X52 Pro HOTAS via Wifi - Raspberry Pi 0 W - drops connection randomly - stuck input

I followed the lead of the guy in the HOTAS video you linked in the "interesting uses" page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTIGlutAzR8 (Use a HOTAS flight stick wirelessly via VirtualHere)

I have a Raspberry Pi 0 W and an X52 Pro HOTAS.

I want to have a wireless HOTAS setup for 360 play in the YAWVR motion simulator chair.

Virtualhere seems like the perfect solution!

So I got everything set up like in the video:

battery -> Pi -> Virtualhere ARM server -> Wifi -> Windows 10 Virtualhere client

It works! The Windows 10 client sees the USB hub, sees the X52 hardware, and offers it up to Windows 10 normally. Windows 10 sees the HOTAS fine.

But after a random amount of time, the connection drops, and the last input keeps being output. I tried for a couple hours last night and the best I could do was keep the connection up for a few minutes.

If I use the Virtualhere client to disconnect and reconnect the HOTAS, it works again.

I am physically about 2 meters from the wifi access point.

My possible ideas:

1) I used a default system image for the Pi from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspberry-pi-os/ Should I use a lighter install?

2) Should I buy the optimized ARM server for the Pi?

Just want to have uninterrupted, wifi-based USB goodness for my HOTAS so I can get back to wirelessly shooting pirates in Elite Dangerous.