Communication modes to control an unmanned vehicle using ESP8266

Abstract

The Wi-Fi networks are more and more omnipresent in our quotidian. It is a cheap technology that is available in many places, public or private (e.g.: schools, hospitals, public transports). The vulgarization of this technology is related to the impact that the concept of Internet of Things (IoT) has been having during the last years, revolutionizing the way to interact with “things”. The use of Unmanned Vehicles (UV) tends to increase, for ludic or professional ends. These vehicles allow to assist and minimize the human intervention in many situations, but one of the associated problems settles in their communication architecture that needs the use of an ad-hoc remote controller that restricts the control area. This work intends to explore the ESP8266 microcontroller to control a UV over a Wi-Fi connection. Three architectures that support the interaction with the vehicle are presented and specified. The real test scenario validated all the described architectures to control the vehicles.