These are two ESP8266s. I chose the ESP-12F module.
These little guys are like a full computer on a chip.
These modules have flash and everything, all built-in,
and they're ideal for doing things with the Internet of Things.
Just any device in your house that needs to be able to access the Wi-Fi, Internet, these
things will do it. The neat thing is, they can also pretend to
be an access point. So, it is possible to link one to the other.
I've already done one test where I linked these to a base station.
If you're curious, you can visit that video right there.
Just click to the... the... right there. But! If you want to see how you can link one
to the other, and how far they'll really go... They will go quite a ways, and you want to
see how far? Watch this video. I did it as part of my first video's range
tests, but uh, the results were just SO ridiculous... I had to do it twice.
Okay, so, I have this little ESP8266 right here, it's an ESP-12F module.
And, I'm connecting it over there. So, where it used to be -- my, uh, TP-Link router -- Now,
up there, I have that little itty-bitty ESP8266 module, and it's acting like a wireless router.
So, I can connect it to this guy, just like I did with my laptop a moment ago, and this
gets connected to it right here. *boop boop boop*
And it's getting those packets back that I mentioned. So the "X" means it's able to send
a packet to the base station and respond. So right now this is ESP-to-ESP communication.
Let's see how far this goes. Right now we're at around 290 meters and there
are orientations of this antenna that work and other ones that don't work, so uh, I don't
think I want to use this -- even this far out -- for ESP-to-ESP communication, but we're
gonna keep on going until this puppy stops churning.
>Puppies don't churn. >Yeah, I guess you're right. That's...a bad...yeah,
okay. We're at 420 meters out and this thing's still
talking a lot. Like, yeah, there's a lot of positions where it doesn't quite talk and
it'll drop, but it's still working somehow and I don't really... I don't know.
It's kind of surprising. This is all the way over here, and that's
... a long way away. 557 meters... 558 meters... 559...
There's not many orientations where it still passes, so this would be a lot of packet dropping
right now. Understand though, and remember that packet
dropping here means that it just didn't pass the first time.
802.11 tries to retry -- except on broadcast packets -- which is what we're using.
So, at least in one direction it's broadcast. The other way is unicast.
So, the fact that these "X"s are getting through means it's actually getting through, even
though this would constitute a fair bit of packet loss.
600 meters. I would never use it this far, but... let's
just keep going.
It's right on the edge of working! I have to hold it way up in the air, and everything's
gotta be just right! We're at 828 meters!
Granted, we're not in line of sight. The last packet I got was 960 meters.
I guess I'm going to have to find a longer straight-way, but it totally almost kind-of
maybe works at this [distance], so... So, yeah, I'm going to go ESP-to-ESP is just
completely insane.
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So, those results seemed absolutely ridiculous and now I'm here -- somewhere completely different
-- WB&A Boulevard in Maryland. I never realised that this road is just so
straight until today. I'm going to be trying it again with the ESP
module up here. And, I'm going to be using the same setup
as before with my laptop and GPS. So let's check it out in a completely different
place. I went only 139 meters and already it's dropping
some, let's see... Yeah, look at that.
Gonna keep going like I was before. Some people in my first video mentioned that
there weren't any houses around -- or anything with other Wi-Fi stations -- and, well, I'm
gonna make sure that in this test there are.
So, 407 meters is about how far it went with a regular TP-Link and depending on how I orient
myself and everything, the signal changes dramatically at this point.
I would never trust an ESP to link here, or work, but um, 407 meters is pretty good. Let's
keep going.
We're at 531 meters and my laptop has pretty much given up trying to talk to the ESP8266
on the other side. So, I think that one's pretty much over. I
just connected to see how far the laptop would work and.... no.
But, this ESP is STILL connected. So I'm gonna keep on walking!
Still talkin'! We're at 680 meters!
Still talking at 711 meters, but it's getting really spotty. If I just move a little bit,
it just kicks out. It's right on the hairy edge.
Just BARELY talking; we're at 800 meters. Wonder if it can go to 900!
I don't believe it. It disconnected and I thought it was all over at 850 meters, but
it reconnected. It's still going!
I don't believe it. I'm at 900 meters, and it's still working.
Originally my hypothesis was that it was the environment.
Something about that environment made these two ESPs talk for as long as they did.
But, I can't believe it. We're... we're a whole... we're a kilometer away! It's talking!
A whole kilometer!
So, I had to walk around a little bit, but I finally found a place where it associated.
I don't know if it's gonna be able to pull an IP at this distance, though.
Come on............... We got to a place where it associated... can't
believe it...... Is it going to get an IP, though?
Is it going to be able to get that IP? Just moving my laptop -- OH MY GOSH IT GOT
IT! It got it! Oh, ok. We're gonna keep going.
*heavy breathing* 1.036 kilometers.
Could this be the end? I think it's the end.
Oh? Oh...
Oh. I'm going to walk around a bit. There's...
I can't believe it's gonna get it here. *sigh*
That's it. It gave up and decided to become a base station itself.
That's the end. Well, I got my last packet around here -- let's
say 1 1/8 kilometers -- I'm going to reset the position here and walk back to make sure
there isn't something funny going on with the GPS.
*walking back in fast-forward*
So, it wasn't a fluke; it really did go over a kilometer.
And I got the cops called on me. So...... overall TONIGHT WAS A SUCCESS! YAAAAY!