Unable to detect Ping1D with Sonarview Discovery in Cockpit

I’ve been unable to resolve this issue for some months although notice the original post here is showing as solved so reposting the issue here.

To summarise I have both an omniscan 450FS and Ping1D attached to a BlueROV heavy configuration. I have the latest versions of BlueOS and Cockpit installed and version 3.28 of the Ping1D firmware. The problem is the Ping1D cannot be detected in the Sonarview Device Discovery despite numerous attempts.

Trying again recently with updates to Cockpit and Sonarview since I first reported the problem last September I found I am now unable to change the server address in Sonarview settings to 192.168.2.2 as previously recommended. I can edit this field but as soon as I click out of it it reverts to the default server address ‘blueos-avahi.local’ which I have been previously advised will not work with Ping1D (although previously changing this made no difference).

I can detect the Omniscan 450FS in Sonarview Discovery (Static IP 192.168.2.92) and can display Sonarview connected to the Omniscan in Cockpit in an iframe window.

I can also detect and view the Ping1D output using the Windows Pingviewer program (connected via UDP 192.168.2.2:9090). So I tried adding a device in the Sonarview Session Configuration menu using this IP/Port but am still unable to detect the Ping1D in Device discovery

Problem finally solved!

Not entirely sure but seems you need to first add the Ping1D as a device (UDP) in the new SonarView Session Configurations menu for Ping1D to be succesfully detected in Cockpit. Requires restarting the ROV and/or PC, Cockpit for this to work though.

The Omniscan 450FS seems to be detected automatically without adding it as a device but added it anyway and restarted everything to confirm that I can now use both in cockpit.

Hope it helps someone!

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Hi @BillyBudd -
There has indeed beens some shared confusion when it comes to session configurations - glad you got it sorted out!
You may notice a “PingViewer Next” extension is now available in the Extension Manager - it is a beta version that we are testing to replace PingViewer, and has some slick widgets for cockpit as well…let us know if you try it and how it goes (maybe on a fresh forum thread?)
Thanks!

Thanks for the heads up Tony - hadn’t seen this and will check it out let you know how I go. Have been looking at applications in very (VERY) low visibility environments so really useful to have better/faster visual integration between Ping data and the different displays like Sonarview/video etc.

Hi Tony

Installed PingViewer Next (PVN) although havent had a chance for an in water test but have some preliminary feedback to share below.

Although it worked well (see below) Sonarview (in a Cockpit iframe) can no longer detect the Ping1D after I installed and ran PVN. Omniscan 450FS still detects OK in Sonarview and Ping1d is still detected in Pingviewer though. I uninstalled PVN, Sonarview and Cockpit to see if I could recover the ability to detect Ping1D in Sonarview but no luck.

It may be that I dont have the correct port set in the vehicle settings in the SonarView Session Configurations menu so really appreciate any advice about what this setting should be as disappeared with the reinstall?

Otherwise be good to know if PVN can run in a Cockpit iframe? Reason I like this functionality is because it allows rapid switching between the sonar (Ping1D, Omniscan 450FS) and video during underwater surveys which require all this info to detect underwater targets and minimise collisions etc.

Not sure its relevant to the possibility that installing PVN was incompatible with the Sonarview Ping1D settings but do see under PVN Device Managment menu that PVN uses the address (lp: 127.0.0.1 port:9090) which is diffferent than used in SonarView and PingViewer?

The PVN display is large which is a definite advantage over SonarView as this is smaller and so detail not as visible - particulary if used in the field where visibility of Cockpit displays are dimished (eg sunlight, small displays, AR glasses etc.)

Output seems a lower resolution display than in the original PingViewer standalone though and not entirely clear how to turn Ping1D off which is a little disturbing particularly when testing in air! The bar/depth graphic you get when clicking in the PVN display is great as shows the estimated depth point against the scrolling display which is really useful.

When first opening PVN it says “connection successful” yet in the menu icons on the left no device is connected - which is a little confusing. Advises to use ‘Auto Create’ which is an option under another icon and sub menu (Advanced Settings). Connecting seems to require going to Auto Create and then Open Device under a seperate menu (three dots) although this didnt always work without closing and reopening Cockpit first- so a little unstable.

Under menus - Settings > Server I dont seem to be able to connect to MAVlink at all. At least nothing seems to happen when I try this? Have this enabled under the Ping Sonar Devices menu in BlueOS though (Mavlink Distances).

Only relevant miniwidgit I could find was an option you discussed on a seperate post that uses the Mavlink variable with the generic indicator miniwidgit giving the ‘altitude’. Which is awesome as also discovered in the same post a much awaited ArduPilot terrain following like function (SurfTrak) has now been incorportated in BlueOS - very nice work blue robotics!!

In the latest Cockpit versions options should show up automatically for any devices connected through the Ping Viewer extension :slight_smile:

Credit where it’s due, SurfTrak was largely the work of @clyde (a community member)! :smiley:


@RaulTrombin may have thoughts or suggestions on the Ping Viewer Next front, as he’s currently the primary developer of it :slight_smile:

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Thanks @EliotBR didnt think to check this but have now set it up in an iframe with the latest version of Next and Cockpit. I havent used it in water yet but the getting the Ping1D connected has been a bit of trial and error and not entirely sure of the sequence of menu operations should be used - is there a guide out yet?

@RaulTrombin may be able to provide some insight, but at this stage the software is in v0.0.3, so isn’t even completely released/announced yet - we’re just making it available as-is so people can test if they want to try it early, since it does already have some functionality that’s useful.

I agree that some documentation would be nice, but there are other higher priorities at the moment, especially since the new ping viewer is in a significant state of flux, so documentation that gets written could be outdated almost immediately.

You’re welcome to provide interface feedback by raising one or more Issues, if that’s relevant :slight_smile:

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OK will do - Tony W suggested starting another topic with feedback so will do that after I get it in the water this weekend. - Thanks again for your help.