MobiFlight Community Support

Radios & Autopilot Panel Project Part 1: The Initial Idea

Using the FSRadioPanel Android app the idea came to mind to add physical knobs to and create a cockpit panel. Looking for ways to connect the hardware to the flight sim I came across the MobiFlight software for use with an Arduino Mega or -Pro Mini. I tested it and it worked like a charm, after which the idea for a DIY project grew a bit larger ... why not add encoders, buttons and displays for a complete autopilot? This video shows the start of the project ... more to follow when there is progress.

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

Saw your video. Welcome to the party. I just started as well, did this for my Aerosoft A319, just getting started still have lights and Autopilot and a few other things to tackle. All the panels are 3D printed at this point.

Putting a picture up here just doesn't seem to be happening. Best of luck with your project.

Hi Joe. Hey, that's looking good. You're a lot further than I am ... you've already got it working!

I'm currently making drawings while the parts I ordered are not in yet ... can you tell me the size of the holes you used for the displays?

Rudy.

49 x 14 mm works, could be a bit smaller, and that is to only show 6 of the 8 digits on the display.

Radios and Autopilot Panel Project - Design and Drawings

The intention is to laser cut the four panels out of 'milk' plexiglass and to laser engrave the texts in the dark gray spray paint layer, after which hopefully they light up nicely in the dark with some LED strips functioning as back light.
The design is done in Fusion 360, which is free for personal non commercial use. The Fusion file, the drawings and the laser DXF files all are available for download on the blog.

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

Radios and Autopilot Panel Project: Prototype and Modifications

The hobby club reopened after a couple of months of Corona lock down. It meant I could laser cut the first prototype of the Radios & Autopilot Panel Project. Some modifications were needed which in the mean time are incorporated into the Fusion 360 design..

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

Radios and Autopilot Project: Prototype 2, Encoders, Displays, Mobiflight

The second prototype of the panel is laser cut out of 3mm multiplex. KY-040 encoders and MAX7219 displays are connected to an Arduino Mega for a first test with Mobiflight.

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

Radios and Autopilot Project: Parts Needed

The second prototype of the panel has been laser cut in 3mm multiplex and the 4 panels are mounted on a wooden frame. It starts to look like something now. This post and video are about the parts needed to make this panel.

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

26 Radios and Autopilot Project: Configure a Push Button in Mobiflight

To make a start with Mobiflight we set ourselves a small challenge: we'll configure a hardware push button on our instrument panel to toggle the Autopilot Master Switch in the flight simulator.

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

27 Radios and Autopilot Project: Configure an LED Output

In video 26 we configured a push button to toggle the flight simulator autopilot. We'll now configure an indicator LED in Mobiflight that shows the autopilot on/off on our hardware instrument panel.

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

Radios and Autopilot Project - Update on Hardware Progress

This week finally the new encoders that I had to re-order came in, this time with thread.

They are mounted on the panel and the four encoders besides the 7 segment displays are wired in the mean time. Which means the autopilot now is functional!

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

28 Radios and Autopilot Project: Configure NAV1 MHz Encoder in Mobilflight

This video is on how we can add an encoder in Mobiflight to e.g. tune the NAV1 frequency.

The first step is to add it in Menu > Extras > Settings as a hardware element, with the pin numbers it's wired to. Then in the 'Input' section we configure the encoder to control the events NAV1_FREQ_WHOLE_INC and -DEC.

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

The Radios & Autopilot panel is finished.

More videos on Mobiflight configuration and on flying with it are in the making.

29 Radios and Autopilot Project: Toggle Radio Tuning MHz / kHz in Mobilflight

We can tune a NAV or COM radio MHz or kHz part with an encoder. This video shows how we can use the encoder's built in push button to toggle between MHz or kHz. For this we'll use an FSUIPC memory location where we store the number 0 or 1. We change the number when the button is pressed. We read out the number in the Precondition tab of the encoder MHz and the kHz functions to decide which of the two will be active.

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.

Radios and Autopilot Project First Flight: ILS landing

After some 260 solder joints the panel is finshed. The video shows the first flight, an ILS landing, with tuning of the ADF and NAV1 radios and using the autopilot buttons and the Heading and Course knobs.

Link to the video.

Link to the blog post.