Configuration

Configuration Options for DroneBridge for ESP32

Web Interface

1. Connect to the wifi DroneBridge for ESP32 with password dronebridge

2. In your browser, type: dronebridge.local (Chrome: http://dronebridge.local) or 192.168.2.1 into the address bar. You might need to disable the cellular connection to force the browser to use the WiFi connection

3. Configure as you please and hit save & reboot

UART Parameters

For the Official DroneBridge for ESP32 Board HW v1.0, HW v1.1 & HW v1.2. This configuration is only valid for the official boards! If you did not connect the flow control lines, set RTS and CTS pins to 0 to disable flow control. Check the Flow Control section for more details.

Board	TX GPIO	RX GPIO	RTS GPIO	CTS GPIO
ESP32C3 Official Hardware	5	4	6	7
ESP32C6 Official Hardware	21	2	22	23

Resetting the ESP32

If you made a configuration error and want to reset the settings of the ESP32 you can do so using the BOOT Button in the release v2.0 and onwards.

• A short press/click of the boot button will reset the Mode and WiFi settings of the ESP32 to Access Point mode with dronebridge as the password. That way you can check the configuration.

• A long press (>1.8s) of the boot button will reset all settings back to defaults. The WiFi Access Point password is dronebridge.

DroneBridge for ESP32 Modes

DroneBridge for ESP32 supports the following modes:

SYS_ESP32_MODE	DroneBridge for ESP32 Mode	Encryption	Description	Notes
1	WiFi Access Point Mode	WPA2 PSK	ESP32 launches classic WiFi access point using 802.11b rates	Any WiFi device can connect. Can manage up to 10 WiFi stations/clients.
2	WiFi Client Mode	min. WEP	ESP32 connects to an existing WiFi access point. LR Mode supported	Encryption defined by access point. Multiple drones can connect to one AP and GCS. 802.11b rates
3	WiFi Access Point Mode LR	WPA2 PSK	ESP32 launches WiFi access point mode using espressifs LR mode	Only ESP32 LR Mode enabled devices can detect and connect to the access point. Data rate is reduced to 0.25Mbit. Range is greatly increased.
4	ESP-NOW LR Mode AIR	AES256-GCM	ESP32 is able to receive ESP-NOW broadcast packets from any GCS in the area and forwards them to the UART. Broadcasts to all GND stations in the area.	Connectionless protocol. Data reate is reduced to 0.25Mbit. Range is greatly increased compared to WiFi modes. Custom encryption mode for ESP-NOW broadcasts and protocol.
5	ESP-NOW LR Mode GND	AES256-GCM	ESP32 is able to receive ESP-NOW broadcast packets from any drone in the area and forwards them to the UART. Broadcasts to all AIR stations in the area.	Connectionless protocol. Data rate is reduced to 0.25Mbit. Range greatly increased compared to WiFi modes. Custom encrpytion mode for ESP-NOW broadcasts and protocol.
6	Bluetooth LE	TBD	Bluetooth LE (BLE) connection to your device.	The application (GCS) must explicitly support BLE connections. So far this is not the case. They only support Bluetooth Classic SPP which is NOT BLE. Use the DroneBridge BLE Bridge application to connect to your GCS.

Configuration Parameters

Web Parameter Name	MAVLink Parameter Name	Description
Mode	SYS_ESP32_MODE	Check the modes section
SSID	Cannot be configured via MAVLink	Specifies the name of the Wi-Fi network in access point and client mode. Up to 31 characters long. WiFi must be at least WEP protected.
Password	Cannot be configured via MAVLink	Wi-Fi access point or ESP-NOW password used for encryption. Min. 8 characters, max 63 characters long. WiFi must be at least WEP encrypted.
Channel	WIFI_AP_CHANNEL	Wi-Fi access point or ESP-NOW channel.
Gateway IP address	Cannot be configured via MAVLink	IP address you want the access point to have
UART TX PIN	SERIAL_TX_PIN	TX GPIO of the ESP32. If the pin matches the RX pin, the UART will not be opened.
UART RX Pin	SERIAL_RX_PIN	RX GPIO of the ESP32. If the pin matches the TX pin, the UART will not be opened.
UART RTS Pin	SERIAL_RTS_PIN	RTS GPIO of the ESP32. If the pin matches the CTS pin, flow control will be disabled.
UART CTS Pin	SERIAL_CTS_PIN	CTS GPIO of the ESP32. If the pin matches the RTS pin, flow control will be disabled.
UART RTS threshold	SERIAL_RTS_THRES	Threshold of hardware RX flow control to prevent FIFO overload. Set any number of bytes between 0-127. Best to leave at 64.
UART serial protocol	SERIAL_TEL_PROTO MSP/LTM = 1 MAVLink = 4 TRANSPARENT = 5	Configures the parser. Set to transparent for no parsing. When not set to transparent it will detect individual messages of the data stream. In MAVLink mode it can inject RADIO_STATUS and heartbeat packets. This allows the ESP32 to register with the GCS. Support for MAVLink parameter protocol.
UART baud	SERIAL_BAUD	UART baud rate. Must be the same as with the autopilot. Try baud rates at the lower end if you see data but your GCS is not showing any of it.
Maximum packet size	SERIAL_PACK_SIZE	Maximum packet size in transparent mode. When not in pransparent mode the parser will try to fill it with the maximum amount of complete messages without plitting the messages. Max. for ESP-NOW mode is <250bytes (internally capped when set higher)
Serial read timeout [ms]	SERIAL_T_OUT_MS	Maximum amount of time to wait for a new serial bite. When reached even an uncomplete message will be sent via radio.