LowcostRC

LowcostRC is low price remote control system based on Arduino.

Transmitter with nRF24L01 module More images

Hardware

The following main components are used for the transmitter:

• Arduino Pro Mini as main MCU
• nRF24L01 or ESP8266 as radio module
• 0.96" SSD1306 OLED Display
• Two 2-axis joysticks

Receiver can be build using Arduino + nRF24L01 or a single ESP8266.

Transmitter features

• 8 control channels
• Pluggable radio modules (nRF24L01 or ESP8266)
• User interface with monochrome display and 3 buttons
• Multiple profiles (models) can be stored in EEPROM
• Using UI it's possible to change various control and radio link parameters like channels mapping, trimming, double rate, radio channel, radio power, etc
• Maximum transmission packet rate is about 270 packets per second on Arduino Pro Mini 3.3v 8MHz and nRF24L01 on both sides

Directory structure

LowcostRC_Core : Core library

LowcostRC_Rx : Core receiver library

LowcostRC_Rx_ESP8266 : ESP8266 receiver library

LowcostRC_Rx_nRF24 : nRF24L01 receiver library

Transmitter : Transmitter code

Transmitter_JS : Transmitter code adapted for Joystick Shield V1.A (no UI, hardcoded parameters)

Receiver_1S : Sample receiver sketch for plane. 1S power, nRF24L01 radio, brushed motor.

Receiver_2S : Sample receiver sketch for plane. 2S power, nRF24L01 radio, brushless motor.

Receiver_ESP8266 : Sample receiver sketch for plane. 1S power, ESP8266 radio, brushed motor.

Receiver_Sim : Sample receiver sketch to use with flight simulator on PC. Based on Arduino Pro Micro and nRF24L01. Arduino connects to PC using USB cable and recognized as gamepad device with 8 axis.

Documentation/Schematics : Schematics

Documentation/Images : Photos

To compile and flush you need Arduino IDE or Arduino CLI. In order for the compiler can see the libraries you need to copy (or make symlinks) lowcostRC_* directories to Arduino libraries directory.