[3dr Radio Config Software Download
Hanne Rylaarsdam
The FRC Radio Configuration Utility requires administrator privileges to configure the network settings on your machine. The program should request the necessary privileges automatically (may require a password if run from a non-administrator account), but if you are having trouble, try running it from an administrator account.
Plug directly from your computer into the wireless bridge ethernet port closest to the power jack. Make sure no other devices are connected to your computer via ethernet. If powering the radio via PoE, plug an Ethernet cable from the PC into the socket side of the PoE adapter (where the roboRIO would plug in). If you experience issues configuring through the PoE adapter, you may try connecting the PC to the alternate port on the radio.
By default, the Radio Configuration Utility will program the radio to enforce the 4Mbps bandwidth limit on traffic exiting the radio over the wireless interface. In the home configuration (AP mode) this is a total, not a per client limit. This means that streaming video to multiple clients is not recommended.
Part of the installation prompts will include installing Npcap if it is not already present. The Npcap installer contains a number of checkboxes to configure the install. You should leave the options as the defaults.
If you see an error about NPF name, try disabling all adapters other than the one being used to program the radio. If only one adapter is found, the tool should attempt to use that one. See the steps in Disabling Network Adapters for more info.
Select which operating mode you want to configure. For most cases, the default selection of 2.4GHz Access Point will be sufficient. If your computers support it, the 5GHz AP mode is recommended, as 5GHz is less congested in many environments.
Robot Name: This is a string that gets appended to the SSID used by the radio. This allows you to have multiple networks with the same team number and still be able to distinguish them.
Firewall: If this box is checked, the radio firewall will be configured to attempt to mimic the port blocking behavior of the firewall present on the FRC field. For a list of open ports, please see the FRC Game Manual.
BW Limit: If this box is checked, the radio enforces a 4 Mbps bandwidth limit like it does when programmed at events. Note that this is a total limit, not per client, so streaming video to multiple clients simultaneously may cause undesired behavior.
Follow the on-screen instructions for preparing your wireless bridge, entering the settings the bridge will be configured with, and starting the configuration process. These on-screen instructions update to match the bridge model and operating mode chosen.
Due to Unicode incompatibles, non-US Teams may face a configuration failure because of incorrect network interface reading. In that case, change the network adapter name to another name in English and retry.
Displays the immunity level configured for an AP radio profile to improve performance in high-interferenceenvironments. For more information on configuring immunity levels, see rf dot11a-radio-profile and rf dot11g-radio-profile.
Over the last few months, and more frequently here recently, we have been seeing a problem with APs' losing the settings in Configuration>Radio all other settings appear to be fine. Example, I just got a call from a customer that is the only person on a new AP. I go and look at the AP and the Country Code isn't set.. it was set , it was working until about an hour ago. I set the country code back to United States and everything is working again.
Yesterday I had a customer call and report his internet wasn't working. I logged into the AP (different site than the above AP), everything looked fine, the customer radio was connected so I logged into the customer radio, everything looked like the customer should have Internet. Having had the customer reboot everything else we have him power cycle the radio. The radio never comes back online... we assume it's another one that has reverted to v1.something firmware and schedule a truck roll. Meanwhile I decide to try rebooting the AP. It reboots and no customers are connecting. We wait, still nothing. Wait some more, still nothing. I happen to notice the AP is on a 40Mhz channel and using 5.3Ghz . We don't' use 40Mhz or 5.3Ghz . I go to Configuration>Radio settings and it is set to 40Mhz and automatic channel selection.
So we set the radio back to 20Mhz , 5.1Ghz and everyone, including the customer that called is working again. Last week we had another AP do the same thing, suddenly stopped working and we I logged in it didn't have a country code set.
Could this be part of the "Cold Weather Problem" ? All of our AP's are running 2.4.3 except the two we have had to try the 2.6.1RC1 on. We have only been upgrading radios to 2.6.1 RC1 if they showed signs of the cold weather problem. Since 2.5 and every update after it has seemed to create more problems then they fix we have been hesitant to roll 2.6.1 out to anything we didn't have to.
One of the side effects of the DDR timing cold weather issue is the radio losing its config. They go back to default config and ACS is on by default, therefore your AP chosing a different frequency after running ACS. I suspect this is your problem unless you are already running the 2.6.1 private load on these radios. Are these radios running 2.4.3 or the 2.6.1 private load? If they are running 2.4.3 I recommend to upgrade to 2.6.1 private load.
The two key message parameters are RADIO.rssi and RADIO.remrssi.The first is the RSSI (signal strength) level that the local radio isreceiving at. The remrssi parameter is the RSSI that the remote radio isreceiving at.
The RSSI value scales approximately as 1.9x the dBm signal strength,plus an offset. See the Si1000 data sheet for the exact mapping betweenRSSI and dBm received signal strength, or use this approximate formula
The reason the RSSI varies so much during this flight is that thesignal is attenuated when the plane is rolled over in a turn as I wasusing a simple wire antenna in the plane. The RSSI values for thisflight were plenty high enough for the link quality to be excellentthroughout the flight using the default radio parameters.
The most common source of range problems is noise. Noise is unwantedradio emissions in the same frequency range that your radio is usingthat interferes with the operation of your radio. The radios havetelemetry logging built in to help you diagnose the source of the noise.
Perhaps the most common source of noise with the 3DR-433 is noise fromthe USB bus on your ground station. That shows up as high values for theRADIO.noise value. If you get this, then you could try using a differentUSB cable, or a different laptop. You can also try using a USB hubbetween your laptop and your radio.
Another key source of range problems is the antenna placement. Yourground station antenna should be well clear of obstructions and a coupleof meters off the ground. You may need to build a stand to hold it toget the best range.
The key parameter that controls the range of your radios is theAIR_SPEED. The default is 64 (which is 64kbps) will give you a rangeof over a kilometre with small omni antennas. The lower you set theAIR_SPEED the longer your range, although lowering the AIR_SPEEDalso lowers how much data you can send over the link.
For most telemetry applications you will primarily be sending datamostly in one direction, from the aircraft to the ground station. Formost people, the amount of data sent from the ground station to theaircraft is small, just an occasional control packet plus heartbeatpackets.
If you are using a joystick to control your aircraft then you will besending a lot more data from the ground station to the aircraft, and inthat case you may find a higher AIR_SPEED is needed, although yourrange will be reduced.
The ECC parameter makes a big difference to the data rate you cansupport at a given AIR_SPEED. If you have ECC set to zero, then noerror correcting information is sent, and the radio uses a simple 16 bitCRC to detect transmission errors. In that case your radio will be ableto support data transfers in one direction of around 90% of theAIR_SPEED.
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