SBUS Bridge Overview

The SBUS bridge is a ROS node that emulates the SBUS protocol to communicate to hobby RC components through a serial port. Specifically, it enables reading commands received by an RC receiver with SBUS output which were send by an RC transmitter and it enables sending commands to devices that can read SBUS commands which is the case for all common flight controllers used in FPV racing.

The SBUS bridge uses one serial port to receive messages from a receiver on the RX line and send commands to a flight controller on the TX line. It can be commanded by ControlCommand ROS messages for autonomous quadrotor flight. Additionally it continuously checks the incoming messages from the RC transmitter and checks whether a particular arm switch is on. If the arm switch is on, it directly forwards the received RC commands to the flight controller ignoring incoming commands for autonomous flight. This enables flying a quadrotor purely manually or taking over by a remote control at any time during autonomous flight for safety.

The SBUS protocol is described in detail on the SBUS Protocol page. The required setup to use an RC transmitter for manual flying and safety piloting with the SBUS bridge is described on the RC Setup page. How to wire the required components is explained on the Components and Wiring page, and the required setup on the flight controller is explained on the Betaflight Firmware page.