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RC Receive Driver Block for Arduino

version 15.2.01 (2.23 MB) by Sergio Biagioni

Sergio Biagioni (view profile)
Control an Arduino robot using an RC Transmitter and Receiver with Simulink
4.5
5 Ratings

13 Downloads

Updated 05 Oct 2015

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With this block, a user can use Simulink to generate code for an Arduino which receives signals from an RC Transmitter.
When the output of an RC Receiver is connected to an Arduino, this custom driver block outputs the length of the RC signal's pulse in microseconds, which corresponds directly to the signal's value.

This material is meant to support the article "R/C Controller for Arduino and Simulink".
https://www.hackster.io/matlab-makers/r-c-controller-for-arduino-and-simulink-be5aee

Documentation:
For examples and documentation showing how to use block, see the "Supplemental Software" section of the main doc page. There will be link to the "Arduino RC Receive Toolbox".

Legacy Code:
To access the old version, type the following command after installation:
cd(fullfile(returnArduinoRCReceivePath,'old','rcreceive'))

Testing:
This driver block was tested with the Cirrus-DPR-4FM Transmitter and Receiver. All Receivers output servo protocol so the block will work with all RC Transmitter/Receivers.

The block works with the Arduino Uno, Mega 2560, and Due. The maximum channels supported is 6.

Comments and Ratings (17)

M Ebrahimi

M Ebrahimi (view profile)

HI Sergio,
you have introduced a nice solution for our big problem, cool thanx.
I used the block, it has good outputs for time constants 0.5 sec. but for simulations with small sample times such as 0.002 sec, the output has unstable values that changes between the true pwm value and values less than '500'.

Sharon Koppolu

Sharon Koppolu (view profile)

Hi Sergio,

When I have a Arduino PWM block along with this RC Receiver block in a simulink model, the RC Receiver block is outputting random values. Can you please let me know if you are aware of this issue?

Edgar Hernandez

Edgar Hernandez (view profile)

Hi Sergio!

I will start a project and I need the RC Receiver Driver Block function in Matlab R2014b.

Could you send me please?

My email is edgar.hernandez01@iest.edu.mx

Thanks!

Zakarya Motea

Zakarya Motea (view profile)

Hi
i have 2 simulink models, one for controller (external mode) using DUE Arduino and one for the quad rotor dynamic model (deployed on Mega Arduino). now on which simulink model i should place this RC Receiver block?

Regards
Zakarya

Todd

Todd (view profile)

I'm having a problem with this driver: it only works in external mode. If I just deploy it to my Uno, it never calls the step function. I had a similar problem when I tried to use the MATLAB System block to build an AF Motor shield driver, and was told I would need to write tlc code to make it work.

AMIT KASANA

AMIT KASANA (view profile)

Thomas Wegele

Thomas Wegele (view profile)

Hi Sergio,
I´m using an Atmega328. I tried now the atmega2560 as used in the example and that one works fine.
Do you have another idea why it shouldn't work with an arduino nano?
By the way in the future i'm looking into the arduino micro due to four possible interrupt pins.
Is the block working with the micro as well?
Thanks a lot
Cheers
Thomas

email: wegelethomas@aol.com
just in case the reply might be longer .-)

Sergio Biagioni

Sergio Biagioni (view profile)

Hi Thomas,
Does your Arduino Nano have an ATmega168 or ATmega328 processor?

Sergio

Thomas Wegele

Thomas Wegele (view profile)

Hi Sergio,

i was just wondering whether the block works with an arduino nano as well;
All my test on the INT-Channel Pin3 and the PWM Pin6 didn't work fine.
Maybe you have a small advice to look at.

Thanks
Thomas

Sergio Biagioni

Sergio Biagioni (view profile)

Hi Sean,
Great to hear. Since you are using the Arduino Uno, you should specify only two pins in the block, 2 and 3.

Best,
Sergio

sean cleary

sean cleary (view profile)

Hey Sergio,

Thanks for your help previously, all working fine now.

Just wondering, I'm going to use an arduino uno with this block which only has 2 pins available compared to the 4 for the arduino mega. If I use just 2 pins, do I need to modify the code at all? should i just input 2 pins or input 4 pins(where the last 2 are random)

Thanks,
Sean

sean cleary

sean cleary (view profile)

Thanks very much for that Sergio

sean cleary

sean cleary (view profile)

Hi Sergio,

Thanks very much for this.

Though I am stuck on windows XP at the moment and am having trouble getting Window SDK for it for use with the rc reciever block. Any advice*?

Cheers
Sean

Sergio Biagioni

Sergio Biagioni (view profile)

Hi Andrea,
You could just copy everything I did with channels 0-4 and expand necessary arrays. I would do it for you but I don't have a 6 channel tx/rx on hand at the moment to test. The specific steps are as follows;

1. Open RC Receive Driver Block
2. Change Data Properties->Output ports "Rows" to 6
3. In Libraries, change definition for rcc to:
volatile rcChannel rcc[6] = {{0,1,0,0}, {0,2,0,0}, {0,3,0,0}, {0,4,0,0}, {0,5,0,0}, {0,6,0,0}};
4. In Libraries, add void calc4 and calc5 interrupt service routines, just as calc0-4 were defined
5. In Outputs, change duration vector to the following:
static uint16_t duration[6] = {0,0,0,0,0,0};
6. In Outputs, add updateflag "if statements" for channels 4 and 5
7. In Outputs, add out[4] = duration[4] and out[5] = duration[5]
8. In Discrete Update, add attach interrupts for calc4 and calc5
9. Build the S-Function builder block
10. Run modify('sfcn_rcreceive')

Andrea

Andrea (view profile)

Great work Sergio! At now I'm working with four channels, how can I upgrade your block to six channels?

Sincerely,

Andrea

Sergio Biagioni

Sergio Biagioni (view profile)

The test model was built in R2013b. If you're using a previous version of MATLAB (i.e. R2013a), you could receive an error if you try to run the model in external mode.

Error Message Example:
Error occurred while executing External Mode MEX-file 'ext_comm':
Expected 1xN string array for host name

To resolve this, create a new model and copy the RC Receive block into it.

Enjoy!
Sergio

Akeel

Akeel (view profile)

Updates

15.2.01

Added support for R2015b
15.1.1.0

- Upgraded block to use MATLAB System Object instead of S-Function Builder to make installation quicker
- Block expanded from 4 to 6 channels
- Added status outport from block to indicate when data is received on a channel
1.4.0.0

Added support for Arduino Due
1.3.0.0

Updated required toolboxes, only MATLAB and Simulink necessary.
1.2.0.0

adjusted copyright
1.1.0.0

Removed mex files, updated required products.
MATLAB Release Compatibility
Created with R2015b
Compatible with any release
Platform Compatibility
Windows macOS Linux
Acknowledgements

Inspired by: Device Drivers

code/library/

code/mso/

documentation/blocks/

old/rcreceive/rcreceive/

code/library/

examples/

old/rcreceive/rcreceive/

documentation/blocks/html/

documentation/examples/html/

documentation/html/

documentation/release/html/

documentation/setup/html/