ESP32 UAV Telemetry Monitor

Overview

ESP32 UAV Telemetry Monitor is a lightweight wireless telemetry screen that connects to your UAV’s MAVLink telemetry stream over WiFi.

It displays:

• Flight Mode
• GPS Status and Satellites
• Altitude (meters)
• Ground Speed (m/s)
• Heading (degrees)
• RSSI (signal strength)

It also supports:

• OTA (Over-the-Air) Firmware Updates via a simple Web UI
• Factory Reset (reboot into default AP mode)
• Automatic Telemetry Lost Warning (shows a red warning screen if no data is received)

Features

✅ Wireless connection (WiFi AP mode)
✅ Receives MAVLink telemetry (UDP port 14550)
✅ Modern LVGL-based GUI (ILI9341 SPI displays)
✅ OTA Web Upload for firmware updates
✅ Factory Reset button
✅ Compact, portable monitor for field operations
✅ Low latency telemetry updates

Hardware Requirements

• ESP32 Dev Board (recommended: ESP32 WROOM/WROVER modules)
• ILI9341 2.8" or 3.2" TFT Display (SPI connection)
• Touch screen support

How It Works

• ESP32 starts its own WiFi Access Point ESP32-UAV (password password123).
• Opens UDP port 14550 to receive MAVLink packets.
• If no telemetry is received for 5 seconds → displays TELEMETRY LOST warning.
• OTA firmware upload possible if BOOT button held at startup.

Connectivity Options

1. QGroundControl (MAVLink Forwarding)

• Open QGroundControl
• Go to Application Settings → MAVLink → Forwarding
• Add Forwarding Address:

  192.168.4.1:14550
  

✅ QGC now mirrors telemetry to the ESP32 Telemetry Monitor.

2. MAVProxy (Custom MAVLink Output)

If using MAVProxy, add an output:

mavproxy.py --master=/dev/ttyUSB0 --out=udpout:192.168.4.1:14550

✅ Sends live MAVLink telemetry wirelessly to ESP32 monitor.

Screenshots

Firmware Upload (OTA Update)

• Connect to ESP32-UAV WiFi.
• Open browser:

  http://192.168.4.1/
  

• Upload .bin firmware.
• ESP32 updates and reboots automatically.

Building and Flashing

Using PlatformIO

git clone https://github.com/YourUsername/esp32-uav-telemetry-monitor.git
cd esp32-uav-telemetry-monitor
pio run --target upload

Using Arduino IDE

• Open src/main.cpp
• Select your ESP32 board
• Install Libraries:
  • lvgl
  • WiFi
  • Preferences
  • ESPAsyncWebServer
• Upload firmware

Roadmap

• Wireless MAVLink Telemetry Display
• OTA Web Update
• Touchscreen support
• Additional future improvements

Related Projects

FC Plus is a modular add-on board for UAV flight controllers, offering advanced features such as telemetry, GPS, object avoidance (ToF, Sonar, IR), and LED indicators for status feedback.

Acknowledgements

• LVGL for the beautiful GUI framework.
• MAVLink communication protocol.
• ESPAsyncWebServer for OTA.

License

This project is licensed under the GPLv3 License - see the LICENSE file.

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Thank you for using ESP32 UAV Telemetry Monitor!