Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
communicate with your device. You'll need to translate the Bluetooth commands as they
come in from the Bluetooth interface and then send control signals to the various control
surfaces of your airplane, but this will give you more control over your airplane.
This will take a bit of Android development programming, and you'll need to make
changes so that the up, down, left, and right arrows adjust the control surfaces of your air-
plane appropriately. Also, be careful; Bluetooth does have a limited range. So, don't get
much more than 50 meters from your plane, or it might just fly away.
Once you have your plane flying, you can add the digital compass discussed in
Chapter 9
,
Even More Useful Sensors
. If you know direction and calibrate your speed, your Arduino
can even have a sense of where it is. You could even, in the absence of any control com-
mands from the Bluetooth interface, fly your airplane in circles.
Even more interesting would be to add the accelerometer/gyro capability from the same
chapter. Connecting and calibrating the device would give your Arduino information on
when the airplane was flying level or when it is going up or down or rolling on its side.
You can then use your controls to force the plane back into the desired position. The spe-
cifics on this type of control are too complex to detail in this chapter, so for more informa-
tion, visit
www.instructables.com/id/Intro-to-Model-Airplane-Autopilot/
and
hackn-
