MULTIFUNCTIONAL RC TRANSMITTER USING ARDUINO

In this tutorial, I am showing how to build a MULTIFUNCTIONAL RC TRANSMITTER USING ARDUINO. This nrf transmitter consists of 2 joysticks 6 buttons switches and a gyroscope. so we can use this transmitter to control different RC projects. now let's get started

nRF24L01 is a single-chip radio transceiver for the worldwide 2.4 - 2.5 GHz ISM

band. The transceiver consists of a fully integrated frequency synthesizer, a power amplifier, a crystal oscillator, a demodulator, modulator and an Enhanced ShockBurst™ protocol engine. Output power, frequency channels, and protocol setup are easily programmable through an SPI interface. Current consumption is very low, only 9.0mA at an output power of -6dBm and 12.3mA in RX mode. Built-in Power Down and Standby modes make power-saving easily realizable.

Joystick*2 (joystick breakout)

The Joystick module is similar to analogue joysticks found in gamepads. It is made by mounting two potentiometers at a 90 degrees angle. The potentiometers are connected to a short stick centred by springs. This module produces an output of around 2.5V from X and Y when it is at rest. position

mpu6050
MPU6050 is a Micro Electro-mechanical system (MEMS), it consists of a three-axis accelerometer and three-axis gyroscope. It helps us to measure velocity, orientation, acceleration, displacement and other motion

AMS1117 3.3v voltage regulator

AMS1117-3.3V, 1A, SOT-223 Voltage Regulator IC is a series of low dropout three-terminal regulators with a dropout of 3.3V at 1A load current.

AMS1117 5.0 v voltage regulator

AMS1117-5.0V, 1A, SOT-223 Voltage Regulator IC is a series of low dropout three-terminal regulators with a dropout of 5V at 1A load current.

push button switches*6

100uf capacitor

I modified a basic nrf transmitter circuit. I designed this circuit using easyeda. the Arduino pro mini is the brain of this transmitter. here I added switches and joystick for controlling.

since this circuit has more components and connections I decided to design a PCB. so with the help of easyeda i converted the schematic to a PCB. after designing the PCB I downloaded the Gerber file and uploaded that into JLCPCB. i chose JLCPCB because of they offer 5 high-quality PCBs for just 2$. I have received PCBs after 2 weeks. the purple colour PCBs are just awesome and high quality.

I grabbed all components and started the soldering job. I started from SMD components. then I placed female header pins for nerf module,mpu6050, and Arduino pro mini. then I added other components and it took 2 hours to finish the soldering job. Nothing more important here just place the component and solder that's it. remember to desolder the joystick from its module and re-solder to our custom PCB.

After finishing soldering I attached the joystick nob to the joystick then Arduino pro mini, mpu6050 and finally the nrf module. Then I connected the 7.4volt battery to the transmitter.

for programming, I connected a ch340 programmer to Arduino pro mini for uploading the code.

in the Arduino code First, I included the nrf library (go to sketch - include library - manage library and search for nrf24)then I defined the ce csn pins also the address this address should same as the receiver address. In the setup section, I started the communication. and radio. stop listening means this module act as the transmitter.

In the loop section first, I read the button state and then I send that data to the receiver using the radio. write command. This is how the transmitter works. then I uploaded this code to the transmitter. you can download the code from below

watch this video if you have any doubt