# Can we control the ardusub without Qground control

**URL:** https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/can-we-control-the-ardusub-without-qground-control/10951
**Category:** ArduSub
**Tags:** ardusub
**Created:** [November 3, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/can-we-control-the-ardusub-without-qground-control/10951 "2021-11-03T05:15:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![shakeera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@shakeera](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/u/shakeera)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/can-we-control-the-ardusub-without-qground-control/10951/1 "2021-11-03T05:15:40Z")

</div>

Can we control ardusub vehicle without Q -ground control. Please guide me in this regard. Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![EliotBR](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.bluerobotics.com/eliotbr/32/6937_2.png) [@EliotBR](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/u/EliotBR)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 9:14am UTC](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/can-we-control-the-ardusub-without-qground-control/10951/2 "2021-11-03T09:14:58Z")

</div>

Hi @shakeera,

> [@shakeera](#):
>
> Can we control ardusub vehicle without Q -ground control.

The ArduSub autopilot firmware is controlled by the [MAVLink protocol](https://mavlink.io/en/). QGroundControl is a ground control station software that communicates using MAVLink, so is capable of controlling ArduSub vehicles. Control can range from alternative applications (e.g. [this iPad app](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/control-bluerov2-with-ipad/7517)), to code-based approaches like [Pymavlink](https://mavlink.io/en/mavgen_python/) (which we have [several examples for](https://www.ardusub.com/developers/pymavlink.html), and [this more complete program](https://gist.github.com/ES-Alexander/ee1dd479dd728b7cef1bf936f9114e71) I made recently). Pymavlink can be used from a topside computer, or can be run on the [Companion computer](https://www.ardusub.com/introduction/hardware-options/required-hardware/companion-computer.html) inside the vehicle.

As MAVLink is a generated protocol, there are [several other library implementations](https://mavlink.io/en/getting_started/use_libraries.html) (i.e. if you don’t want to use Pymavlink/Python), and a number of [wrapper APIs](https://mavlink.io/en/about/implementations.html#mavlink-wrapperdeveloper-apis) which (like Pymavlink) operate at a higher level of abstraction than just the base MAVLink protocol.

Hopefully that’s a good starting point, but feel free to ask follow-ups if something isn’t clear or you’d like more targeted information on a particular type of control or something 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![enderocean](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.bluerobotics.com/enderocean/32/4768_2.png) [@enderocean](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/u/enderocean)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://discuss.bluerobotics.com/t/can-we-control-the-ardusub-without-qground-control/10951/3 "2021-11-03T17:26:20Z")

</div>

Hi @shakeera  
Based on Mavlink2Rest and NodeRED, we have build our own Web UI interface: [GitHub - enderocean/cockpit: A software solution that enables gamers to control a ROV remotely](https://github.com/enderocean/cockpit)  
We only use QGroundControl to setup the system during ROV construction or fine tuning.  
Let us know what you try to do.