Published September 27, 2020 © GPL3+

NRF24 Based Drone Setup

Just another "DRONE PROJECT" with a custom Transmitter and Reciever setup based on Arduino Nano and NRF24L01 Module

BeginnerFull instructions provided2 hours7,711

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino Nano R3

drone kit

JLCPCB Customized PCB

bldc motor

ESC

UTSOURCE Electronic Parts

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Story

Hey everyone what's up!

so I've been working on this Drone project recently with my LAD @Electropunkz

its made out of a generic drone kit that is available online from various sources.BLDC motors are 1400kv orange ones that are also very commonly available, so are these ESCs.

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Materials Required-

Arduino Nano R3 x2
NRF24L01 Module x2
Generic Drone kit with 4 BLDC MOTORs and ESCs x1
Custom PCB (Provided by JLCPCB)

Custom PCBs were Provided by JLCPCB, do check them out for low costing PCBs for your project. jlcpcb.com

ELectronics components - LEDs, buttons, header pins etc. (Provided by UTSOURCE.net )

Thanks utsource.net for Providing parts used in this project, you can check them out if you want to buy good quality stuff for cheap!

BODY ASSEMBLY

so like I said earlier, this is the generic drone kit body so if yours is in a different color, the assembly process will be the same.

I first added the BLDC motor with ESCs to each of the drone body arms.

after making 4 of these I assembled them all together with the given power distribution PCB and its supporting PCB. (watch the video for the assembly process!)

At last, we just need to connect the VCC and GND of all the ESCs on the power distribution board so we can later add a battery on it to power the ESCs.

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CONTROL SYSTEM

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I've made these two Circuits, Transmitter and the receiver which are based around the NRF24l01 module connected with an Arduino nano and other Crucial stuff.. the crucial stiff includes joystick, buttons, servo headers, etc

The goal here was to make a cheap transmitter and receiver setup which can be made and programmed using an Arduino board so we don't need to buy high costing flight controllers and its remote control system.

oh, by the way, I used JLCPCB's service for these PCBs, they provide good stuff every time.

do check them out...

https://www.hackster.io/Oniichan_is_ded/arduino-based-nrf24-transmitter-receiver-setup-d73279

if you want to check out my previous post about these circuits, you can watch its video or its post to get its PCB files, code, Schematic, or the assembly instructions.

HOOKUP

First, I added the receivers circuit to the drone body and hooked up the ESCs with the following pinout...

after that, I just uploaded its assigned code,

I did the same with the transmitter circuit and that about it...

TESTING

In order to power this setup correctly, we just need to power both of the modules at the same time. one solution is to power them individually and then press the reset button on both of these PCBs at the same time...

this will reset the modules at the same time and our drone's Transmitter and Receiver will get paired.

now we can just operate the motors wirelessly with the transmitter circuit via NRF24...

Test video-

Here's the catch

For now, the drone motors are working fine but they lack precision, you can clearly see that when I press the joystick, all 4 motors don't start at once, there is a delay in them, this delay is the reason why I'm not straight-up flying this drone.

maybe this is just a software thing or a hardware problem.

Let's just say this is Phase 1 of my Drone making Spree and there will be more phases, like in Phase 2 I will fix this problem and try to improve the drone.

and maybe IT WILL FLY

Code

#include <Servo.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <nRF24L01.h>
#include <RF24.h>

#define LED 3
#define MOT1 3
#define MOT2 5
#define MOT3 6
#define MOT4 9

int speed = 75;
const byte addresses[][6] = {"000001", "000002"};
uint8_t state = LOW;
uint8_t val_x = 0x00, val_y = 0x00;
RF24 radio(7, 8);

Servo ser1, ser2, ser3, ser4;

void setup() {
	ser1.attach(MOT1);
	ser2.attach(MOT2);
	ser3.attach(MOT3);
	ser4.attach(MOT4);

    radio.begin();
    radio.openWritingPipe(addresses[0]);
    radio.openReadingPipe(1, addresses[1]);
    radio.setPALevel(RF24_PA_MIN);
	radio.startListening();
}

void loop() {
	while(radio.available()) {
		radio.read(&val_x, sizeof(val_x));
		_delay_ms(1);
		ser1.write(val_x);
		ser2.write(val_x);
		ser3.write(val_x);
		ser4.write(val_x);
	}
}

#include <SPI.h>
#include <RF24.h>
#include <nRF24L01.h>

#define POTX A1
#define POTY A0

RF24 radio(7, 8); // CE, CSN

const byte addresses[][6] = {"000001", "000002"};
int led_switch = LOW;

void setup() {
	pinMode(POTX, INPUT);
	pinMode(POTY, INPUT);
	Serial.begin(9600);

    radio.begin();
    radio.openWritingPipe(addresses[1]);
    radio.openReadingPipe(1, addresses[0]);
    radio.setPALevel(RF24_PA_MIN);
    radio.stopListening();
}

void loop() {
	int angle_x = map(analogRead(POTX), 0, 1023, 0, 180);
	radio.write(&angle_x, sizeof(angle_x));
	Serial.print("Angle X : ");
	Serial.println(angle_x);
	delayMicroseconds(1);
}

Credits

Arnov Sharma

306 projects • 306 followers

Just your average MAKER

Elektro Punkz

2 projects • 9 followers

"EleKtroPunkz Research Society"

NRF24 Based Drone Setup