ArtLynk - An "Open Community" HD FPV System

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I was super excited when I saw that BetaFPV released an “Open Community” HD-System. My excitement was a bit dampened once I realized that “Open Community” does not mean “open source”. Nonetheless, “Open Community” still sounds intriguing, but what does it mean? I took a closer look at the Artosyn AR803X chipset that powers it, the ecosystem forming around it, and whether we might finally get the cross-compatible HD standard that FPV has been missing since the analog days.

BetaFPV was kind enough to send me a sample of their goggle and video transmitter to have a look at. I will post a full review at a later time, today I want to have a look at the system on a higher level and dissect what “Open community” means in this context

BetaFPV’s HD System is based on the Artosyn AR803X chipset, this is a System on a chip (SOC) containing a RISC-V 400MHz CPU, video encoder and RF transceiver - specifically an Alibaba T-Head E907 core.

Unfortunately there is very little public information about the Artosyn AR803X SOC and no public documentation of any sorts. The only way to get the documentation and the software development kit (SDK) is through Artosyn directly. And all of this information is unfortunately only shared with manufacturers, so hobbyists have no dice on getting their hands on this - at least for now.

The Artosyn AR803X is sold under FCC Part 97 (Amateur equipment) so unfortunately there are no FCC filings that could yield any more information about this SOC.

One thing to note is, that this chip is by no means new. It has been announced end of November 2022 at the 2nd Dishuihu Lake China RISC-V Industry Forum in Shanghai. It just took a couple of years to show up in consumer FPV products at the end of 2025.

Artosyn is also not a new player, they were founded in 2011 (under the name “Shanghai Kuxin Microelectronics”). Caddx’s first own HD FPV system (Walksnail Avatar) was even based on one of their chips - the AR9201/AR8211. They have also been working with DJI on various projects like (but not limited to) Inspire 1 and Phantom 3.

Products using the AR803X

This is probably by no means a complete list, but relevant systems for us as whoop FPV enthusiasts:

What is Artlynk

NOTE: This is all a bit speculative on my end. I tried to get confirmation for this, but my best source for this is the information I get from BetaFPV.

So this is the actual exciting part - Artlynk is a protocol for HD Video transmission by Artosyn. As far as I understand this should be the base for inter-compatibility between manufacturers, allowing hardware from different manufacturers to play well with each other. So in theory you should be able to transmit from Caddx Ascent to a BetaFPV VR04 - if (and this is a big if) they implement the same protocol.

NOTE: As of writing, this is not the case. Despite sharing the same AR803X chipset, these systems are currently not cross-compatible - each vendor runs their own firmware stack.

The protocol advertises low latency (60ms glass to glass) and supports 1080p@60fps.

NOTE: I will go into those claims during my review of the system itself.

The VTX layouts seem to look quite similar when comparing Caddx Ascent and BetaFPV P1. Also StartRC and Edge HD T3 look relatively similar to each other. Keep in mind, I don’t have any of the other systems on hand, so I can only guess from images I can find online. My assumption is, that Artosyn basically provides a (more or less) white label solution for this HD FPV system.

And this is the exciting part for me, we could see some kind of standard emerging - bringing the ecosystem closer to how it was in analog times where you could basically use any analog transmitter with any analog receiver.

The bridge between Artosyn and the FPV manufacturers seems to be KAP. BetaFPV states on their product pages, that their technology is “provided by KAP”. So I assume the chain is like so:

  1. Artosyn provides the Chips
  2. KAP provides the FPV-specific solution/SDK
  3. Brands like BetaFPV customize on top

KAP is a bit of a mysterious entity, I could not find any more information about them. Are they a subsidary of Artosyn? A third party design house ? Or just a marketing term made up by BetaFPV?

But the big question is, are vendors going to be interested in this? When we go by past indicators, it is not looking good:

  • DJI will definitely want to keep their customers in a walled garden.
  • HD-Zero initially also planned to sell/license their hardware to anyone interested, but this did not pan out at all. There was a collaboration with Fatshark in the beginning, at least with receivers, but apart from that - I have not heard from any 3rd party getting involved with them.
  • Walksnail - to be honest, I have not followed this system too much. Caddx is one of those companies that I simply try to avoid. I did not like their analog cameras, had lots of bad experience with their support. They also try to take inspiration from DJI when it comes to “walled garden”. Although they use the AR803X in their latest release, they decided to run their own protocol, so no inter-compatibility with the BetaFPV system for example.
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What’s next?

Looking at the price point of the system, I can see that it will find wider adoption - an HD VTX for less than $40 is a huge selling point. For me Happymodel is one of the candidates I can see joining in and releasing HD VTX implementing the Artlynk protocol.

It would also be cool seeing Fatshark “rise from the dead” and release a goggle compatible with the Artlynk ecosystem. But since they have pivoted into military operations, this is very unlikely. But maybe we could see something from Skyzone instead?

Resources:

Chris is a Vienna based software developer. In his spare time he enjoys reviewing tech gear, ripping quads of all sizes and making stuff.

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