Wireless Mouse Technology: The 2.4GHz Highway

You buy a Logitech G Pro mouse. It comes with a tiny USB dongle. Why not just use the Bluetooth built into your laptop? Because Bluetooth is polite, but RF is Fast.

The Crowded Room

The 2.4GHz band is a party.

• Wi-Fi is there.
• Bluetooth is there.
• Microwaves are there.
• Garage door openers are there.

Proprietary RF (The Dongle)

The dongle uses a custom radio protocol (like Logitech Lightspeed).

• Polling Rate: It checks the mouse position 1,000 times a second (1ms).
• Aggression: It shouts louder than Bluetooth. It doesn’t wait its turn. It forces the data through.
• Result: It feels just as fast as a wire.

Robot Controllers

Our FTC Gamepads (Logitech F310) are wired. But the connection from the Driver Station Phone to the Robot Controller Phone is Wi-Fi Direct. Because Wi-Fi is a standard protocol (it’s “polite”), it can get drowned out if 100 people in the audience turn on their Hotspots. This is why large events use “Wi-Fi Scanners” to police the airwaves. We are fighting for bandwidth on the invisible highway.