IBus Vs SBus: Which One Is Better?

The battle between ibus and sbus protocol has become a new hype in the market. You’re not alone to be confused to decide the best one while renovating your RC receiver. Most of the people are in the same situation.

So, the question arises, which one is the best: ibus vs sbus?

Well, Ibus is capable of handling multiple sending and receiving signals. Also, it supports 18 channels using a single wire. Whereas, sbus handles only sending signals with 16 channels through a single wire. Besides, ibus works on uninverted signals but sbus doesn’t. Sbus needs inversion for chips like F4 to continue the further activity.  

This is only an overview of the entire comparison. Still, confused? Fret not! Follow our detailed discussion to explore each of your questions. 

IBus Vs SBus: Basic Discussion 

Before getting in deeper, we should discuss the basic differences of both ibus and sbus protocol. These are mainly digital protocols. 

To understand why digital protocols are good, we should also learn about analogue ones. The difference between ppm and sbus might help where ppm is an analogue protocol.

However here we’ve jotted down some basic information of ibus and sbus protocols. Make sure to check them all for better apprehension-

If you still can’t finalize your choice, go to the next step for greater details. 

IBus Vs SBus: Detailed Discussion 

Following the chart, we’ve got a quick review of the basic functionality. Conventionally, it maintains a connection between the RC receiver and flight controller. So, it’s obvious to understand the working methodology in detail. Otherwise, it may result in the rejection of your RC receiver that is never anticipated to happen. 

However, don’t be confused with RC modes like mode 1 or mode 2. These protocols are common for all types of modes available in the market. 

Anyway, let’s dive deeper to learn more about the pros and cons of each protocol. 

Data Transmission 

Sbus transmits control signals data between receivers and servos. Being a one-way transmission protocol, it carries channels as much as the transmitter can handle. 

Also, its advanced technology can connect proper servos with channels automatically. You don’t have to worry about it.

Contrarily, ibus is a two-way half-duplex protocol. It can handle multiple servos and motors with a single connection.

Moreover, sending and receiving control signals are maintained parallelly. Also, It can connect to the sensors to send the telemetry info back to RC receivers. 

Thus the bidirectional attribute makes IBus special from the sbus protocol.

Channel

The connection between the Receiver(RX) and Flight Controller(FC) is established using wired connectivity. These wires are normally treated as channels.

In analog protocols, we have to use a single for a single channel. But in digital protocols, we can accommodate multiple channel signals with a single wire. 

Sbus provides up to 16 channels with just a single cable in use. At the same time, IBus can afford up to 18 channels at once.

Talking about the baud rate, SBus can transmit 100000 bits per second. And IBus manages to transmit at a speed of 115200 bps. 

The faster the baud speed, the faster it responds. Eventually, it’ll increase your productivity to a certain extent. 

However, the baud rate is related to the bit rate but not the same. So, pay attention while examining the speed rate of the protocols.  

Signal Inversion

Knowledge of active low and active high signals is important to understand signal inversion. When the 0V is inactive and 1V is active it’s called active high. Contrarily, while the 1V is inactive it’s denoted by active low signal.  

Sbus protocol works in the active low signal. And that’s why it’s better at handling the noise accurately. But it also has the pros while working only in active-high decoders.

F1 and F4 ARM chips are designed to handle only active high signals. And for that reason, sbus needs extra inverter chips to go on. In this way, it becomes a bit complicated for sbus to work on these flight controllers. 

On the contrary, ibus protocol is uninverted. That means whatever the chip you’re using, it can fit anyone. It accurately works for both active high and active low signals. And, so ibus is a bit ahead of sbus in a sense of signal inversion. 

Latency

In simple terms, latency is the measure of delay. The time taken by a data to reach its destination through networks is called delay. 

Latency in the radio control systems is quite significant to discuss. If we can assure lower latency then our communication will be faster than ever. 

In terms of sbus protocol, they take about 10-20ms to transmit the signal from Rx to Fc. Whereas the ibus protocol takes only 7ms to take the signal from sender to servos.

So, you can assume the clear difference in latencies. You must consider this criterion while building an RC receiver of good quality. Poor latency will result in abrupt failure and destroying your RC planes/cars instantly. 

IBus Vs SBus: Final Verdict

By now, you have selected your preferred protocol. All of these features point to ibus protocol.

Starting from the channel connectivity to latency, in each stage IBus takes the lead. Both of them meet the same purpose.

While IBus also provides some extra functionality like bidirectional transmission, lower latency, uninverted signals, and many more.  

Therefore the uncrowded king of digital protocol goes to ibus protocol. We think you’ll agree with our argument undoubtedly. 

FAQ

Question: Are Sbus and IBus compatible? 

Answer: No. They are not interchangeable. As they have differences in latency and signal inversion, they can’t be used interchangeably.  

Question: Is IBus better than ppm?

Answer: No. PPM is an analog protocol while IBus is digital. And IBus has much less latency than ppm. So, undoubtedly IBus is better than ppm.

Question: Can Arduino read SBus signals?

Answer: Yes. But you have to do it indirectly. Its baud speed is enough to go but it needs inversion to be connected. You’ll need an extra inverter to make it readable for Arduino. 

Final Words 

That’s all we want you to know. We hope you have got a clear idea regarding ibus vs sbus. Now, you can easily settle up your receiver the way you want it. 

Best of luck with your project. And, also don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.