SupportControllersUSBEdgeTX / OpenTX / ETHOS

EdgeTX, OpenTX and ETHOS

Radiomaster, Jumper, RadioKing and FrSky radios — connected to your Mac as a USB joystick.

Before you start

Set up a dedicated model on the radio, used only for HeliSense, with flat linear outputs — no expo, no dual rates, no throttle or pitch curve, trims disabled. See setting up a dedicated model for the detail.

Any model type will do on these radios, as long as each stick drives a channel of its own.

Enabling joystick mode

  1. Select your HeliSense model on the radio.
  2. Connect the radio to the Mac. Use a cable that carries data, and switch the radio on.
  3. Choose USB Joystick. EdgeTX asks what the connection is for each time you plug in. The other choices are storage and serial, neither of which HeliSense can read.
  4. If no menu appears. Set the USB mode by hand in Radio Settings → Hardware, then unplug and reconnect. On ETHOS radios such as the X20, the equivalent setting is the USB mode in the system menu.

The Mac needs no driver and shows no notification — the radio simply becomes available to HeliSense. Open Settings, turn on USB Controller, and your radio should be named in the Input Device picker.

Use Classic mode

EdgeTX offers two joystick modes, Classic and Advanced. Use Classic. It sends your channels straight through as axes plus buttons, which is what HeliSense expects.

Advanced mode isn’t covered here. It lets you assign channels to named functions and control how each one is exported. HeliSense can read it, but it hasn’t been tested thoroughly enough for us to document a reliable setup, so Classic is the route supported for now.

Channel order and switches

The bundled EdgeTX / OpenTX / ETHOS (AETR) starter profile assumes the usual AETR order — aileron, elevator, throttle, rudder. If your model uses a different order, it makes no difference as long as you run the setup wizard, which learns whatever your radio actually sends.

Assign your switches to channels in the model’s Mixes setup screen as you normally would. A switch that isn’t mixed to a channel sends nothing over USB, so HeliSense can’t see it — this is the usual reason a dial or switch appears to be ignored.

Three-position switches

In Classic mode a three-position switch mixed to a channel arrives as a single channel carrying three distinct values, one per position. The setup wizard captures each position in turn, so there is nothing to configure beyond assigning the switch to a channel in your model.

Reference layout

EdgeTX documents the Classic mapping as channels 1–6 to the X, Y and Z axes and their rotations, channels 7–8 to Dial and Slider, and channels 9–32 to buttons 1–24. A Radiomaster TX15 accordingly reports 8 axes (range 0–2048) plus 24 buttons — 32 channels in total. Other EdgeTX radios differ in stick and switch count but behave the same way.

Next

With joystick mode enabled, follow the setup wizard walkthrough to teach HeliSense your sticks and switches. If your radio doesn’t appear, work through the troubleshooting list.

Prefer a different setup? See the full list of controllers.