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greghulette edited this page Jun 1, 2026 · 6 revisions

NaviCore Wiki

NaviCore

NaviCoreAstromech Animation Controller. A WCB-based RC controller for ESP32‑S3 (WCB hardware v3.2). It reads SBUS from an FrSky receiver and dispatches matrix buttons, switches, and knobs to local & remote Pololu Maestros, WCB boards, HCR vocalizers, and MP3 triggers — over a hardware serial bus and ESP‑NOW. A browser‑based config tool (Web Serial) handles all setup.

Formerly RC‑Controller / HyperCore.


Quick start

  1. Flash the firmware to a WCB v3.2 board → Flashing the Firmware
  2. Wire it up — receiver SBUS in, Maestro / aux serial / SBUS passthrough out → Hardware and Wiring
  3. Load the transmitter model onto your FrSky radio → Transmitter Setup
  4. Open the config tool, connect over USB, and map your controls → Config Tool Guide

Documentation

Page What's in it
Hardware and Wiring Board, pin map, receiver/SBUS, Maestro bus, aux serial, power
Flashing the Firmware In‑browser flasher, Arduino IDE, CI builds, versioning
Transmitter Setup X18 / X20 / Twin X‑Lite, channel map, loading the model file
Config Tool Guide Connecting, the live monitor, buttons/switches/knobs, modes, multi‑tap, calibration, save/load
Actions Reference WCB, Maestro, HCR, MP3, Serial — every action type and its parameters
WCB Network ESP‑NOW credentials, device IDs, remote Maestros, "Via WCB"
Serial JSON Protocol Full USB command table for tooling / scripting
CLI Commands #Lxx serial debug commands
Troubleshooting No SBUS, port won't connect, save NACKs, HCR silent, Via‑WCB issues

How it works (one paragraph)

Signal flow

The transmitter multiplexes its physical buttons onto a single SBUS channel (the matrix channel, default CH7) as discrete PWM bands, and its switches/knobs onto their own channels. NaviCore decodes each SBUS frame, figures out which button was pressed (and how many times — single/double/triple tap), which mode the mode‑switch is in (1/2/3), and fires the actions you mapped to that button‑in‑that‑mode. Actions go out to a local Maestro on a hardware UART, to remote Maestros/WCBs over ESP‑NOW, to an HCR vocalizer or MP3 trigger, or to a raw serial port. The whole mapping lives in the board's NVS and is edited entirely from the browser config tool.


Hardware target

  • Board: WCB v3.2 (Espressif ESP32‑S3)
  • Input: SBUS (16 or 24 channel, auto‑detected)
  • Firmware version scheme: vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH_<DTG> (e.g. v0.2.0_011009QJUN26) — see Flashing the Firmware

License

MIT. See the LICENSE file in the repository.

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