ESP-FC Flight Controller

The mini, DIY, ~$5 cost, ESP8266/ESP32 based, high performance flight controller.

Features

• Espressif targets (ESP32, ESP8266, ESP32-S3, ESP32-S2, ESP32-C3)
• ESC protocols (PWM, Oneshot125/42, Multishot, Brushed, Dshot150/300/600 bidirectional)
• PPM, SBUS and CRSF Receivers
• Builtin ESP-NOW receiver and WiFi configuration read more...
• SPI and I2C gyro modules support (MPU6050, MPU9250, ICM20602, BMI160)
• Flight modes (ACRO, ANGLE, AIRMODE)
• Frames (Quad X)
• Betaflight configuration tool compatible (v10.8-v10.10)
• Configurable Gyro Filters (LPF, Notch, dTerm, RPM)
• Blackbox recording (OpenLog/OpenLager/Flash)
• Up to 4kHz gyro/loop on ESP32 with SPI gyro
• MSP protocol interface
• CLI Interface
• Resorce/Pin mapping
• In flight PID Tuning
• Buzzer
• Lipo voltage monitor
• Failsafe mode

Requirements

Hardware:

• ESP32 mini board or ESP8266 Wemos D1 mini or similar
• MPU9250 SPI or MPU6050 I2C gyro (GY-88, GY-91, GY-521 or similar)
• PDB with 5V BEC
• Buzzer and some electronic components (optional).

Software:

• Betaflight Configurator (v10.10 or v10.9 or v10.8)
• CH340 usb-serial converter driver

Flashing

1. Download and unzip selected firmware from Releases Page
2. Visit ESP Tool Website
3. Click "Connect" and choose device port in dialog
4. Add firmware file and set Flash Address to 0x00
5. Click "Program"
6. After success power cycle board

Note: only ESP32 and ESP8266 can be flashed in this way.

Setup

After flashing you need to configure few things first:

1. Configure pinout according to your wiring, especially pin functions, you can find more information in CLI Reference
2. Connect to Betaflight Configurator and setup to your preferences,
3. Test motors without propellers
4. Have fun ;)

Note

Not all functions displayed in configurator are avalable in firmware. The rule of thumb is if you cannot change specific option in Betaflight Configurator, that means it is not supported. It usually rolls back to previous value after save.

Here are more details about how to setup.

Wiring diagrams

Supported chips

• ESP32 - recommended
• ESP32-S2 - experimantal
• ESP32-S3 - experimantal
• ESP32-C3 - experimantal
• RP2040 - experimantal
• ESP8266 - deprecated, may stop being developed

Supported protocols

Protocol	ESP8266	ESP32	RP2040
UART	Yes	Yes	Yes
I2C	Yes	Yes	Yes
SPI	-	Yes	Yes
MSP	Yes	Yes	Yes
CLI	Yes	Yes	Yes
PPM (IN)	Yes	Yes	Yes
SBUS	Yes	Yes	Yes
CRSF (ELRS)	Yes	Yes	Yes
BLACKBOX	Yes	Yes	Yes
PWM (OUT)	Yes	Yes	Yes
ONESHOT125	Yes	Yes	Yes
ONESHOT42	-	Yes	Yes
MULTISHOT	-	Yes	Yes
DSHOT150	Yes	Yes	Yes
DSHOT300	Yes	Yes	Yes
DSHOT600	-	Yes	Yes

Supported devices

Device	ESP8266	ESP32	RP2040
MPU6050/I2C	Yes	Yes	Yes
MPU6000/SPI	-	?	?
MPU6500/I2C	?	Yes	?
MPU6500/SPI	-	Yes	Yes
MPU9250/I2C	Yes	Yes	Yes
MPU9250/SPI	-	Yes	Yes
BMP280/I2C	Yes	Yes	Yes
BMP280/SPI	-	Yes	Yes
HMC5883/I2C	Yes	Yes	Yes
HMC5883/SPI	-	?	?
AK8963/I2C	-	Yes	Yes
ICM20602/I2C	?	?	?
ICM20602/SPI	-	Yes	Yes
BMI160/I2C	?	Yes	?
BMI160/SPI	-	Yes	Yes

? - not tested, but should work

Issues

You can report issues using Github tracker You can also join to our Discord Channel

Development

• Visual Studio Code
• PlatformIO
• Git

Todo

• Update documentation
• Balancing robot
• Serial Rx (IBUS)
• ELRS telemetry
• ESP32-S2/S3/C3 targets
• Baro (MS5611)
• GPS navigation

Licence

This project is distributed under MIT Licence. Bear in mind that:

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Donations

If you like this project and you want it to be still developed, you can support me a little.

• BTC: 1Lopez7yPtbyjfLGe892JfheDFJMMt43tW
• LTC: LV3G3sJxz9AYpDMYUp8e1LCmerFYxVY3ak