QGC video feed without pixhawk?

Blue Robotics Software QGroundControl
1

My pixhawk is in shipping at the moment, but I have been playing around with my RPi2 and everything else. I have downloaded all the recent files (QGC, RPI image, etc).

 

Currently I have a pi camera installed and it looks like the mavlink and video services all properly run at boot. on my laptop, I amight able to run a batch command and see raw video in gstlaunch…but I cannot see anything when I try QGC (just ‘No Video’).

Before I spend too much time on it, I just wanted to verify that QGC isn’t simply waiting to show video until it detects a pixhawk. Should I be able to see the video with only the RPI?

Thanks!

2

Yes, you should be able to see the video with no vehicle connected. What does your gst-launch command look like?

-Jacob

3

Jacob,

Here is the command (found within the start_video.sh file on the RPI)

raspivid -n -fl -w 1280 -h 720 -b 10000000 -fps 30 -t 0 -o - | gst-launch-1.0 -v fdsrc ! h264parse ! rtph264pay config-interval=10 pt=96 ! udpsink host=192.168.2.1 port=5600

  • I have verified that my laptop is 192.168.2.1
  • I know the stream is running on the Pi.
  • I get the following error in the QGC log: "VideoReceiver::start() failed. Error with gst_element_factory_make('udpsrc')
  • in the Comm Links in QGC I just have the Default UDP listening on port 14550 (that might not be for video though)
4

If you are using linux on your laptop, try installing gstreamer (‘sudo apt-get install gstreamer1.0*’). These packages are not included if you opt-out of the third-party plugins during installation of the operating system. 14550 is the port for the telemetry connection with the pixhawk. There is also a field to select the video port (5600) and udp as the source at the bottom of the ‘General’ page in QGC settings.

-Jacob

5

I am on Windows10. I downloaded directly from the qgroundcontrol.com page.

I do have gstreamer installed on my laptop and I can see the video stream from the pi using that directly.

 

For some reason, I have issues sometimes running the qgc app and have to run it in gpu compatibility mode.

Also, I do not see the udp stream port settings in the general tab. maybe I have a bad build??

 

6

Hi Brian,

What version of QGC do you have installed? It should say the version number in the top bar of the application. The UDP stream port setup is fairly new so if you are using anything earlier than v3.1, it probably won’t be there. I’d recommend getting the latest stable version (v3.1.1): Release QGroundControl v3.1.1 · mavlink/qgroundcontrol · GitHub

-Rusty

7

well, I’ve installed the v3.1.1 software. For some reason, my laptop on Windows 10 wont even open the QGC application. Somehow I have regressed. Maybe there is an issue with my laptop and not necessarily the software… but its late and I’m giving up for the night :slight_smile:

My end goal anyways is to build my own control GUI with a browser hosted on the Pi. I don’t like the idea on having to rely on QGC. It’s fine for flashing firmware, etc… but to me, the better approach is to have the ROV host it’s own GUI and any device can connect to it with the browser. If I am out in the field and I don’t have my laptop with QGC, I would still be able to control the ROV.

8

Hi Brian,

Bummer that there’s some issue going on with the software. Let me know if you have any specific information on what might be going wrong.

As far as a browser-based GUI, that’s an excellent idea and it has worked well for others like the OpenROV. I agree that any device should be able to connect to the ROV. There are a few ways to get around that such as hosting the QGC installers directly on the Raspberry Pi so that they can be downloaded from the vehicle and installed in the field.

We’ve got some ideas about ways to start with the web-based GUI. If you’d like to work together on that, I’d be happy to chat more.

-Rusty

9

This looks relevant: Windows: On Start QGC just hangs. · Issue #4425 · mavlink/qgroundcontrol · GitHub

10

Yep, that fixed my issue. there was a bug in QGC for Windows 10. They posted a build and I’m sure a new release will be our soon.

Rusty - I would absolutely love to work on that together. Although I am brand new to the ROV scene, Im a systems integrator and have some good experience with Web Development and UI design. I’ve been at this for a while building quads and such some stratch, but stumbled upon openrov and BR and am ‘diving in’ head first.

My Pixhawk should arrive next week and I just ordered some parts from you guys, so I’m way early in the physical build, but I enjoy working on control systems more anyways. It will take me a little time to learn more about your existing Coms archicture, but I’m getting there.

11

I will add that so far I’m loving the professional feel and the platform here at BR. I think that adding a browser based UI hosted from the companion RPI would be a great addition to not have to rely on QGC for daily use.

I sent you a friend request. maybe through there I will be able to give you my contact info…or if there is a better way. Looking forward to the challenge and to provide any sort of value to this community. Keep up the great work!

12

Hi Brian,

Alright, great. I’d love to talk about it more. Might be best to do that on one of the development channels like Gitter. I’m interested in approaching this from the side and making a browser based GUI that, at first, would address needs that we have that QGC can not handle. For instance, it would be great to be able to have a GUI to flash the Pixhawk with new software, update the Raspberry Pi, check status information, update camera settings, configure other attached hardware like external cameras, sonars, etc. We can’t do any of that in QGC right now.

Then, once we’ve got a working system, we could start to add in the features that QGC already has.

Thoughts?

-Rusty

13

Love it! I’ll see you on Gitter.