Learn How to Build an Arduino-Based RC Ground Station

When it comes to remote control, your transmitter or ground station is just as important as the receiver on the vehicle. The most common setup is to use a standard handheld RC transmitter controller, which works well if your vehicle is always within sight. But if the vehicle leaves your line of sight, you’re probably going to want a more complex ground station. These generally give you long-range RC control and the ability to receive data back from your vehicle — typically telemetry or a video feed. If you want to learn how to build an RC ground station, Michael Rechtin has a video explaining how he used an Arduino to create one for his remote control lawnmower.

We covered Rechtin’s remote control lawnmower a couple of months back, because we were impressed by how well it worked. The term “lawnmower” is a bit of an understatement here, as this is actually a small rideable tractor that you’d use if you had acres of land to take care of. When Rechtin released his video about that project he was using a conventional handheld RC controller. The idea being that he could sit comfortably in the shade while remotely piloting the tractor. By upgrading to this ground station, Rechtin can drive the lawnmower without seeing it. He can also integrate autonomous driving functionality, giving the tractor the ability to roam around a yard without direct control.

As with many ground station designs, this is split into two parts: the radio control and the video transmission. Video feeds require a lot of bandwidth and can be unreliable, so it is important to use the more reliable radio transmitter for actual control. In this case, that was handled by an Arduino Mega board paired with a SparkFun nRF24L01+ radio transceiver breakout board. The Arduino monitors the various controls, including a joystick, and sends them to the tractor’s RC receiver. The video feed, which is shown on a laptop screen, is sent through a WiFi network. It comes from a Raspberry Pi with a camera mounted to the tractor. Rechtin did have issues with video performance, because WiFi is less than ideal for long-range communication. But the ground station works for Rechtin’s purposes and was affordable to make thanks to the Arduino.