The drones you will build throughout this book will require a strong programming and electronics background. You will need to use Arduino IDE to upload the code to your ESP8266 and Arduino boards. For flashing the ESP8266, you will need to use the ESP flasher and the proper .bin files. A good working knowledge of C, C++, Python, and Lua will be required to play with the modules discussed in this book. You'll use Mission Planner, along with mobile applications such as Blynk, Tower, and DroidPlanner 2. If you know the AT commands for serial communication, it would be great.
To get the most out of this book
Download the example code files
You can download the example code files for this book from your account at www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files emailed directly to you.
You can download the code files by following these steps:
- Log in or register at www.packtpub.com.
- Select the SUPPORT tab.
- Click on Code Downloads & Errata.
- Enter the name of the book in the Search box and follow the onscreen instructions.
Once the file is downloaded, please make sure that you unzip or extract the folder using the latest version of:
- WinRAR/7-Zip for Windows
- Zipeg/iZip/UnRarX for Mac
- 7-Zip/PeaZip for Linux
The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Building-Smart-Drones-with-ESP8266-and-Arduino. In case there's an update to the code, it will be updated on the existing GitHub repository.
We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!
Download the color images
We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/BuildingSmartDroneswithESP8266andArduino_ColorImages.pdf.
Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.
CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "Mount the downloaded WebStorm-10*.dmg disk image file as another disk in your system."
A block of code is set as follows:
Blynk.begin(auth, ssid, pass); //This will start the Blynk with proper credentials
pinMode(4, OUTPUT); //for trigger in D1
pinMode(5, INPUT); //for echo in D2
Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "Click on New Project, and name your project anything you want."
Warnings or important notes appear like this.
Tips and tricks appear like this.
