how the WPA Key system works, but if you open the tools menu on the team configuration utility, and select FMS Lite Mode, you’ll be able to set it into 5GHZ Bridge mode with the specified ssid and wpa key.
This is as close as you can get.
There is no purpose to doing it.
Field mode: Encrypted Wifi (key) is unique to each team. Bridge mode vs AP mode.
That doesn’t get you anything without FMS.
You would then need to setup an FMS or FMS lite system for the Radio to connect to, and to give the FMS signals.
As far as setting up the Radio as close as possible to the “Field Mode”, you are correct. This is the closest you can get for the radio side.
As Rich2202 points out here, to approximate the field as closely as possible, you would need additional hardware and software.
At a minimum, you would need an Access Point. A Linksys WRT1900ACS is what is currently used for the FRC Field. You would need to flash it with OpenWRT. How to configure it beyond that is a limiting factor. You can only guess at the exact configuration.
In addition to the AP, you would most likely need a managed switch, but I have no clue or information on what is currently being used.
Once you get all the hardware in place, you would still need some flavor of FMS. FMS Lite and Cheesy Arena come to mind here. CA is not yet set up to manage any new hardware, but most likely will be by the time the Fall Off Season rolls around.
So, in the mean time, either get a WRT1900ACS, or a WRT1200AC (I have tested both and they work great!) and set them up in your shop. Put it this way, we have our practice bots connect at 5GHz, our DS and programming laptops at 2.4GHz or 5GHz and we can do everything we want wirelessly. We can also tether the DS if needed. All of this while running a live stream at 320X240 20FPS.