How to connect a PC joystick to a transmitter

[wkorosec]

Hi all,
a while ago I read a very interesting article written by the late Jeff Raskin (old Apple computer fans will know the name) http://jef.raskincenter.org/published/transmitter.html

His thoughts about the man-machine interface of a RC transmitter were really facinating. The idea of a three axis stick intrigued me. To fly a model aircraft with a modern PC Joystick would be a worth a try :rolleyes:

Did somebody tried to connect a PC Joystick to a RC transmitter ?

Best regards
Wolfgang

[fhhuber506771]

Well.. in a way its been done before... and was manufactured and marketed.

Kraft, Futaba and a few others produced "single stick" 4+ channel radios. The single joystick had a large knob on top with a 3rd channel's potentiometer. (look in the Blade Runner forum at :: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=352018 ) for a drawing of basicly how it was done.

The only question about connecting a computer joystick to a TX in place of the built in gimbal set is... the "value" of the potentiometers in the joystick. (but then.. you could trade for the transmitter's potentiometers...) Or you could move the gymbal assembly into the joystick's case... (the gymbal systems are basicly the same... each "stick" on the TX IS a joystick..)

The rest is just wire and solder.

[Andy W]

This might be fun with an old 4-channel Tx, then figure out how to use it as a buddy box.. :)
..a

[Andy W]

postscript.. what about crash-sensing force-feedback? :D
..a

[darkith]

Nah, stall-sensing stick-shaker!

Sounds like you could either wire the pots to the current pot connections (easy), or use a microcontroller to read a USB joystick (quite hard), and feed appropriate signals to the encoder chip in the radio.

Sounds quite doable...although perhaps awkward to hold.

[fhhuber506771]

The feedbacks.. well you can almost do it... look up Eagletree's on-board telemetry system

(truth is tranger than fiction...)

[Dan Baldwin]

If you're going to use a PC joystick, maybe you could add the reset button too, so when you crash you just press the button, and you're back in the air.

It should be easy to read a joystick with a pic that has analog inputs (12C675), then just send out the pulse stream over the buddy cord. To test, you could just have a friend hold the transmitter, and you and hold the joystick. He holds the buddy switch, and you have it. If you like it, you could do something more permanent.

Sounds like fun, and I have a spare 4 channel transmitter. I'll play with it right after I do all the other projects on my list. More hours. I need more hours. Maybe if I spent less time messing around on RCGroups, I'd have more time to build.

Dan