“A portable, wireless LED display panel for showing scores of a Drone Soccer match or any typical match involving two teams or players.
What This Project Is About
This project was created to be a low-cost and convenient way to set and display the scores of a game, especially for a Drone Soccer match. But it is also suitable for most games where two teams or players score against each other in a match. The video below demonstrates how it is operated.
It comprises an LED Scoreboard built using individually addressable 5V LED strips (WS2812B) with a wireless RF 433MHz receiver module on a compatible Raspberry Pico microcontroller (see Arduino IDE Setup section for the details on why this microcontroller is used). The LED Scoreboard receives remote signals from compatible RF 433MHz transmitters. I also built a separate custom Control Console transmitter (as shown in the video) using an Arduino Uno and an RF 433Mhz transmitter module. But this build is optional, as any commercial RF433 remote transmitter with six or more buttons can be used instead. The two-button remotes used to increment the scores are from the seller at: https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005005797926289.html, who also has versions with different numbers of buttons.
(Not shown in the video is the use of the “Off” button on the two remotes. In a Drone Soccer match, there are two goalposts and each has a wireless switch that triggers a red light to switch on when the scorekeeper presses the “On” button of the corresponding remote upon a valid goal. The red light remains lit until the scorekeeper sees that the striker’s team has returned behind the midfield and then he presses the “Off” button to switch off the goalpost red light to indicate that the striker is allowed to strike again. Therefore, the “Off” button on the remotes does not affect the scoreboard. Watch this official Drone Soccer match to see how goalpost lights are used in a match. Or read the rules of Drone Soccer here.)
The Circuit
The wiring of the components used in the scoreboard is shown below. The data out pin for the RF receiver has to go to the interrupt pin of the processor, which is the GPIO pin labeled 1 on the Raspberry Pico (or labeled 0 on compatible RP2040 Core boards). Data pin 7 on the Pico outputs to the LED strip Din pad. A capacitor should be connected in parallel to the input voltage points as close to the first LED as possible to protect it from damage due to the surge in current at power up.”