RC Transmitter and Receiver

The RC unit consists of a controller, transmitter, and a receiver. The controller is the
physical device that will be used to control the drone, the transmitter is the antennae system that
takes the signals from the controller and transmits the signals, and the receiver is what will be on
the drone taking in the signals from the controller and sending the signals to the drones
processor. When working together, the three different components allow the user to send radio
signals that will control the drone.
The radio controller plays an integral part to the success of our mission. The radio
controller helps to address mission requirements SYS-2, the drone shall have the option to
operate autonomously and manually, and COMSI-1, achieve a communications range of at least
on mile on all systems. The RC unit will provide manual control of the drone for over one mile,
and act as a failsafe if the autonomous functions of the drone fail.
Part Selection
The process of choosing the parts for the RC unit began by researching what features
would be needed to control the drone. The most important factor was support for up to four
channels of control. This would be the minimum amount of channels to completely control the
drone. The four channels would control the drones throttle, speeding up and slowing down, roll,
rotation about the x axis, pitch, rotation about the y axis, and yaw, rotation about the z axis.
Another important factor was finding a 2.4 GHz, frequency set by AUVSI SUAS, receiver that
would be able to transmit and receive signals over one mile away. These two factors were used
in the decision making process of choosing the RC unit.
For the controller, the Turnigy 9XR was chosen. The controller has more than enough
features for our current stage of the project. Some of the features are support for up to eight
programmable channels, a sixteen model memory, updated software, mode two stick layout, a
more intuitive layout for the controls, and modular design, meaning that almost all of the
controllers components are changeable. This controller was chosen because for the amount of
features that it has, it is comparable to a controller almost double its price.
For the transmitter and receiver, the FrSky 2.4GHz DJT transmitter/receiver combo was
chosen. The combo consists of the FrSky DJT transmitter with telemetry, and the FrSky
V8FR-II receiver. The choice to buy the combo transmitter receiver pair was based on the fact
that they were made to work well together. So instead of buying a receiver and transmitter from
two different companies and hoping they would work well together, the combo was purchased so
there would be no complications when working in tandem. The main factors that influenced the
decision to purchase the combo was the support for up to eight channels, a range of 1.5 to 2.5
km, a low current draw of 30 mA, and the weight of 9.3 grams. Also purchased was a 7 dB
patch antennae which should theoretically, greatly improve the range of the RC unit.
The Turnigy 9XR controller, FrSky 2.4 GHz DJT transmitter, and the FrSky V8FR-II met
and exceeded the requirements set by UH DroneTech and the AUVSI SUAS competition.
Testing
The testing process started by binding the transmitter and receiver together. This was
accomplished by powering on the controller and setting it to binding mode, then powering on the
receiver also in binding mode. Once this was completed, the controller was turned off and then
on and then the binding process was complete and the receiver and transmitter were ready to use.

The next step in testing was connecting the receiver to the oscilloscope and testing each
of the channels outputs. The receiver outputs a PPM, pulse position modulation, signal which
outputs pulses every 50 Hz and the pulse width changes with the controller stick movements.
When testing each of the channels, the receiver needed to be powered and grounded and the
output signal was taken from the receiver to a breadboard and then connected to the oscilloscope.
The outputs were then tested by moving the controllers sticks around. In the lowest position the
pulse width was 1.02 milliseconds, in the neutral position the pulse width was 1.52 milliseconds,
and in the highest position the pulse width was 2.04 milliseconds. After testing the output of the
receiver, each of the four channel outputs that would be used were related to the stick
movements on the controller. The results are presented in the table below.
Pitch

Throttle

Throttle

Yaw

Roll

Throttle

Throttle

Figure 1: Stick Layout of Turnigy 9XR.

Table 1: Controller Channels and Corresponding Movements.
Channel 1
Throttle

Channel 2
Roll

Channel 3
Pitch

Channel 4
Yaw

The final stage of testing was hooking up the RC unit to work with the drone that had
been purchased for testing. This was very simple, it was a plug and play system so all that had to
be done was connect the receiver to the drones flight controller and power everything. Once
everything was properly connected we were able to fly the drone. This was a good sanity check
to make sure the RC unit would work properly.
Problems and Future Implementations
Currently, there are two main problems being faced by the communication and control
systems team. The main problem that needs to be addressed before the other problem can be
addressed is converting the PPM, pulse position modulation, signal to a PWM, pulse width
modulation, signal. A PWM signal is a single pulse, which varies in its width and a PPM signal
is that same PWM signal repeated every 50 Hz. The STM processor does not have a PPM input,
but it does have a PWM input, so the conversion from PPM to PWM is necessary. Once the
conversion problem is solved, the next step would be to create a system that takes the
controllers stick movement and converts the signals to controls for each of the four motors.
For future implementations, there are three different options being looked into. The first
would be to purchase a receiver that outputs a PWM signal instead of a PPM signal. This would
eliminate the need for the conversion from PPM to PWM. Another option is to use a PPM
encoder which takes the four PPM outputs from the receiver and encodes the signal into one
PPM signal. This option would only be viable if the communication and control systems team
decide on using the PixHawk flight controller which has an encoded PPM signal input. This

would only be used for testing and will provide the team with a better understanding of how the
conversion from PPM to PWM works. The final option would be to replace our current RC unit
with a modified Xbox controller which would output a much easier to handle analog signal. This
approach will take a lot of hardware and software to get working, but it will allow for much
easier conversion from controller movements to drone movements.
Summary
The RC unit is not the main focus of this project or competition, but it is necessary for the
success of the mission. The RC unit provides a failsafe if autonomous functions fail and will
ensure that the drone will be able to return to home. Since this is a very crucial part of the
project, research, testing, and fine tuning otf the RC unit will continue for the duration of this
project.