RC Joystick NG^2

[alessio70]

for those who are interested in our little free project of a RC to USB interface... working perfectly with FMS...

- from firmware version 3.2.0 the interface become a full speed USB device to get around constraints on speed and report size imposed for low speed devices by USB specifications; this means that at last we can have more proportional axes per joystick without loss in resolution: the current version implement two joysticks with 8 proportional axes each (up to about 5000 points resolution each) and 8 buttons for a total of 16 proportional axes and 16 buttons (32 controls). Anyway the traditional low speed interface firmware binary with 4 axes per joystick is still available inside the software package and is compilable by just setting a define; polling interval for interrupt transfer is now set to 5 ms (and could also be set to 1ms) to minimize input latency. The new version does NOT need any hardware mod... only firmware changes.

a summary of the other features:

- smd (4x2cm) or through hole (6.5x2.5cm) PCB and very few components

- uses the new chips from microchip 18f2455/2550 that have a flash program and data eeprom and then are programmable more than once (useful for programming firmware updates available on our site)

- assignments of channels and joystick controls are configurable by editing a txt file configuration and programming it directly via usb with a simple utility; assignments configuration remain stored inside PIC non volatile data eeprom so there is no need to reprogram it after disconnecting; included an FMS assignment profile with all 8 FMS channels working

- it should be compatible with virtually all radios equipped with a PPM output, and it's also able to decodify some type of PCM signal (for now Futaba PCM1024 and Sanwa/Airtronics PCM1/2); anyway FMS seems to work perfectly with all 8 FMS channels working

- it should be compatible with virtually any RC or flight simulator that can make use of the system joystick

- the firmware work also under linux (and the assignments utility should be quite easily ported on linux linking against libusb instead of LibUSB-Win32) and as an HID peripheral should work under every OS with HID USB support

- an extensive manual is provided on our site, with hardware, software, assignments, and also modulations description

- the source is extensively commented for the ones who need to personalize it

- the project is totally free and suggestions and reports about it are very appreciated

you can find it at:
http://rcjoyng2.qstep.net/


enjoy it
alessio e andrea

[atoff]

Hello Alessio,

I built your interface and tried to use your sofftware more or less successfully. Let me explain...
First of all, congratulations for the documentation! It's quite unusual to see a so good documentation for a free project!

I tried the interface on a laptop, running Windows 2000 and everything was working perfectly: the device was automatically recognized by Windows and I was able to calibrate the controls within FMS.
After a disk crash, my laptop was re-installed with Windows XP and since I have some problems:
Windows detects correctly a new USB hardware but within FMS, I am not able to calibrate the controls.
Do I have to configure something ?
Do I have to manually add a joystick in Windows?

I am using version 3.1.0 of RC Joystick NG^2 and FMS 2.0 alpah 8.5

Thanks in advance for any help.

PS: the link http://rcjoyng2.qstep.net/ is not working at this time.

[alessio70]

for atoff... sorry I haven't seen your message here... but at last we have resolved the issue via email...

[alessio70]

some news on the project

the firmware now also implement ADC mode: if someone has a radio not equipped with PPM/PCM or has old unused or malfunctioning radio, now has the possibility to directly connect its potentiometers/switches to PIC analog inputs AN0..AN11 (JP4 and JP5 on the new through hole PCB); firmware uses the PIC internal ADC to sample these inputs (voltage in the range 0-5V) with a resolution of 10 bits (1024 levels); up to 9 channels can be read in this way with 28 pins PIC18F2455/2550 (up to 12 channels could be read using 40/44 pins PIC18F4455/4550). See manual on our site for details.


alessio e andrea

[alessio70]

news on the project: set_assignments and get_assignments ported on linux with very little modifications to the source: the same source work now on windows (linked against LibUSB-Win32) and on linux (linked against libusb). Linking them against libusb they should be smoothly ported on all OS supported by this: FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Darwin/MacOSX. Also corrected a bug with usb error messages...


alessio e andrea

[goofie]

[alessio70]