openrcforums

Hi guys, anyone know a project to output ppm from the computer via the audio card or USB (prefered)??
maybe using an Atmega or even an arduino board.
Controlled by a joystick through the PC would also be nice..

there are a couple commercial devices around but I like the DIY approach.

Thanks

João

Do you have something on the computer you want controlling it? An Arduino would probably be the simplest approach.
-Gohst

Maybe controlling the model with a joystick.. I would like to try to fly a model with a joystick.. small foamie model of course for a start..
Actually it would be nice to control/setting up the model real time with companion and eepe. removing props of course
Then when we're happy with the result, just flash the eeprom to the modell.. we would have a better visual idea when setting the model up this way, instead of be looking at a few bars on the screen we could see it on the actual model.

maybe one day we could even select a model in eepe/companion and fly it. A computer version of the firmwares just a possibility as I guess that in furure companion/eepe will be running on very small pocket computers

Brainstormin'

João

Open source code
The IRRc library might be helpful. one of the demos:

USBJoystickHeli Controls a helicopter with a Logitech USB game pad connected to a Sparkfun USB Host shield. Requires the USB_Host_Shield library. The game pad is used as a mode 2 controller: throttle on left stick, elevator and rudder on right stick. Includes elevator and rudder trim buttons with button 1, 2, 3, 4. This is the sketch that was used in the

http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/arduino/IRrc/

It is for an IR heli. but once you get the usb data into the MCU then you can output some PPM instead of calling the heli.setCommand, which is part of his IR library.

He also has a demo that uses a serial port from the pc to control the heli. Maybe that would be a better fit depending on the joystick/input device you are going to use

This was the starting point for my IRmodule that I havent been working on lately

very nice projects in there.. thanks..

João