What is Sync-to-Channel and do I need it?

We run frequency hopping protocol on our transceivers with a fixed pseudo-random hopping sequence. This protocol yields superior interference rejection and multipath immunity.  The Server radio sends timing beacons out on a regular interval.  The Clients hear these beacons and synchronize their frequency hopping to the Server.

Though Servers cannot send packets to each other, they can hear the timing beacons sent out by other Servers.  Normally, they simply ignore the beacons sent out by the other Servers.  However, when Sync-to-Channel is enabled, they will listen for the beacons sent out by another Server and then synchronize their hop timing to that Server.

Why is this important?  If two Servers (and their Clients) are operating in the same area and their frequency hopping is not synchronized to each other it’s possible that they might try to occupy the same frequency at the same time.  In severe cases, they could interfere with each other on every frequency, causing very sluggish communications.