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PC as a RC Transmitter

Posted by Wilhelm Matilainen on October 22, 2015 at 9:12am

Is it possible to use a linux pc as a rc controller?

Could a wifi dongle be used for communicating with a regular rc receiver? They both operate with the same frequency.

If the wifi dongle is not suitable, then could a JR module for a specific receiver attached to a pc be used as a tranceiver?

Is there any software for this purpose?

It would be nice if one day I could purchase a mini laptop and 2 high quality gimbal controller sticks, then attach them together and fly like that. The best part would of course be if the wifi chip inside the mini laptop (+ a better antenna) could be used directly or indirectly (reprogram) as a transceiver.

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Replies

  • _maxgr October 22, 2015 at 9:32am
    It is possible to fly a Arducopter-based(Pixhawk, APM etc.) multicopter with an Joystick-Controller like the Xbox-Controller for example. In this case, the data gets transmitted over the 433mhz/915mhz telemetry module like the 3dr remote or clones of this.
    • Wilhelm Matilainen > _maxgr October 22, 2015 at 9:46am

      I forgot that already, but on the other hand I was thinking of a more universal solution.

      Like: I have a pc + joystick, which I can use to replace my FrSky Taranis for any flight controller.

      I think this might be possible with a ESP8266 wifi module, which is extremely cheap and has a good range and availability. It can directly connect to a home network / computer / phone / tablet. It also has wifi encryption. This could probably be used as a receiver module. It's only about $3 each.

      So, a mini laptop creates a wifi access point, then the ESP8266 connects to this network. Now the ESP8266 has an ip address and can be controlled directly. It should then be connected to a flight controller's sbus port to proxy the commands.

      • Wilhelm Matilainen > Wilhelm Matilainen October 25, 2015 at 11:33pm

        Ok, I think I got this.

        ESP8266 with esp-link firmware == Transparent serial bridge <---> Any serial (UART) device

        So, this will turn all serial devices into tcp network devices. This should work with pixhawk and with anything else too.

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