Hi Everyone,
Has anyone used a LX200V30 module instead of the LX200V20 module? The increased data transfer rates look good.
Hi Paul,
We’ve tried it and it works well! Keep in mind that it still has a 10/100 Ethernet interface. During our testing, we generally saw about 10 Mbps faster speeds with the LX200V30, up to about 95 Mbps over short distances.
-Rusty
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Hi Rusty,
Thanks for the reply.
I was reading on one site that it has a maximum physical layer data rate of 200Mbps but i was a little skeptical. I think ill grab a couple and have a play and see what happens.
Thanks again,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Sounds good. I think it has a physical rate of 200 Mbps, meaning it can transmit data between the LX200V30 devices at that rate, but since it has a 10/100 Ethernet interface instead of a gigabit interface you can’t actually talk to it that fast.
-Rusty
Thanks Rusty.
I’m always trying to grab a few more Mbps without turning to fiber. I suppose regardless of the home plug the raspberry pi will on go up to 100Mb anyway.
That’s true also. I do think you’ll get a few Mbps faster speed, especially on longer tethers!
Just catching up on this old thread - 200MBps for the RAK board vs 80MBps of the fathomX. Anyone think they can be mixed and matched - maybe try the LX200V 30 EVB topside, or would they have to be a matched pair ?
Hi @richard-rickett, I’ve moved your comment here because it’s a more relevant thread 
If it is possible to mix and match them it would almost certainly still be constrained to the performance of the slowest board - that’s pretty consistent across communication hardware and protocols.
As is discussed above, the higher end RAK boards (there’s also an LX200V50 now) may have better sustained performance at long ranges, but they can’t reduce bottlenecks that are caused by other parts of the system (e.g. a Raspberry Pi 3B only supports 100Mbit/s ethernet, which is also currently the case for our Ethernet Switch).
As we’re now moving to vehicles with an onboard Raspberry Pi 4B (which supports gigabit ethernet) we’re also looking into ways of improving networking bandwidth throughout the system, but we don’t have anything to announce on that front at this stage.
For your reference, these other posts may also be worth a look:
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Thanks Elliot - excellent 
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Is the LX200V50 compatible with RPI4 + Navigator?
That would be a huge upgrade for me to get higher bandwidth.
Hi @johannv, the RPi4 and Navigator are compatible with any network connection, so this should work fine!
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Would that give >>100Mbit/s speeds?
The LX200V50 claims to support up to 1000 Mbps, so if used with a 1000Mbps ethernet interface (like on the RPi4) then it could theoretically support speeds significantly above 100Mbps.
That said, the speeds achieved in practice are also dependent on the electrical characteristics of the operating environment, which includes things like tether resistance, capacitance, and inductance, and electrical noise from nearby electronics. Tether length, and conductor material, gauge, and shielding will affect that, as well as the conductivity of the surrounding medium (e.g. saltwater may have lower speeds compared to operating in air).
Is there any chance some bluerov engineers can work on that/look into it? That would open the potential for 4k cameras or multiple camera setups no? That would be a huge upgrade for the entire system
Communication bandwidth improvement is definitely on our radar (whether that’s through this, or something fiber optic, etc), so we will indeed be looking into it.
That said, there are also several ongoing projects on our roadmap, so I’d expect at least a few other product releases before we have sufficient R&D resources available to put a concerted effort into a solution for improved comms.
It’s perhaps worth noting that multiple camera streams can still be useful for operation without all simultaneously using high resolutions and framerates, and it’s also possible to collect/record data for later viewing / processing without streaming it live to the surface. While a high bandwidth data link is definitely convenient, it’s not a strict requirement for many applications.
I routinely use the LX200V30 when I have connectivity issues. I have not done quantative tests, but it solves the issue in most cases. I get perfect bandwith through 300m of slim tether with 2 cameras. It does not give 100Mbit/s speeds in tests, but there are a number of other bottle necks. I would guess the USB 2.0 ethernet adapter is not helping.
Next time I have a setup with LX200V30 I will do proper tests.
I will hunt down and upload my 3d printed mounts for them to printables.
The LX200V30 and LX200V20 cross compatible, but you do not get the speed benefit when using one LX200V30 and another LX200V20.
LX200V30 is a significant improvement over the LX200V20, but not a silver bullet. If you want high bandwidth, fiber is the way to go, but comes with its own problems.
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Thanks Chris,
Have you played with the LX200V50 at all?
Cheers