NI Control System/Driver station
From the Team 1432 Robotics Wiki
The driver station in the NI Control System is a simple ARM9-based Linux computer[1] made by KwikByte. It connects to the robot and the Field Management System via Wi-Fi, allowing driver and competition control of the robot.
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Inputs
The driver station has several types of inputs:
- 4 USB ports for joysticks, flash drives (see below), or other devices;
- A serial port for the disable switch;
- 2 Ethernet ports for networking, the first of which is connected to the router, and the other (optionally) to a computer;
- 8 digital inputs that can be used in the robot's program.
There is also a mode switch, to enable or disable the system, and three buttons ("up", "down" and "select") for software functions.
Outputs
The driver station features a 128×64-pixel (21×6-character) LED text display. Normally, on the main screen, the display shows the team number, robot mode, system enabled/disabled state, battery level, and firmware version. The robot's program can set the content of the sixth line of the main screen. In addition, there is a custom screen available, with the last five lines available via software (the first line displays the battery voltage). Holding down the "select" button on the driver station toggles between these two screens.
Software
The driver station runs an embedded Linux distribution.
There are two main software procedures[2] involving the functionality of the driver station that are needed for FRC:
Team number
After upgrading the firmware or after initially booting the driver station, it may require the team number to be re-entered. This is done as follows:
- Hold the "down" button until the screen displays "Set Team Number";
- Then press and hold the "up" or "down" buttons to change each digit, and the "select" button to move to the next digit.
The driver station will then reboot.
Firmware updates
FIRST and KwikByte occasionally release updates to the driver station's firmware. Installing these updates is a simple procedure:
- Place the latest firmware into the top-level directory of a USB drive, with the name
dsud_pkg.bin; - Fully boot the driver station and plug the USB drive into its first USB port;
- Hold the "up" and "down" buttons simultaneously until the screen displays "Firmware Update";
- Press and hold each of the "up", "down", and "select" buttons in sequence, as prompted on the screen.
The driver station will install the upgrade and then reboot.
