GatePilot

GatePilot is a WiFi-based gate control system using an ESP8266 microcontroller, a PHP server backend, and an optional Android application. The gate can be operated remotely via a web interface or a mobile app.

Features

• Remote gate control using ESP8266 and WiFi
• PHP-based API server for handling gate state
• Android application using WebView (optional)
• Web interface with password-protected login
• Gate activity logging
• Automatic gate state reset after execution

Project Structure

gatepilot/
├── esp_gatepilot/        # ESP8266 microcontroller code
├── server_gatepilot/     # PHP backend with web interface and API
└── android_gatepilot/    # Android app (optional)

ESP8266

The ESP8266 device connects to WiFi and periodically checks a PHP API endpoint. If the response is "1", the ESP triggers the gate relay for a defined duration, simulating a button press.

Key configuration parameters:

• WiFi SSID and password (replace in source code)
• GPIO pin for controlling the gate (default: GPIO5 / D1)
• url: API endpoint to check for gate status (default: http://foo.bar/index.php?state=show)
• button_delay: Time to hold the gate control pin high
• api_delay: Delay between API polling

Server (PHP)

The PHP server handles:

• Displaying a simple web interface
• Protecting access via password login and cookies
• Responding to ESP8266 API requests (state=show)
• Resetting the gate state after activation
• Logging gate activation timestamps

Files:

• index.php: Main file handling both frontend and backend logic
• state.tmp: Stores current gate state (0 or 1)
• statistics.txt: Logs timestamps of each gate activation
• style.css, script.js, logo.gif: Optional UI elements

Android App (optional)

The Android application is a simple WebView wrapper for the PHP web interface.

Setup:

Open android_gatepilot/app/src/main/java/.../MainActivity.kt and update the following line:

webView.loadUrl("https://SET_URL_HERE.com") // <---- SET YOUR SERVER URL HERE

Replace SET_URL_HERE.com with the actual domain or IP where your PHP server is hosted.

Note: The gate can be controlled directly from a browser – the Android app is optional.

Requirements

• ESP8266 board (e.g., NodeMCU or Wemos D1 Mini)
• Relay module connected to GPIO5 (D1)
• Web server with PHP (e.g., Apache with PHP 7+)
• (Optional) Android device

License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.