No QGC Connection after Upgrading to RPi4/Navigator Stack

Blue Robotics Software
1

Hello,

We’ve recently upgraded our BlueROV vehicle from the RPi 3/Pixhawk to a RPi4 and Navigator board. We are re-assembling and testing the system, and we have the following setup right now:

Running BlueOS v1.2.5, QGS v4.3.0, and ArduSub 4.1.0 (latest I believe?). For the purposes of our system, we have changed the IP of the RPi4 to 192.168.3.200 in BlueOS (interface ‘eth0’) and the topside computer is set to an IP of 192.168.3.199. Both are static IPs, and there is no router anywhere in the mix.

We can see that the Navigator and RPi4 are powering up, and we can log into BlueOS on the topside computer at the expected IP (192.168.3.200) without issue. Network latency is good (generally less than 10 ms) according to BlueOS tool. We can also see that there is a consistent MAVLink hearbeat in BlueOS.

We can see the video stream from the BlueROV camera in QGC, and all looks as expected; however, it doesn’t seem to want to connect to the Navigator board and just shows ‘Disconnected’. We are using the same laptop we used prior to the upgrade. We were using QGC v4.2.8, but neither version of QGC seems to work. I’ve confirmed all firewalls in windows are turned off.

I should note that we have our ESCs connected to PWM headers 1 through 8, but thrusters are all unplugged for testing (we are using Cobalt connectors for thrusters, rather than WetLinks). Bar30 sensor is also unplugged. We can see the indicator lights on the Navigator board flashing, but no audible start up beeps (I’m guessing because the thrusters are disconnected). I’m not sure if these connections are required for successful start up of the Navigator board?

I suspect we are missing something simple, but if there is anything that we shoudld try to troublshoot this, we are open to suggestions.

Thanks,

Ben

2

Hi Ben -
You need to create a Mavlink Endpoint (plus button in lower right) pointed at your non-standard IP address of your control computer. Select TCP client, and type in the IP address of 192.168.3.199.
The thrusters are what emit the beep, but are not required for the system to start-up.

1 Like
3

Hi Tony,

Thanks very much, setting the GCS Client endpoint to 199.168.3.199 (the IP of our controlling laptop) worked, and the ROV is connecting in QGC as expected.

Ben