Own TX-Module/RX-Project?

Electronic projects that are either related to the firmwares for the 9x, or simply great for radio control applications.
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sgofferj
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Own TX-Module/RX-Project?

Post by sgofferj »

For me UAV project, I have been browsing eBay and other "usual suspects" a lot recently and among other things ran across this baby: http://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_trksid=p ... &_from=R40

As I also have been fiddling with bees recently (802.15.4 + Bluetooth) and with Arduinos (that's my current topic at the moment).

Now I was thinking...
- Everybody says, the stock TX-module and RX are trash
- One can never have enough channels
- We have some hw-wiz's here

How about designing an own TX-module/RX, e.g. based on XBee? Using the XBee form factor for the HF module has a number of advantages, such as modules available for various frequency spectrums and technologies.
The TX module could be as simple as a small board which converts PPM into something serial-friendly and feeds it into the Bee. Additionally, Bees are usually full-duplex (telemetry...).

The RX could be something Arduino-compatible - the simplest one could be a readymade Arduino Fio (which has 6 PWM outs). An intelligent (Arduino-)RX would have the advantage that it could do some nice things, starting with proper failsafe.

I'm just not sure about the performance side of the things. Would a serial-over-XBee-connection eventually be too slow for multiple channels?

Any thoughts?

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Kilrah
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Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 6:56 pm
Country: Switzerland

Re: Own TX-Module/RX-Project?

Post by Kilrah »

Xbees have a lot of protocol overhead and relatively long cycle times, which was the main problem back in the days to use them for RC. The first 2.4GHz commercial R/C system (xtremelink) was made with xbees, BUT they had the manufacturer from the modules rewrite a specific firmware that was adapted for that particular use.

The new frsky firmware and/or equipment is supposed to allow for bidirectional data communication and 16 channels, so I think we should just wait for that first before starting some heavy development!
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