This project is kind of follow on of this one : Buddy Box for Radiomaster TX16s

I decided to write another project to clearly separate two functions implemented in the same board:

  • master/trainer buddy box
  • Bluetooth Low Energy joystick to play "flight simulators"

But as I said they will run on the same electronics and even with the same firmware !

So please read carefully the "buddy box project" as I will not cover the electronics side in details here, nor the configuration of the boards !

I will focus on "joystick" and "simulators" as there is quite a lot the say !

The boards

two options do exist : 

TX16s "devoted" board

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This board can be totally hidden into the TX16s radio into the "external module bay"

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You can also use it to mod any existing old radio able to output PPM or SBUS

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This board is fully described into the buddy box project. Follow this link if you want to buy the PCB.

Alternatively an "external solution" does exist.

External board

Schematics is just a little different, main characteristics remain identical

  • ESP32-C3 MCU is the brain
  • A stereo jack allows input of PPM or SBUS signal
  • the board is powered by the USB-C plug of the ESSP32-C3 super mini (or with an external 5V supply
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The PCB can be bought at PCBWay 

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The PCB was kindly sponsored by PCBWay and is as usual of excellent quality.

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You can order it here :PCBWay shared project. It's cheap, delivered very fast and so professional looking!

and if you are new to PCBWay please use this affiliated link : https://pcbway.com/g/o35z4O

Software and functionalities

The firmware for the buddy box and the firmware for the BLE joystick are strictly identical.

This means that, with the same board you can:

  • be a master in a training session (two boards needed)
  • be a student in a training session (with PPM or SBUS input to the board) (two boards needed)
  • expose a wireless Joystick visible as a "genuine one" in Windows (tested W11) (only one board is enough)

And regarding the boards you can mix "TX16s" one and the one just above !

They do exactly the same things with the same firmware.

Bluetooth Joystick

This BLE joystick allows to use your radio wirelessly to play any simulator.

I have tested it with :
Multiplex MultFlight
ReflexXTR2
SeligSim (although not yet fully configured)
PhoenixRC6 + loader

The bluetooth joystick will "pop up" in your windows system when connected to the "Radiomaster TX16s" joystick device.

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Then you can see it and test it under windows "game controlers"

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It will expose 8 "analog" channels and 16 buttons.

Current version of the firmware "only" populates the analog channels. 8 is more than enough for a RC flight simulator.

buttons are however "accessible" into the source code but I don't know yet what to put inside !

Joystick activation into a TX16s radio

to activate the joystick, your radio must output PPM or SBUS signal . So it must be a "student" radio (seen from the buddy box firmware).

Configuration is thus stricly the same as activating a "student radio".

Go in the "model settings" menu of your "simulator plane" and activate the "external module" to output SBUS.

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You can also desactivate the internal module (radio transmitter) as it is totally useless in our application. Desactivation will save battery !

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Then as soon as you will select this "simulator plane", SBUS will be generated and the board will decode it and translate it into a Joystick message.

You should create simple "direct" mixes to select the axes you want to be seen in the joystick. It would also be the right place to select the order of channels if your simulator is tricky for channels remapping !

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And that's it your joystick is activated and will output the selected channels in the right order.

The joystick will be switched off if the "External RF" is set to OFF, which will be the case for most of your real planes !

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