Phoenix 6 Features

Phoenix 6 currently offers the following features and will further expand.

Phoenix 6

The following features are available for free in the Phoenix 6 API.

Comprehensive API

• Device signal getters return a StatusSignal object, expanding the functionality of status signals.

• Control devices with an extensive list of flexible, strongly-typed control request objects.

Canonical Units

• Uses the popular C++ units library and standardizes on SI units.

• Provides overloads using the Java units library.

• Signals are documented with the unit type and the minimum and maximum values.

Improved Device Control

• New and improved control output types and closed-loop configuration.

• Improved Motion Magic® with jerk control and support for modifying the profile on the fly.

• New Motion Magic® Expo control to use an exponential profile following system dynamics, reducing both overshoot and time to target.

• Kalman-based algorithms to reduce latency while maintaining smooth data.

Swerve API

• High-performance Swerve API using synchronous, latency-compensated odometry.

• Eliminate the boilerplate from copying swerve template code.

• Supported in Java, C++, and Python.

• Minimized GC impact in Java and Python using native C++ implementation.

• Improved odometry performance with CANivore and Phoenix Pro.

• Tuner X Swerve Project Generator gets swerve drive up and running quickly.

• Built-in high-fidelity simulation support.

Enhanced Support for CAN FD

• Improved CAN FD framing further reduces any CAN bus utilization issues.

• Larger CAN frames allow for the addition of more advanced features.

New Tuner X Self Tests and Plotting

• Detailed and resolute self tests to improve debugging.

• Plot signals at the configured signal update frequency.

• Combine multiple signal axes together and customize display of signal plots.

Free High-Fidelity Simulation

• Simulation closely follows the behavior of real hardware.

• Write unit-tests for your robot code, and make sure the robot works before deploying.

Continuous Wrap Mode

• Takes the shortest path for continuous mechanisms.

• Ideal for mechanisms such as Swerve Drive Steer.

Phoenix Pro

Certain Phoenix 6 features require the device or CANivore to be Pro licensed. The list of features that require licensing is available below.

Field Oriented Control (FOC)

• ~15% increase in peak power.

• Increased torque output; faster acceleration and higher speeds under load.

• Greater efficiency; the motor draws less current for the same output power, increasing battery life.

• Support for direct torque control.

Time Base Synchronization

• Using CANivore Timesync, signals from all devices are sampled and published to the CAN bus at the same time.

• API can synchronously wait for data from multiple devices on a CANivore to arrive.

• Device timestamps captured when the signal is sampled provides best possible latency compensation.

Fused CANcoder

• Fuse a CANcoder with the motor’s internal rotor, getting absolute data all the time while using the fast internal sensor for closed looping.

Real-Time High-Fidelity Signal Logger

• Log all status signals from every device with timestamps from CAN.

• Data captured as it arrives at the full update rate of the status signals.

• Improved sensitivity and accuracy of system identification with WPILib SysId.

• Automatically starts logging during an FRC match.

• Support for custom user signals alongside auto-captured data.

• Efficient hoot logging format minimizes disk space and CPU usage.

• Export to multiple formats including WPILOG and MCAP.

• Free users can export a limited set of signals to WPILOG.

Replay Hoot Logs

• Rerun your robot program in simulation using status signals and custom signals from a hoot log generated by the robot.

• No architecture changes necessary for automatic replay of device status signals.

• Robot automatically enables in the correct mode and runs through all maneuvers in the hoot log.

• Test code changes such as odometry improvements or failure condition detection and handling.

• Support for step timing and changing the speed of playback.

Feature Breakdown

A full comparison of features between the free Phoenix 6 API and Phoenix Pro is shown below.

Feature	Phoenix 6 (rio)	Phoenix 6 + Pro (rio)	Phoenix 6 (CANivore)	Phoenix 6 + Pro (CANivore)
Canonical Units	x	x	x	x
Improved Bus Utilization	x	x	x	x
CANcoder Always Absolute	x	x	x	x
Kalman-based Velocity	x	x	x	x
Synchronous Wait for Data	x	x	x	x
System Timestamps	x	x	x	x
Limited Signal Logger WPILOG Export	x	x	x	x
Explicit Control Requests	x	x	x	x
Motion Magic®	x	x	x	x
Motion Magic® Velocity	x	x	x	x
Motion Magic® Expo	x	x	x	x
Continuous Wrap Mode	x	x	x	x
Simple Differential Control	x	x	x	x
Improved Self-Test Snapshot	x	x	x	x
Improved Tuner X Plotting	x	x	x	x
CANivore Timestamps			x	x
CAN FD			x	x
Field Oriented Control (FOC)		x		x
Fused CANcoder + TalonFX		x		x
Sync CANcoder + Talon FX		x		x
Full Signal Logger Export		x		x
Signal Logger MCAP Export		x		x
Hoot Log Replay		x		x
Time-Synced Signal Publishing				x
Device Timestamps				x
Dynamic Motion Magic®				x
Full Differential Control				x
Swerve API	+	++	++	+++

Note

⁺ The Swerve API is freely available; however, performance improves when used on a CANivore bus and further improves when used with Pro devices. For more information, see Factors that Impact Odometry.