FPGA 2011

[bpscharles]

There were some rumors going around that FIRST might be opening up the FPGA on our cRIO's this year. Does anybody know if part/all of this is true? It would be nice if they did because it would give teams alot more room to expand.

[LockheedJoe]

What I have heard on this, all rumor and second hand stories, won't be opened up mainly because it's full. It currently handles a lot behind the scenes. Things like the Watchdog time stuff, the emergency stop button, FMS (Field Management System) interfaceand a lot of the basic communications. They (NI) would probably have to either distribute a newer cRIO with a larger FPGA or move some of the functions up to the processor which would slow that down. If they opened up the FPGA they would also have to make sure the FMS, watchdog, and emergency stop were not tampered with or disabled if the FPGA were used.

All this is what I heard when I was talking with some NI people at the Dallas Regional last year. Of course that doesn't mean all this is wrong and they'll open it up this year.

Joe V

FRC 704 mentor

[LabViewEnthusiast]

Also discussed here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87708

As a beta test teams, there are some additions in LabVIEW that teams can use this year that relate to the FPGA, but they don't control it and they are still quite advanced.

The FPGA is a pretty advanced thing and you don't really need to or should mess with it to learn a lot and have a successful robot.

[LockheedJoe]

Thanks for the crossover thread link, I don't get out to Chiefdelphi enough.

I know that opening up the FPGA (or adding an FPGA for use) would cause a larger division between the rookie teams (first 3 years) and more advanced teams. Or even just teams with technical mentors and teams without.

A lot of rookie teams just want to be competetive and when they go up against prior years champions and get stomped, it's discouraging, they don't want to come back. If the advanced teams had more technology at their disposal, when the rookie teams don't, it would increase the division.