ESP32 LED Controller for Model Aircraft

Professional LED controller firmware for ESP32. Designed for model aircraft with WS2812B LED strips.

Features

Hardware Support

• ESP32 DevKitC and ESP32-C3 MINI Development Board
• Dual WS2812B LED strip support (configurable GPIOs)
• PWM or SBUS signal input for RC control
• Real-time LED animation at 60 FPS

Animation Modes

1. Black - All LEDs off
2. Red - Solid red
3. Blue - Solid blue
4. Green - Solid green
5. White - Solid white
6. Rainbow - Smooth rainbow gradient
7. Rainbow with Glitter - Rainbow with sparkles
8. Confetti - Random colored speckles
9. Sinelon - Sweeping colored dot with trails
10. BPM - Pulsing stripes at 33 BPM
11. Navigation - Aviation lights (red left, green right)
12. Chase (Red) - Red dot chase effect
13. Chase (RGB) - RGB cycling chase effect
14. Random - Random LED colors

Project Structure

led-controller-firmware/
├── main/
│   ├── main.c           # Application entry point
│   ├── control.c/h      # initialization
│   ├── config.c/h       # NVS
│   ├── led.c/h          # WS2812B control (RMT driver)
│   ├── rcsignal.c/h     # PWM/SBUS signal reading
│   ├── localbtn.c/h     # Local btn reading
│   └── animation.c/h    # LED animation patterns
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── sdkconfig.defaults
└── partitions.csv       # OTA-enabled partition table

Build Instructions

Prerequisites

1. Install ESP-IDF v5.0 or later

2. For ESP32-C3, ensure RISC-V toolchain is installed

Building

cd led-controller-firmware

# For ESP32 DevKitC
idf.py set-target esp32
idf.py build

# For ESP32-C3 MINI
idf.py set-target esp32c3
idf.py build

Flashing

idf.py -p /dev/ttyUSB0 flash monitor

Replace /dev/ttyUSB0 with your serial port.

Hardware Setup

Wiring

ESP32 Pin    -> Component
-----------     ----------
GPIO XX      -> WS2812B Strip A Data
GPIO XX      -> WS2812B Strip B Data
GPIO XX      -> RC PWM/SBUS Signal
GPIO XX      -> Local button Signal
GND          -> Common Ground
5V           -> LED Strip Power (if current < 500mA)

LED Strips

• WS2812B strips require 5V power
• Each LED draws ~60mA at full white
• Use external power supply for >10 LEDs
• Add 100-500µF capacitor near strips
• Add 330Ω resistor on data line

PWM Signal Mode

• Standard RC PWM: 1000-2000µs pulse width
• 1500µs threshold for mode switching
• Rising edge >1500µs after <1500µs triggers next mode

SBUS Mode (FrSky X4R-SB)

X4R-SB SBUS/CH4 → ESP32 UART1 RX Pin (configured GPIO)

Note: The FrSky X4R-SB outputs inverted SBUS. The module automatically handles this inversion.

Development

Adding New Animations

1. Add mode to animation_mode_t enum in animation.h
2. Implement animation function in animation.c
3. Add case to animation_update() switch statement

Testing

# Build and flash
idf.py build flash

# Monitor output
idf.py monitor

# Exit monitor: Ctrl+]

Debug Output (SBUS Mode Only)

// Print all 16 channels to console
rcsignal_debug_print_channels();

Example output:

I (12345) RCSIGNAL: SBUS Channels:
I (12345) RCSIGNAL:   CH1: 992  CH2: 992  CH3: 172  CH4: 1811
I (12345) RCSIGNAL:   CH5: 992  CH6: 992  CH7: 992  CH8: 992
I (12345) RCSIGNAL:   CH9: 992 CH10: 992 CH11: 992 CH12: 992
I (12345) RCSIGNAL:  CH13: 992 CH14: 992 CH15: 992 CH16: 992
I (12345) RCSIGNAL: Trigger channel (CH4): 1811

License

See LICENSE