The Wingman: A Wi-Fi Enabled Drone

Drones are conventionally controlled using joysticks, remote controllers, mobile applications, and embedded computers. A few significant issues with these approaches are that drone control is limited by the range of electromagnetic radiation and susceptible to interference noise. In this study we propose the use of mobile handset and a drone based on the ESP module. ESP module refers to the ESP8266 and ESP32 series of Wi-Fi enabled microcontrollers produced by Espressif Systems. These modules are widely used in Internet of Things (IoT) applications due to their low cost, low power consumption, and rich set of features. The ESP8266 module was first released in 2014 and quickly gained popularity among hobbyists and developers due to its low cost and ease of use. It has a built-in Wi-Fi module and can be programmed using the Arduino IDE or other programming languages such as Lua or MicroPython. The ESP8266 has a range of GPIO pins that can be used to interface with sensors, actuators, and other electronic components. The ESP32 module was released in 2016 and is an improved version of the ESP8266. It has dual-core processors, more GPIO pins, and additional features such as Bluetooth and BLE connectivity, support for touch sensors, and an ultra-low-power coprocessor. Like the ESP8266, it can be programmed using the Arduino IDE, Lua, or MicroPython. Both the ESP8266 and ESP32 modules are widely used in IoT applications such as home automation, industrial automation, smart agriculture, and wearable devices. They have a large community of developers and users, and there are many open-source libraries and projects available for them.