Wi-Fi vs occusync 2.0.

[RobotBee]

Yes, Ocusync wins by far.

Wi-Fi is designed for short ranges up to about 100m, so that they could customise it to get usable bandwidth out of it at 1km or more is already pretty impressive. Ocusync is built using customised LTE (4G) cellular equipment which is designed for more range in the first place.

I have not found this at all. In the exact same flying locations, flying one directly after the other, my Mavic Air 1 in FCC mode outperforms my Mini 2 in CE mode. Pretty disappointing from the Mini 2.

 

[anotherlab]

Yes, Ocusync wins by far.

Wi-Fi is designed for short ranges up to about 100m, so that they could customise it to get usable bandwidth out of it at 1km or more is already pretty impressive. Ocusync is built using customised LTE (4G) cellular equipment which is designed for more range in the first place.

That's not exactly correct. Ocusync 2.0 uses the same frequencies as Wi-Fi. DJI designed it as a Software Designed Radio (SDR) that would be able to use off-the-shelf Wi-Fi chipsets.

FWIW, LTE range is largely defined by equipment on the towers. If Ocusync was based on LTE, you wouldn't be able to fly a drone in an LTE dead zone.

 

[Kilrah]

LTE range is largely defined by equipment on the towers. If Ocusync was based on LTE, you wouldn't be able to fly a drone in an LTE dead zone.

I didn't say it was using the LTE network, just that they used LTE chipsets and modulation/tech to implement their own connection, that's obviously not dependent on any existing network.
That's been determined by people reverse-engineering the boards and RF transmission.

 

[anotherlab]

I didn't say it was using the LTE network, just that they used LTE chipsets and modulation/tech to implement their own connection, that's obviously not dependent on any existing network.
That's been determined by people reverse-engineering the boards and RF transmission.

Do you have anything that documents the use of LTE chip sets? You can't just use a LTE chipset and broadcast your own protocol. LTE usage is strictly regulated. Ocusync 2.0 is documented on DJI's own site to use the 2.4 and 5.8 Ghz bands, which is where Wi-Fi operates. Here's a nice writeup of how the Ocusync protocol works and how it uses Wi-Fi hardware, but their own protocol.

 

[Kilrah]

Data comes from the dji reverse engineering groups.
Again it's LTE tech but applied in a custom way and in the license free bands, not actual LTE as in cellular.

 

[anotherlab]

Data comes from the dji reverse engineering groups.
Again it's LTE tech but applied in a custom way and in the license free bands, not actual LTE as in cellular.

Are you sure about the LTE hardware? For example, the Mavic Air 2 uses a dual-band Wi-Fi chip from Imagination Technologies (source).

At any rate, the range of the radio is going to be limited by the antenna, broadcast power, and protocol used.

 

[Bill_W]

Yes, Ocusync wins by far.

Wi-Fi is designed for short ranges up to about 100m, so that they could customise it to get usable bandwidth out of it at 1km or more is already pretty impressive. Ocusync is built using customised LTE (4G) cellular equipment which is designed for more range in the first place.

Hi Kilrah, where did you get the information about Ocusync using LTE cellular equipment? I'm very curious how Ocusync can use LTE without the need for a cellular Tx/Rx on the drone.

 

[Kilrah]

Hi Kilrah, where did you get the information about Ocusync using LTE cellular equipment? I'm very curious how Ocusync can use LTE without the need for a cellular Tx/Rx on the drone.

That would have been like 7 years ago so not sure of the original sources, but for example this mentions it:

DJI Ocusync P1, S1 & S2 Chipset History - Mads Tech Wiki

The P1,S1 & S2 Chipsets are custom Asics used by DJI in their Ocusync based drones that are the basis for their Ocusync RF Wireless Link. These chipsets are similar to early Leadcore SOC’s and are believed to be direct “descendants”. The P1,S1 and S2 chipsets have only ever been found in DJI...

fpvwiki.co.uk

Basically they used phone SoCs so they did have LTE hardware at hand, AFAIK now they replicate it using SDRs.