What's planned for 2025?

[ZZ-Cat]

Version 1.1.0 feature freeze

Effective immediately, no new enhancements are to be added to the upcoming Version 1.1.0 release.

Anything that is listed as either "On hold", "To-do", or "Planned" in my Version 1.1.0 Development Tracking post that does not have the "bug" or "bug fix" labels are deferred to a later release.

This does mean enhancements such as the anticipated Serial Transmitter Interface will not make it into Version 1.1.0 as I had originally planned. So, those that are currently waiting on this particular feature, I ask you to please be patient while I work on higher priorities with CRSF for Arduino.

This also means no new targets will be added to the upcoming Version 1.1.0 release.
Any requests for new targets will be deferred to a later version.

Version 1.1.0 will initially be released in the form of release candidates

EG Version 1.1.0-RC1, Version 1.1.0-RC2, Version 1.1.0-RC3 etc.

This is when I put out pre-release "release candidate" versions for you to test and submit your bugs via my issues tab.
Now, how many release candidates I do will depend on you. I will specify the life-time of a release candidate at the time of publishing it, and if no bugs are found within that time-frame, I will assume that it's all good-to-go and that particular release candidate will be picked as the final Version 1.1.0 release.

When I publish these release candidates, I will provide instructions on how to go about testing it and submitting your bug reports back to me.

Implementing The Crossfire Protocol is my top priority

My original vision for CRSF for Arduino was to implement The Crossfire Protocol in its entirety and make it usable within the Arduino ecosystem. In 2025, this is my top priority after I have released Version 1.1.0.

Team BlackSheep releases official documentation

It has been brought to my attention that Team BlackSheep has released official documentation for The Crossfire Protocol.
When I first started this project on 2023-1-28, my points of reference were Betaflight's and RotorFlight's code-bases which did implement the important parts of The Crossfire Protocol - IE RC channels and telemetry. Then in December of 2023, I switched my reference to CRSF Working Group's documentation of The Crossfire Protocol. At the time, all of this was based on CRSF v2, which has resulted in CRSF for Arduino being based on an outdated version of The Crossfire Protocol.

Post Version 1.1.0

In 2025 I am prioritising re-factoring the existing code-base, improving existing hardware compatibility, improving concurrency, and implementing the latest version of The Crossfire Protocol.
Once all of that is done and out-of-my-way, I will focus on your requests and the Serial Transmitter Interface. How I exactly go about this is yet to be determined.

2025 and beyond - A better work-life balance

I have chosen to work at a pace that is sustainable for me and is in-line with my core value of quality-not-quantity, and striking a better balance with my personal life.
From 2023 to 2024, I have noticed that I have been unnecessarily burning myself out... but being completely unaware of that at the time... until realising it now.
This has resulted in me losing a lot of my interest in coding altogether, and losing sight of why I got into it in the first place.
Burning myself out also brought me dangerously close to shutting down CRSF for Arduino and deleting its repository forever.

I am glad that I chose to step away from CFA for a period of time instead of shutting the project down.
If I did the latter, I would have shot myself in the foot - especially considering how much my project has grown since 2023.
It's literally you guys that has kept me going, and I am very grateful for that - A 2,000 strong monthly user-base and 160+ stars is nothing to sneeze at. Thank you all very much for this, I appreciate you using CRSF for Arduino in your projects.

This does mean that I am going a lot slower than I used to, but that's okay. I'd rather work on CFA in a way that empowers me to keep the project moving forward, as opposed to burning myself out while I chase quantity at the sacrifice of quality.

Conclusion

According to the official documentation, The Crossfire Protocol has been updated and I am shifting my focus back to implementing The Crossfire Protocol in its entirety.
Anything else is secondary.