A lot of users are asking if they should use openlrsng or Ultimate LRS. After all they are two different LRS firmwares for the same modules.
Here are some points to consider :
- Ultimate LRS is under active development : in comparison the last openlrsng release which wasn’t a small bugfix was in May 2015.
- Ultimate LRS has a very active user community : about 21 posts per day on the rcgroups forum : https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2037442 (measured between 12/8/2016 and today 21/8/2016). Over the same period, the openlrsng forum had 1.8 post per day.
- Ultimate LRS can run on DIY modules named Ultimate LRS Mini (in addition to OrangeRX and Wolfbox modules) : different types are proposed and PCB are available. The different Ultimate LRS Mini modules are designed by members of the ULRS community.
- Ultimate LRS has a website providing clear instructions and it also provides a discussion forum.
- Ultimate LRS supports 16 RC channels, and can output them all.
- Ultimate LRS provides completely transparent telemetry link, compatible with any flight controller and current or future versions of mavlink or any other protocol. You can even use it to chat with your friends 😉
- Ultimate LRS provides telemetry link at full 19200 bauds (1920 bytes per second). Openlrsng can support only about 600 bytes per second, which isn’t sufficient for normal mavlink operations. To achieve this, Ultimate LRS uses much more complex algorithms than other LRS system, for example the packets size are continuously adjusted rather than having a fixed size like in other systems.
- Ultimate LRS can be connected to an alphanumerical LED display. (not available on openlrsng)
- Ultimate LRS provides a mavlink server, which allows to connect an unlimited number of computers, tablets, smartphone on a single Pixhawk or other flight controller. And they can be connected via any type of network (cable, wi-fi, 3G, internet, …) (not available on openlrsng)
- Ultimate LRS can be connected via a bluetooth module and provides clear instructions.
- Ultimate LRS provides many other features, which are all well-documented, such as a range estimator, list of antennas, labels to print, modules pinout diagrams, spectrum analyzer measurements of modules, etc…
- Ultimate LRS uses the same firmware on TX and RX. Any hardware module can be configured as a TX or RX. It allows to create powerful 1W links by using for example two 1W TX modules, one being configured as RX and the other as TX. There’s a request to do ‘like Ultimate LRS’ in the openlrsng issues list, but the user confirmed it doesn’t work and the issue was apparently closed…
- Ultimate LRS provides many long range videos, and other realisations of passionated users.
- A Teensy version of Ultimate LRS is ongoing.
- An analog cockpit project compatible with Ultimate LRS is ongoing : https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2748016
- Ultimate LRS is only a part of a larger project :
Well, that’s a summary, the best is to explore the menu on this site to have details about all the features. But my advice would be of course to choose Ultimate LRS, but feel free to try Openlrsng too, after all they run on the same hardware modules !