Creating custom Microsoft Flight Simulator panels using an ATmega32u4
Mobiflight is an amazing piece of software that makes it possible to easily make physical controls for planes in flight simulators with an off-the-shelf Arduino, some buttons, and some LEDs. I’ve had a ton of fun with it and even designed a custom PCB for a general purpose radio stack. The radio stack is cool but it still relines on an Arduino being stuck to the back.
But did you know it’s possible to make a custom PCB with an ATmega32u4 right on the board and have it work with Mobiflight, no external Arduino required?
In this series of blog posts I’ll walk through how I designed the TBM930 de-ice panel as a custom PCB with an onboard ATmega32u4 that works with Mobiflight.
While this PCB is intended for use with Mobiflight the steps involved apply to any PCB you might want to make that uses the 32u4.
- Part 1: Selecting the right supporting components for the 32u4 and designing the schematic
- Part 2: Laying out the PCB
- Part 3: Flashing an Arduino bootloader on the bare chip
- Part 4: Customizing the bootloader to enable access to more pins
Questions about any of the above after reading through it? Come ask in the MobiFlight Discord!
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