The introduction of X-Plane and Microsoft Flight Simulator has seen a new era of flight simulation commence. An era characterized by impressive graphical fidelity significantly that exceeding the baseline set by their predecessors. These advancements now grant both aviation enthusiasts and casual gamers the opportunity to immerse themselves in an exceptionally realistic flight experience, all within the confines of their own homes. However, despite these achievements in visual fidelity, these simulators lack a fundamental aspect – the tactile sensation of piloting a real aircraft. This is precisely where Mobiflight steps in.
Regardless of whether you’re an occasional flyer or an ardent cockpit builder, Mobiflight is a revolutionary tool within the flight simulation domain. It allows you, to develop your own control panels and instrument displays which mirror that of the real world. With Mobiflight you can bridge the gap that exists between the digital realm and real world.
Mobiflight – What do I need?
At a minimum, Mobiflight requires three different elements, these are:
- Flight Sim – Mobiflight is not a flight simulator itself. At time of writing, Mobiflight supports Microsoft Flight Simulator and XPlane9.
- Mobiflight Connector – This is a piece of software which acts as a middleman between the flight sim of your choice (MSFS/XPlane) and the Cockpit Hardware (Arduino and the associated inouts/outputs). MobiFlight Connector also allows you to setup and configure all the Arduino Devices
- Arduino Board – In order to connect the assortment of switches, potentiometers, and rotary encoders to your PC an extra hardware is required. Mobiflight solely supports Arduino hardware, making an Arduino board essential for the facilitation of real-world input and output
What hardware does MobiFlight support?
Arduino Boards
Not all Arduino boards are supported. Therefore it is essential you pick one of the following boards:
- Arduino Mega 2560
- Arduino Pro Mini
- Arduino Uno
- Arduino Nano
- Arduino Pro Micro
At the time of writing, support for the raspberry Pi Pico is being developed – but this is currently in the experimental stage.
Input Devices
The following input devices are supported by MobiFlight:
- Simple Inputs – These inputs have the ability to ground the status of a digital pin. Examples of such inputs include standard toggle switches, buttons, or rotary switches. In essence, any device capable of grounding a pin can be be used. Furthermore, external pull-up resistors aren’t required, as MobiFlight activates the internal Arduino Pull Up resistors by default feature.
- Potentiometer – The variable voltlage output by a the potentiometer can be input into MobiFlight and used to change a multitude of different parameters.
- Rotary Encoder – As the name suggests, Rotary encodes converts rotations into a digital signal. This can then be input into MobiFlight and used to change a multitude of Flight Sim Parameters, whether that be the selected altitude or Radio Frequency.
Output Devices
The Following Output Devices are supported by MobiFlight:
- Simple Outputs – These are devices who can be controlled by a simple on/off signal. Typically, this type out output is reserved for LEDs and similar indications.
- Shift Registers – On some occasions, you may run out of digital outputs. Shift Registers allow you to increase the number of Simple Outputs your Arduino device can support.
- 7-Segment LED Displays – These are devices which allow numerical data to be displayed. Only 7 Segment Displays driven by MAX7219 Chips can be supported.
- LCD Displays – These are similar to 7-Segment Displays, but they are much more flexible. Allowing for a much broader range of information to be displayed. MobiFlight only supports LCDs which are driven using I2C.
- Servo Motors – MobiFlight supports Servo Motors, they can be used to move display needles, such as those for a Flaps Position Indicator. MobiFlight supprts a movement range between 0 and 180n degrees.
- Stepper Motors – These are motors, whose position can be controlled reasonably accurately. These allow users to create classic all kinds of mechanical devices, such as steam gauges and motorized throttle quadrants.
Arduino Firmware
As mentioned earlier in this article, MobiFlight Connector allows you to configure all of your Arduino Devices – this includes the creation and uploading of the Arduino Firmware. This is a visual interface meaning no programming skills are necessary.
Conclusion
In conclusion, MobiFlight is an incredibly powerful system of hardware and software which allows the interfacing of real world hardware with flight simulator software. This facilitates an immersive piloting experience for casual gamers and hard core flight sim pilots alike.
