Field Radio

Game Adapter

WRT600 WET610N

cRIO

Driver Station

Camera

Driver Station ‘Router’ WRT610N WRT160N

Basic Networking TCP/IP connected devices

Wireless

Wired

Parts of an IP config

IP address (10.15.40.1)

Subnet mask (255.0.0.0)

Default gateway (10.15.40.4) In this example, 10 is network and 15.40.1 is host

If you change the mask to 255.255.255.0, then 10.15.40 is network and 1 is host

For FIRST, you are basically talking within your own subnet

More Basic Networking Wireless/Radio terminology

Band 5Ghz

Channel 36

SSID 1540

Vlan 1540

Association

Basic Tools

Ping is your friend

There are others (ipconfig, tracert, arp, netstat)

Field Radio SSID 1540

Game Adapter 10.15.40.1

WRT600

cRIO 10.15.40.2

Driver Station 10.15.40.5

Driver Station ‘Router’ 10.15.40.4

WRT160N

`

LAB Connectivity Driver Station

cRio

OR

Driver Station Router

Driver Station

Gaming Adapter

cRio

FIELD Connectivity Field networking equipment

Field Radio

Driver Station

Gaming Adapter

cRio

FIELD Connectivity FMS tells the router and field radio to set up the field for

team 1540 Field Radio broadcasts SSID 1540

Vlan 1540 is ready to talk to devices with 10.15.40.x addresses

Ditto for the other 5 teams on the field

Traffic from the DS goes to the field networking equipment via ethernet connection, out field radio to GA on robot, through ethernet to cRio

Traffic from the cRio goes through ethernet to GA, over wireless SSID to field radio, back to field network gear and DS through ethernet

Ditto for the other 5 teams on the field….

Avoiding “No Comms” Devise pre and post match checks for your robots and

then DO them consistently ;-)

Don’t monkey with the network settings on your devices – set them up as instructed in the FIRST documentation OR at the advice of FTA

Keep your DS Operating System clean. Malware can impact your ability to effectively talk on a network

Avoiding “No Comms” Make sure you have good, solid power to GA and cRio

(as in, no loose cables)

Make sure you have nice, solid ethernet to cRio and DS

No loose cables (robot gets banged around…)

No bad spring pins

No junk in the interface ports

Be friendly to the classmate ethernet jack

Avoiding “No Comms” Location, location, location ;-) Mount the GA

someplace happy.

Pay attention to that cute little reset button

Bumps!

“damped, non oscillary mount”

You need quick access to GA and cRio on the field

Avoiding “No Comms” Location, location, location ;-) Wireless communication is

inherently moody – there are boatloads of things that affect it, and we can’t SEE any of them with our eyes... No conductive surfaces

Static!

Orientation of internal antenna…

Don’t bury the GA deep in the robot

Don’t encase in metal or other things that interfere with radio waves

Avoid polycarb ;-)

Avoid high EM fields (translate: Motors, power lines)

Avoid faraday cages (steel frames ;-))

Avoiding “No Comms” Boot sequence on the field

Come to the field with your DS and Robot off

Wait for your team # on the display

Boot up DS, login as driver and wait for happy green lights on DS

Power up robot

Smile, and have a good match

The FTA is your friend ;-)

Thanks for staying awake!

Questions?

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/EU/en/products/WET610N

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/UK/en/support/WRT160N

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/UK/en/support/WRT610N

https://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/wireless/lbc/WGA600N