SupportControllersExpressLRS WiFi Joystick

ExpressLRS WiFi Joystick

Connect an ExpressLRS radio to HeliSense over WiFi.

What it is

Many ExpressLRS transmitter modules and radios can present themselves as a WiFi joystick, sending your stick input to a computer or device over the network. HeliSense reads that input for the Trainer and Simulator.

You’ll need

  • An ExpressLRS-based radio or TX module that supports WiFi joystick output.
  • Your device and the radio on the same network.

How it connects

Your device running HeliSense reaches the transmitter in one of two ways:

  • Straight to the transmitter. When ExpressLRS WiFi is in access point (AP) mode it advertises a network of its own, and you join your device to that.
  • Over a separate local network — your home network, say — with the transmitter and your device both on it.

If your device and the transmitter are already on the same network, or are set up to join it, skip ahead to turning it on in HeliSense.

Choosing a model

On the transmitter, select a model that you fly your real helicopters with. The switches you already use for motor and throttle control and for flight modes then carry across to HeliSense as they are.

Consider a duplicate model. You could copy that model and use the copy only for simulators. Any change to the model settings while you are flying HeliSense — accidental or deliberate — then cannot reach the model you fly for real.

Turning WiFi on at the transmitter

This is done from the ExpressLRS app on the radio — the Lua script, on radios that call it that.

  1. Open the ExpressLRS app

    From the radio’s Apps list, choose ExpressLRS.

    The Apps list on the radio with ExpressLRS highlighted, alongside Model Locator by RSSI, Rotorflight 2 and TBS Agent

  2. Go to WiFi Connectivity

    Scroll down past the link settings to WiFi Connectivity and select it.

    The ExpressLRS app showing packet rate, telemetry ratio and switch mode, with WiFi Connectivity highlighted

  3. Choose Enable WiFi

    Pick the first entry, [Enable WiFi]. The others on this screen turn on WiFi for a receiver, a backpack or a video receiver instead — it is the transmitter’s own WiFi you want.

    The WiFi Connectivity screen listing Enable WiFi, Enable Rx WiFi, Enable Backpack WiFi and Enable VRx WiFi, with Enable WiFi highlighted

  4. Check it is running

    The radio shows WiFi Running… — that is the transmitter’s WiFi up and ready for HeliSense to find.

    The radio showing a WiFi Running dialog with Press RTN to exit beneath it

Setting the transmitter’s network

The first time you enable WiFi the transmitter has no network of its own to join, so it comes up in access point mode and advertises one instead. From there you have two options.

Fly on the transmitter’s own network

Join your iPhone, iPad or Mac to the network the transmitter is advertising:

  • Network name: ExpressLRS TX
  • Password: expresslrs

That is the whole setup. There is no router involved, so it works anywhere — at home, at the field, or in a hotel room. The trade is that your device is off your usual network while you fly, and so has no internet connection over WiFi.

Put the transmitter on your own network

If you would rather leave your device on your home network, join the ExpressLRS TX network as above and then open http://elrs_tx.local in a browser. The ExpressLRS web interface lets you hand the transmitter your own network’s name and password, and it joins that network whenever you enable WiFi from then on.

Once the transmitter is on your home network, put the device running HeliSense on that same network too — it is no longer advertising one of its own to join.

Turning it on in HeliSense

With the transmitter’s WiFi up and your device on the same network, all that is left is to switch the input on — HeliSense finds the transmitter itself. Only the way you reach the switch differs between the two platforms.

On iPhone and iPad

Open Settings from the gear on the home screen, tap ExpressLRS WiFi Joystick and switch it on.

Enabling the ExpressLRS WiFi Joystick input in HeliSense on iPhone.

On Mac

From the menu bar choose Controllers › Controller Setup…, open the ExpressLRS WiFi Joystick tab and turn it on.

The Mac menu bar with the Controllers menu open and Controller Setup highlighted

Connection Status is your confirmation that the link is live: it reads Connected and names the transmitter it has found.

The HeliSense Controller Setup window on Mac, ExpressLRS WiFi Joystick tab, showing the switch on, Connection Status reading Connected, and the Channel Mapping rows

If it doesn’t connect

Nearly always this is the network rather than the radio or the app. Work through these in order.

  1. Check both are on the same network

    If the transmitter is in access point mode, check your device is still joined to the ExpressLRS TX network rather than having gone back to a remembered one.

    If instead you have put the transmitter on your home network, confirm both it and the device running HeliSense are connected to that network — and to the same one, rather than, say, the transmitter on a guest network and the phone on the main one. Keep the transmitter near the router or access point, and the same for the Apple device if it is on WiFi.

  2. On a wired Mac, check the subnet

    If your Mac is on an ethernet cable, check that it has an IP address in the same subnet as the transmitter. On a home network you will have to look this up through your router.

    On a simple home network — a router supplied by your internet provider, with no advanced configuration — it is highly likely that both devices are on the same subnet. On a corporate or hotel network you will not be able to check, and the two are likely to be on different subnets: go to step 4.

  3. Restart the link, then the WiFi, then the radio

    Turn ExpressLRS WiFi Joystick off in HeliSense and back on.

    If that does not do it, disable and re-enable WiFi at the transmitter — back through the ExpressLRS app, as in turning WiFi on above. If it still will not connect, switch the radio off and on again.

    Should none of that help, that points to a configuration or performance problem with the network itself. One thing left to try is the hotspot on your phone: if HeliSense is on the phone, put the transmitter on the phone’s hotspot; if HeliSense is on an iPad or Mac, connect that to the hotspot as well.

    Your device and the radio may consume mobile data while they are on the hotspot. The stick data itself travels between them locally and does not.

  4. Take the network out of it

    If the two are on different subnets, or nothing above has worked, go back to access point mode and connect your device straight to the ExpressLRS TX network. That removes the router, the subnets and the rest of the network from the picture entirely, which is why it is worth trying even if you would rather not fly that way permanently.

Assigning channels

HeliSense starts from a default channel assignment. If that does not match your transmitter, you can change which channel drives each control axis and each switch. The screenshots below are the Mac window; the same sections appear under Settings › ExpressLRS WiFi Joystick on iPhone and iPad.

  1. Find your channel numbers

    Start with the Channel Monitor, at the bottom of the panel. Move each stick in turn and note which channel responds — the channel that moved last pins to the top of the list, so you do not have to watch the whole table. Do the same for the switches you use for motor control and flight modes.

    The Channel Monitor section listing CH1 to CH8 with their current values, and a Last moved row pinned above showing CH3

  2. Map the control axes

    In Channel Mapping, use the picker on each row to choose the channel for that axis. The toggle at the end of the row reverses the axis if it moves the wrong way.

    The Channel Mapping section with Aileron, Elevator, Collective and Rudder each assigned a channel, and a reverse toggle at the end of every row

  3. Map the switches

    Then assign the channels for Throttle Hold / Motor Run, Motor Off and Flight Mode. One switch can cover motor control on its own, or you can put Motor Off on a separate one.

    The Throttle Hold / Motor Run, Motor Off and Flight Mode sections, each with a channel picker and a two-channel switch toggle

  4. Calibrate the sticks and the throttle hold switch

    Click Calibrate Sticks and follow the instructions on screen.

    For Throttle Hold Switch Calibration, move the switch — or switches — to each of the positions listed and click the matching button for that position.

    The Calibration section with the Calibrate Sticks button, and Throttle Hold Switch Calibration listing Motor Run, Throttle Hold and Motor Off with a Set button for each

  5. Calibrate the flight mode switch

    Set the switch to the bank 1 position and click Set Bank 1 Position. Do the same for the other one or two positions, depending on whether you use a two- or three-position switch.

    Flight Mode Switch Calibration showing the recorded Bank 1, Bank 2 and Bank 3 positions above their Set buttons

Prefer a different setup? See the full list of controllers.