Developer Guide

SDK 1.6

Prepared

Title

Stephane Piskorski

Nicolas Brulez

AR.Drone Developer Guide

Approved

Date

Revision

File

February 24, 2011

SDK 1.6

Notations used in this document :

$ This is a Linux shell command line (the dollar sign

represents the shell prompt and should not be typed)

This is a console output (do not type this)

Here is a file_name.

Here is a macro.

iPhone®and iPod Touch®are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.

Wi-Fi®is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

The Parrot Trademarks appearing on this document are the sole and exclusive property of Parrot S.A. All the others

Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contents

A.R.Drone Developer Guide

Contents

SDK documentation

Introduction

AR.Drone Overview

2.1

Introduction to quadrotor UAV

2.2

Indoor and outdoor design configurations

2.3

Engines

2.4

LiPo batteries

2.5

Motion sensors

2.6

Assisted control of basic manoeuvres

2.7

Advanced manoeuvres using host tilt sensors

2.8

Video streaming and tags detection

2.9

Wifi network and connection

2.10

Communication services between the AR.Drone and a client device . .

AR.Drone SDK Overview

3.1

Layered architecture

3.2

The AR.Drone Library

3.3

The AR.Drone Tool

3.4

The AR.Drone Control Engine - only for Apple iPhone .

ARDroneLIB and ARDroneTool functions

4.1

Drone control functions

ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_start

ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_select

ardrone_at_set_progress_cmd

4.2

Drone configuration functions

ardrone_at_navdata_demo

ardrone_at_set_navdata_all

Creating an application with ARDroneTool

5.1

Quick steps to create a custom AR.Drone application

5.2

Customizing the client initialization

5.3

Using navigation data

5.4

Command line parsing for a particular application .

5.5

Thread management in the application

5.6

Managing the video stream

5.7

Adding control devices

AT Commands

6.1

AT Commands syntax

6.2

Commands sequencing

6.3

Floating-point parameters

6.4

Deprecated commands

6.5

AT Commands summary

6.6

Commands description

AT*REF

AT*PCMD

AT*FTRIM

AT*CONFIG

AT*COMWDG

AT*LED

AT*ANIM

Incoming data streams

7.1

Navigation data

7.1.1

Navigation data stream

7.1.2

Initiating the reception of Navigation data

7.1.3

Augmented reality data stream

7.2

The video stream

7.2.1

Image structure

7.2.2

Entropy-encoding process

7.2.3

Entropy-decoding process

7.2.4

Example

7.2.5

End of sequence (EOS) (22 bits)

7.2.6

Intiating the video stream

Drone Configuration

8.1

Reading the drone configuration

8.1.1

With ARDroneTool

8.1.2

Without ARDroneTool

8.2

Setting the drone configuration

8.2.1

With ARDroneTool

8.2.2

From the Control Engine for iPhone

8.2.3

Without ARDroneTool

8.3

General configuration

GENERAL:num_version_config

GENERAL:num_version_mb

GENERAL:num_version_soft

GENERAL:soft_build_date

GENERAL:motor1_soft

GENERAL:motor1_hard

GENERAL:motor1_supplier

GENERAL:ardrone_name

GENERAL:flying_time

GENERAL:navdata_demo

iii

GENERAL:navdata_options

GENERAL:com_watchdog

GENERAL:video_enable

GENERAL:vision_enable

GENERAL:vbat_min

8.4

Control configuration

CONTROL:accs_offset

CONTROL:accs_gains

CONTROL:gyros_offset

CONTROL:gyros_gains

CONTROL:gyros110_offset

CONTROL:gyros110_gains

CONTROL:gyro_offset_thr_x

CONTROL:pwm_ref_gyros

CONTROL:control_level

CONTROL:shield_enable

CONTROL:euler_angle_max

CONTROL:altitude_max

CONTROL:altitude_min

CONTROL:control_trim_z

CONTROL:control_iphone_tilt

CONTROL:control_vz_max

CONTROL:control_yaw

CONTROL:outdoor

CONTROL:flight_without_shell .

CONTROL:brushless

CONTROL:autonomous_flight

CONTROL:manual_trim

CONTROL:indoor_euler_angle_max

CONTROL:indoor_control_vz_max

CONTROL:indoor_control_yaw

CONTROL:outdoor_euler_angle_max

CONTROL:outdoor_control_vz_max

CONTROL:outdoor_control_yaw

CONTROL:flying_mode

CONTROL:flight_anim

8.5

Network configuration

NETWORK:ssid_single_player

NETWORK:ssid_multi_player

NETWORK:infrastructure

NETWORK:secure

NETWORK:passkey

NETWORK:navdata_port

NETWORK:video_port

NETWORK:at_port

NETWORK:cmd_port

NETWORK:owner_mac

NETWORK:owner_ip_address

NETWORK:local_ip_address

NETWORK:broadcast_ip_address

8.6

Nav-board configuration

PIC:ultrasound_freq

PIC:ultrasound_watchdog

PIC:pic_version

8.7

Video configuration

VIDEO:camif_fps

VIDEO:camif_buffers

VIDEO:num_trackers

VIDEO:bitrate

VIDEO:bitrate_control_mode

VIDEO:codec

VIDEO:videol_channel

8.8

Leds configuration

LEDS:leds_anim

8.9

Detection configuration

DETECT:enemy_colors

DETECT:enemy_without_shell

DETECT:detect_type

DETECT:detections_select_h

DETECT:detections_select_v_hsync

DETECT:detections_select_v

8.10

SYSLOG section

F.A.Q.

Tutorials

Building the iOS Example

Building the Linux Examples

11.1

Set up your development environment

11.2

Prepare the source code

11.3

Compile the SDK Demo example

11.4

Run the SDK Demo program

11.5

Compile the Navigation example

11.6

Run the Navigation program

Building the Windows Example

12.1

Set up your development environment

12.2

Required settings in the source code before compiling

12.3

Compiling the example

12.4

What to expect when running the example

12.5

Quick summary of problems solving

Other platforms

13.1

Android example

Part I

SDK documentation

Introduction

Welcome to the AR.Drone Software Development Kit !

The AR.Drone product and the provided host interface example have innovative and exciting

features such as:

• intuitive touch and tilt flight controls

• live video streaming and photo shooting

• updated Euler angles of the AR Drone

• embedded tag detection for augmented reality games

The AR.Drone SDK allows third party developers to develop and distribute new games based

on AR.Drone product for Wifi, motion sensing mobile devices like game consoles, the Apple

iPhone, iPod touch, the Sony PSP, personal computers or Android phones.

To download the AR.Drone SDK, third party developers will have to register and accept the

AR.Drone SDK License Agreement terms and conditions. Upon final approval from Parrot,

they will have access to the AR.Drone SDK download web page.

This SDK includes :

• this document explaining how to use the SDK, and describes the drone communications

protocols;

• the AR.Drone Library (ARDroneLIB ), which provides the APIs needed to easily com-

municate and configure an AR.Drone product;

• the AR.Drone Tool (ARDroneTool ) library, which provides a fully functionnal drone

client where developers only have to insert their custom application specific code;

• the AR.Drone Control Engine library which provides an intuitive control interface devel-

oped by Parrot for remotely controlling the AR.Drone product from an iPhone;

• an open-source iPhone game example, several code examples that show how to control

the drone from a Linux or Windows personal computer, and a simple example for An-

droid phones.

Where should I start ?

Please first read chapter 2 to get an overview of the drone abilities and a bit of vocabulary.

You then have the choice between :

• using the provided library 5 and modifying the provided examples (10, 11, 12) to suit

your needs

• trying to write your own software from scratch by following the specifications given in 6

and 7.

AR.Drone Overview

2.1

Introduction to quadrotor UAV

AR.Drone is a quadrotor. The mechanical structure comprises four rotors attached to the four

ends of a crossing to which the battery and the RF hardware are attached.

Each pair of opposite rotors is turning the same way. One pair is turning clockwise and the

other anti-clockwise.

(a) Throttle

(b) Roll

(d) Yaw

Figure 2.1: Drone movements

Manoeuvres are obtained by changing pitch, roll and yaw angles of the AR.Drone .

Varying left and right rotors speeds the opposite way yields roll movement. This allows to go

forth and back.

Varying front and rear rotors speeds the opposite way yields pitch movement.

Varying each rotor pair speed the opposite way yields yaw movement. This allows turning left

and right.

(a) Indoor

(b) Outdoor

Figure 2.2: Drone hulls

2.2

Di seguito vengono presentati alcune applicazioni in ambito civile per gli APR:
Sicurezza territoriale, delle frontiere e lotta ai narcotrafficanti
Gli Stati Uniti nel 2011 hanno iniziato una collaborazione col Messico per arginare il fenomeno dell'immigrazione clandestina e del traffico di sostanze stupefacenti attraverso il loro confine. L'esercito statunitense ha iniziato ad impiegare i propri aeromobili a pilotaggio remoto nei cieli del Paese vicino in seguito all'uccisione dell'agente dell'immigrazione Jaime Zapata, freddato da alcuni uomini armati nel Nord del Messico il 15 febbraio 2011. Le azioni congiunte USA-Messico sono state definite dai due presidenti Barack Obama e Felipe Calderón, con la finalità di adottare una strategia aggressiva per mettere fine all'escalation di violenza dei trafficanti di droga (negli ultimi anni questa "guerra" silenziosa ha causato circa 34 000 vittime). Gli APR verranno impiegati per segnalare i movimenti e la forza numerica dei narcotrafficanti, informazioni che vengono subito comunicate agli agenti sul territorio. Volano a 18 000 metri d'altezza, praticamente invisibili da terra, e in un solo giorno possono controllare minuziosamente un'area di circa 100 000 chilometri quadrati.

Monitoraggio siti Archeologici, contro la depredazione e il commercio illegale di reperti
Chiaro esempio il monitoraggio dell'antichissima necropoli di Fifa (Giordania) ad opera dei Droni. La soluzione valida, considerando anche la difficoltà oggettiva di avere e reperire personale in zone militarmente attive come il Medio Oriente.
Monitoraggio con drone centrali termoelettriche e impianti industriali
Gli APR possono essere utilizzati anche per monitorare nel tempo gli impianti di produzione di energia elettrica, o più in generale impianti industriali, utilizzando sensori (termocamere, camere multispettrali ecc.).
Telerilevamento
Il telerilevamento, in inglese Remote Sensing, è la disciplina tecnico-scientifica o scienza applicata con finalità diagnostico-investigative che permette di ricavare informazioni, qualitative e quantitative, sull'ambiente e su oggetti posti a distanza da un sensore mediante misure di radiazione elettromagnetica (emessa, riflessa o trasmessa) che interagisce con le superfici fisiche di interesse. Grazie alla possibilità di volare anche a quote molto basse e di disporre di sensori di piccole dimensioni ma di buona qualità, gli APR appartenenti in particolare alla categoria mini possono essere utilizzati per applicazioni legate al telerilevamento quali la creazione di mappe di vigore di colture agricole e monitoraggio dello stato di salute della vegetazione, la creazione di mappe di copertura e uso del suolo, per l'analisi e il supporto nelle fasi immediatamente successive a calamità naturali oppure per il monitoraggio e la mappatura delle dispersioni termiche di edifici (case, capannoni, impianti industriali) privati e pubblici in un periodo, come quello attuale, in cui si parla molto di sviluppo sostenibile e perdita di terreno da destinare ad aree verdi.
Aerofotogrammetria e rilievo dell'architettura
La fotogrammetria è una tecnica di rilievo che permette di acquisire dei dati metrici di un oggetto (forma e posizione) tramite l'acquisizione e l'analisi di una coppia di fotogrammi stereometrici. Con l'avvento delle camere digitali di ridotte dimensioni (compatte o reflex), ma che possono garantire un elevato standard qualitativo relativamente all'immagine prodotta, la fotogrammetria può essere accostata agli APR e al loro utilizzo per la creazione di Modelli digitali del terreno (DTM), produzione ortofoto e, allo stesso tempo, per il rilievo architettonico di infrastrutture ed edifici per la creazione di modelli 3D.
Monitoraggio ambientale e calamità naturali

Gli APR possono essere utilizzati per il monitoraggio con drone degli animali selvatici e il controllo numerico periodico per quelle specie con un alto tasso di riproduzione che potrebbero essere un problema sia per la biodiversità dell'ambiente in cui vivono sia per quanto riguarda i danni economici causati alle produzioni agricole e zootecniche presenti sul territorio.
Operazioni di ricerca e soccorso
I droni possono svolgere un ruolo importante nelle operazioni di ricerca e soccorso consentendo di effettuare delle ricognizioni in tempi rapidi, in particolare a seguito del verificarsi di situazioni di emergenza.

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elettriche ispezioni linee elettriche ispezioni drone impianto fotovoltaico ispezioni drone impianto fotovoltaico rilievo topografico cava rilievo topografico cava vendita droni professionali roma vendita droni professionali roma vendita droni professionali brescia vendita droni professionali brescia vendita droni professionali milano vendita droni professionali milano video aziendali bergamo video aziendali bergamo drone aiuti umanitari drone aiuti umanitari promozione immobiliare drone promozione immobiliare drone ispezioni drone stabilimento chimico ispezioni drone stabilimento chimico gis gis video drone video drone riprese cinematografiche riprese cinematografiche riprese aeree droni riprese aeree droni drone monitoraggio ambientale drone monitoraggio ambientale drone per ricerca e soccorso drone per ricerca e soccorso riprese aeree droni riprese aeree droni droni professionali droni professionali vendita droni professionali bergamo vendita droni professionali bergamo post 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video drone professionale video drone professionale video aziendale drone video aziendale drone batterie per droni batterie per droni droni droni gimbal drone gimbal drone noleggio droni noleggio droni ground station drone ground station drone termocamere multispettrali termocamere multispettrali canon 5d canon 5d albris sensefly albris sensefly noleggio attrezzatura fotografica noleggio attrezzatura fotografica batterie lipo batterie lipo telecamera telecamera noleggio canon noleggio canon caricabatterie drone caricabatterie drone noleggio cavalletti fotografici noleggio cavalletti fotografici dji dji drone drone drone con telecamera drone con telecamera drone professionale drone professionale ebee noleggio ebee noleggio noleggio flash noleggio flash noleggio flir noleggio flir focus dji focus dji radiocomando futaba radiocomando futaba gimbal gimbal caricabatterie graupner caricabatterie graupner ground station ground station horus dynamics horus dynamics inspire dji inspire dji batterie lipo batterie lipo dji matrice dji matrice dji mavic dji mavic telecamera multispettrale telecamera multispettrale nikon noleggio nikon noleggio noleggio obbiettivi noleggio obbiettivi ground station ground station dji osmo dji osmo dji phantom .

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Videoriprese e fotografie ispezioni fotogrammetria e termografia in generale

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drone nikon drone nikon noleggio drone professionale noleggio drone professionale ispezione pannelli solari ispezione pannelli solari drone phantom drone phantom drone sorveglianza drone sorveglianza drone protezione civile drone protezione civile ispezioni drone cava ispezioni drone cava render render drone ricerca dispersi drone ricerca dispersi ricostruzione 3d drone ricostruzione 3d drone rilievi drone rilievi drone rilievo drone rilievo drone riparazione droni riparazione droni riprese aeree drone riprese aeree drone sensore per drone sensore per drone sensori drone sensori drone soccorso drone

Indoor and outdoor design configurations

When flying outdoor the AR.Drone can be set in a light and low wind drag configuration (2.2b).

Flying indoor requires the drone to be protected by external bumpers (2.2a).

When flying indoor, tags can be added on the external hull to allow several drones to easily

detect each others via their cameras.

2.3

Engines

The AR.Drone is powered with brushless engines with three phases current controlled by a

micro-controller

The AR.Drone automatically detects the type of engines that are plugged and automatically

adjusts engine controls. The AR.Drone detects if all the engines are turning or are stopped. In

case a rotating propeller encounters any obstacle, the AR.Drone detects if any of the propeller

is blocked and in such case stops all engines immediately. This protection system prevents

repeated shocks.

(a) Ultrasound sensor

(b) Camera

Figure 2.3: Drone Sensors

2.4

LiPo batteries

The AR.Drone uses a charged 1000mAh, 11.1V LiPo batteries to fly. While flying the battery

voltage decreases from full charge (12.5 Volts) to low charge (9 Volts). The AR.Drone monitors

battery voltage and converts this voltage into a battery life percentage (100% if battery is full,

0% if battery is low). When the drone detects a low battery voltage, it first sends a warning

message to the user, then automatically lands. If the voltage reaches a critical level, the whole

system is shut down to prevent any unexpected behaviour.

2.5

Motion sensors

The AR.Drone has many motions sensors. They are located below the central hull.

The AR.Drone features a 6 DOF, MEMS-based, miniaturized inertial measurement unit. It pro-

vides the software with pitch, roll and yaw measurements.

Inertial measurements are used for automatic pitch, roll and yaw stabilization and assisted

tilting control. They are needed for generating realistic augmented reality effects.

An ultrasound telemeter provides with altitude measures for automatic altitude stabilization

and assisted vertical speed control.

A camera aiming towards the ground provides with ground speed measures for automatic

hovering and trimming.

2.6

Assisted control of basic manoeuvres

Usually quadrotor remote controls feature levers and trims for controlling UAV pitch, roll, yaw

and throttle. Basic manoeuvres include take-off, trimming, hovering with constant altitude,

and landing. It generally takes hours to a beginner and many UAV crashes before executing

safely these basic manoeuvres.

Thanks to the AR.Drone onboard sensors take-off, hovering, trimming and landing are now

completely automatic and all manoeuvres are completely assisted.

User interface for basics controls on host can now be greatly simplified :

• When landed push take-off button to automatically start engines, take-off and hover at a

pre-determined altitude.

• When flying push landing button to automatically land and stop engines.

• Press turn left button to turn the AR Drone automatically to the left at a predetermined

speed. Otherwise the AR Drone automatically keeps the same orientation.

• Press turn right button to turn the AR Drone automatically to the right. Otherwise the AR

Drone automatically keeps the same orientation.

• Push up button to go upward automatically at a predetermined speed. Otherwise the AR

Drone automatically stays at the same altitude.

• Push down to go downward automatically at a predetermined speed. Otherwise the AR

Drone automatically stays at the same altitude.

A number of flight control parameters can be tuned:

• altitude limit

• yaw speed limit

• vertical speed limit

• AR.Drone tilt angle limit

• host tilt angle limit

2.7

Advanced manoeuvres using host tilt sensors

Many hosts now include tilt motion sensors. Their output values can be sent to the AR.Drone

as the AR.Drone tilting commands.

One tilting button on the host activates the sending of tilt sensor values to the AR.Drone . Oth-

erwise hovering is a default command when the user does not input any manoeuvre command.

This dramatically simplifies the AR.Drone control by the user.

The host tilt angle limit and trim parameters can be tuned.

2.8

Video streaming and tags detection

The frontal camera is a CMOS sensor with a 90 degrees angle lens.

The AR.Drone automatically encodes and streams the incoming images to the host device.

QCIF and QVGA image resolutions are supported. The video stream frame rate is set to 15 Hz.

Tags painted on drones can be detected by the drone front camera. These tags can be used to

detect other drones during multiplayer games, or to help a drone find its way in the environ-

ment. Both tags on the external and internal hull can be detected.

(a) 2D tags on outdoor shell

(b) 2D tags on indoor shell

Figure 2.4: Drone shell tags

2.9

Wifi network and connection

The AR.Drone can be controlled from any client device supporting the Wifi ad-hoc mode. The

following process is followed :

1. the AR.Drone creates a WIFI network with an ESSID usually called adrone_xxx and self

allocates a free, odd IP address.

2. the user connects the client device to this ESSID network.

3. the client device requests an IP address from the drone DHCP server.

4. the AR.Drone DHCP server grants the client with an IP address which is :

• the drone own IP address plus 1 (for drones prior to version 1.1.3)

• the drone own IP address plus a number between 1 and 4 (starting from version

1.1.3)

5. the client device can start sending requests the AR.Drone IP address and its services ports.

The client can also initiate the Wifi ad-hoc network. If the drone detects an already-existing

network with the SSID it intented to use, it joins the already-existing Wifi channel.

2.10

Communication services between the AR.Drone and a client

device

Controlling the AR.Drone is done through 3 main communication services.

Controlling and configuring the drone is done by sending AT commands on UDP port 5556.

The transmission latency of the control commands is critical to the user experience. Those

commands are to be sent on a regular basis (usually 30 times per second). The list of available

commands and their syntax is discussed in chapter 6.

Information about the drone (like its status, its position, speed, engine rotation speed, etc.),

called navdata, are sent by the drone to its client on UDP port 5554. These navdata also include

tags detection information that can be used to create augmented reality games. They are sent

approximatively 30 times per second.

A video stream is sent by the AR.Drone to the client device on port 5555. Images from this video

stream can be decoded using the codec included in this SDK. Its encoding format is discussed

in section 7.2.

A fourth communication channel, called control port, can be established on TCP port 5559 to

transfer critical data, by opposition to the other data that can be lost with no dangerous effect.

It is used to retrieve configuration data, and to acknowledge important information such as the

sending of configuration information.

AR.Drone SDK

Overview

This SDK allows you to easily write your own applications to remotely control the drone :

• from any personal computer with Wifi connectivity (Linux or Windows);

• from an Apple iPhone;

• (soon) from an Android mobile phone.

It also allows you, with a bit more effort, to remotely control the drone from any programmable

device with a Wifi network card and a TCP/UDP/IP stack - for devices which are not sup-

ported by Parrot, a complete description of the communication protocol used by the drone is

given in this document;

However, this SDK does NOT support :

• rewriting your own embedded software - no direct access to the drone hardware (sensors,

engines) is allowed.

3.1

Layered architecture

Here is an overview of the layered architecture of a host application built upon the AR.Drone

SDK.

Application

Host application

level

Application

ARDrone Control

threads

Engine (only for iPhone)

Threads

level

ARDrone

Library

Data streams

AT cmds

host sw

Host hw/sw API

Host hw

openGL Wifi Touchpad Accelerometer

3.2

The AR.Drone Library

The AR.Drone Library is currently provided as an open-source library with high level APIs to

access the drone.

Let’s review its content :

• SOFT : the drone-specific code, including :

- COMMON : header (.h) files describing the communication structures used by the

drone (make sure you pack the C structures when compiling them)

- Lib/ardrone_tool : a set of tools to easily manage the drone, like an AT command

sending loop and thread, a navdata receiving thread, a ready to use video pipeline,

and a ready to use main function

• VLIB : the video processing library. It contains the functions to receive and decode the

video stream

• VPSDK : a set of general purpose libraries, including

- VPSTAGES : video processing pieces, which you can assemble to build a video

processing pipeline

- VPOS : multiplatform (Linux/Windows/Parrot proprietary platforms) wrappers

for system-level functions (memory allocation, thread management, etc.)

- VPCOM : multiplatform wrappers for communication functions (over Wifi, Blue-

tooth, etc.)

- VPAPI : helpers to manage video pipelines and threads

Let’s now detail the ARDroneTool part :

• ardrone_tool.c : contains a ready-to-use main C function which initialises the Wifi net-

work and initiates all the communications with the drone

• UI : contains a ready-to-use gamepad management code

• AT : contains all the functions you can call to actually control the drone. Most of them

directly refer to an AT command which is then automatically built with the right syntax

and sequencing number, and forwarded to the AT management thread.

• NAVDATA : contains a ready-to-use Navdata receiving and decoding system

3.3

The AR.Drone Tool

Part of the AR.Drone Library is the ARDroneTool .

The ARDroneTool is a library which implements in an efficient way the four services described

in section 2.10.

In particular, it provides :

• an AT command management thread, which collects commands sent by all the other

threads, and send them in an ordered manner with correct sequence numbers

• a navdata management thread which automatically receives the navdata stream, decodes

it, and provides the client application with ready-to-use navigation data through a call-

back function

• a video management thread, which automatically receives the video stream and provides

the client application with ready-to-use video data through a callback function

• acontrolthreadwhichhandlesrequestsfromotherthreadsforsendingreliablecommands

from the drone, and automatically checks for the drone acknowledgements.

All those threads take care of connecting to the drone at their creation, and do so by using the

vp_com library which takes charge of reconnecting to the drone when necessary.

These threads, and the required initialization, are created and managed by a main function, also

provided by the ARDroneTool in the ardrone_tool.c file.

All a programmer has to do is then fill the desired callback functions with some application

specific code. Navdata can be processed as described in section 5.3. The video frames can be

retrived as mentionned in 5.6.

3.4

The AR.Drone Control Engine - only for Apple iPhone

The AR.Drone control engine (aka. ARDrone engine) provides all the AR.Drone applications

for iPhonewith common methods for managing the drone, displaying its video stream and

managing touch/tilt controls and special events on the iPhone.

It is meant to be a common base for all iPhone applications, in order to provide a common

drone API and user interface (common controls, setting menus, etc.). The Control Engine API

is the only interface to the drone from the iPhone application. It is the Control Engine task to

acces the ARDroneLIB .

The AR.Drone Control Engine automatically opens, receives, decodes and displays video stream

coming from toy using OpenGL routines. Only one AR Drone Control Engine function need

be called inside application for displaying automatically the incoming video stream. Another

function allows getting a status of this process.

The following flight parameters are superimposed on video:

• AR Drone battery life will be displayed on top right

The following controls are superimposed on video:

• At the bottom, a take-off button when landed or a landing button when flying

• On the left, a settings button and a zap (change video channel) button

• On the top, an emergency button, which will stop the AR.Drone motors

Special events can occur when in game, and trigger warning messages :

• battery too low

• wifi connection loss

• video connection loss

• engine problem

User can be requested to acknowledge special event message on touch pad.

ARDroneLIB and

ARDroneTool functions

Here are discussed the functions provided by the ARDroneLIB to manage and control the

drone.

Important

Those functions are meant to be used along with the whole ARDroneLIB and ARDroneTool

framework.

You can use them when building your own application as described in chapter 5 or when

modifying the examples.

They cannot be used when writing an application from scratch; you will then have to reim-

plement your own framework by following the specifications of the AT commands (chapter 6),

navigation data (section 7.1), and video stream (section 7.2).

Most of them are declared in file ardrone_api.h of the SDK.

4.1

Drone control functions

ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_start

Summary :

Take off - Land

Corresponding AT command : AT*REF

Args :

(

int value : take off flag

)

Description :

Makes the drone take-off (if value=1) or land (if value=0).

When entering an emergency mode, the client program should call this function with a zero

argument to prevent the drone from taking-off once the emergency has finished.

ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_select

Summary :

Send emergency signal / recover from emergency

Corresponding AT command : AT*REF

Args :

(

int value : emergency flag

)

Description :

When the drone is in a normal flying or ready-to-fly state, use this command with value=1 to

start sending an emergency signal to the drone, i.e. make it stop its engines and fall.

When the drone is in an emergency state, use this command with value=1 to make the drone

try to resume to a normal state.

Once you sent the emergency signal, you must check the drone state in the navdata and wait

until its state is actually changed. You can then call this command with value=0 to stop sending

the emergency signal.

ardrone_at_set_progress_cmd

Summary :

Moves the drone

Corresponding AT command : AT*PCMD

int flags :

Flag enabling the use of progressive commands and the new Com-

bined Yaw control mode

float phi :

Left/right angle ∈ [−1.0; +1.0]

Args :

(

)

float theta :

Front/back angle ∈ [−1.0; +1.0]

float gaz :

Vertical speed ∈ [−1.0; +1.0]

float yaw :

Angular speed ∈ [−1.0; +1.0]

Description :

This function makes the drone move in the air. It has no effect when the drone lies on the

ground.

The drone is controlled by giving as a command a set of four parameters :

• a left/right bending angle, with 0 being the horizontal plane, and negative values bend-

ing leftward

• a front/back bending angle, with 0 being the horizontal plane, and negative values bend-

ing frontward

• a vertical speed

• an angular speed around the yaw-axis

In order to allow the user to choose between smooth or dynamic moves, the arguments of

this function are not directly the control parameters values, but a percentage of the maximum

corresponding values as set in the drone parameters. All parameters must thus be floating-

point values between −1.0 and 1.0.

The flags argument is a bitfiels containing the following informations :

• Bit 0 : when Bit0=0 the drone will enter the hovering mode, i.e. try to stay on top of a fixed

point on the ground, else it will follow the commands set as parameters.

• Bit 1 : when Bit1=1 AND CONTROL:control_level configuration Bit1=1, the new Com-

bined Yaw mode is activated. This mode includes a complex hybridation of the phi pa-

rameter to generate complete turns (phi+yaw).

4.2

Drone configuration functions

Before recieving the navdata, your application must set the GENERAL:navdata_demo config-

uration on the AR.Drone . This can be done using the following functions, or directly by calling

the ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT macro.

ardrone_at_navdata_demo

Summary :

Makes the drone send a limited amount of navigation data

Corresponding AT command : AT*CONFIG

[This function does not take any parameter.

Description :

Some navigation data are used for debugging purpose and are not useful for every day flights.

You can choose to receive only the most useful ones by calling this function. This saves some

network bandwidth. Most demonstration programs in the SDK (including the iPhone FreeFlight

application) use this restricted set of data. Ardrone Navigation uses the whole set of data.

Note : You must call this function or ardrone_at_set_navdata_all to make the drone start send-

ing any navdata.

ardrone_at_set_navdata_all

Summary :

Makes the drone send all the navigation data

Corresponding AT command : AT*CONFIG

[This function does not take any parameter.

Description :

Some navigation data are used for debugging purpose and are not useful for every day flights.

You can choose to receive all the available navdata by calling this function. This used some

more network bandwidth.

Note : You must call this function or ardrone_at_navdata_demo to make the drone start send-

ing any navdata.

Creating an application

with ARDroneTool

The ARDroneTool library includes all the code needed to start your application. All you have

to do is writing your application specific code, and compile it along with the ARDroneLIB

library to get a fully functional drone client application which will connect to the drone and

start interacting with it.

This chapter shows you how to quickly get a customized application that suits your needs.

You can try to immediately start customizing your own application by reading section 5.1, but

it is recommended you read the whole chapter to understand what is going on inside.

5.1

Quick steps to create a custom AR.Drone application

The fastest way to get an up and running application is to copy the SDK Demo application

folder and bring the following modifications to suit your needs :

• customize the demo_navdata_client_process function to react to navigation information

reception (more details in 5.3)

• customize the output_gtk_stage_transform function to react to video frames reception

(more details in 5.6)

• customize the update_gamepad function to react to inputs on a game pad (more details

in 5.7)

• create a new thread and add it to the THREAD_TABLE structure to send commands in-

dependently from the above-mentioned events (more details in 5.5)

Customizing mainly means sending the appropriate commands from the ARDroneTool API.

Those commands are listed in chapter 4.

To compile your customized demo, please refer to the tutorials.

5.2

Customizing the client initialization

As is true for every C-based application, the initial entry point for every AR.Drone application

is a function called main. The good news is that, when you create a new application using the

ARDroneTool library, you do not have to write this function yourself.

The ARDroneTool library includes a version of this function with all the code needed to start

your application. All you have to do is writing your application specific code, and compile it

along with the ARDroneLIB library to get a fully functional drone client application.

Listing 5.1 shows the main function for the ARDrone application. It is located in the file

ardrone_tool.c and should not require any modification. Every application you create will

have a main function that is almost identical to this one.

This function performs the following tasks :

• Configures WIFI network.

• Initializes the communication ports (AT commands, Navdata, Video and Control).

• Calls the ardrone_tool_init_custom function. Its prototype is defined in ardrone_tool.h

file, and must be defined and customized by the developer (see example 5.2). In this

function we can find:

- the local initialization for your own application.

- the initialization of input devices, with the ardrone_tool_input_add function

- the starting off all threads except the navdata_update and ardrone_control that are

started by the main function.

• Starts the thread navdata_update that is located in ardrone_navdata_client.c file. To run

properly this routine, the user must declare a table ardrone_navdata_handler_table. List-

ing 3 shows how to declare an ardrone_navdata_handler table. The MACRO is located

in ardrone_navdata_client.h file.

• Starts the thread ardrone_control that is located in ardrone_control.c file. To send an event

you must use ardrone_control_send_event function declared in ardrone_control.h.

• Acknowledge the Drone to indicate that we are ready to receive the Navdata.

• At last call ardrone_tool_update function in loop. The application does not return from

this function until it quits. This function retrieves the device information to send to the

Drone. The user can declare ardrone_tool_update_custom function, that will be called by

the ardrone_tool_update function.

5.3

Using navigation data

During the application lifetime, the ARDroneTool library automatically calls a set of user-

defined callback functions every time some navdata arrive from the drone.

Declaring such a callback function is done by adding it to the NAVDATA_HANDLER_TABLE

table. In code example 5.3, a navdata_ihm_process function, written by the user, is declared.

Note : the callback function prototype must be the one used in code example 5.3.

Listing 5.1: Application initialization with ARDroneLIB

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

ardrone_tool__setup__com( NULL );

ardrone_tool_init(argc, argv);

while( SUCCEED(res) && ardrone_tool_exit() == FALSE )

{

res = ardrone_tool_update();

}

res = ardrone_tool_shutdown();

}

Listing 5.2: Custom application initialization example

C_RESULT ardrone_tool_init_custom(int argc, char **argv)

{

gtk_init(&argc, &argv);

/// Init specific code for application

ardrone_navdata_handler_table[NAVDATA_IHM_PROCESS_INDEX].data = &cfg;

// Add inputs

ardrone_tool_input_add( &gamepad );

// Sample run thread with ARDrone API.

START_THREAD(ihm, &cfg);

return C_OK;

}

Listing 5.3: Declare a navdata management function

BEGIN_NAVDATA_HANDLER_TABLE //Mandatory

NAVDATA_HANDLER_TABLE_ENTRY(navdata_ihm_init, navdata_ihm_process,

navdata_ihm_release,

NULL)

END_NAVDATA_HANDLER_TABLE //Mandatory

//Definition for init, process and release functions.

C_RESULT navdata_ihm_init( mobile_config_t* cfg )

}

C_RESULT navdata_ihm_process( const navdata_unpacked_t* const pnd )

}

C_RESULT navdata_ihm_release( void )

{

}

Listing 5.4: Example of navdata management function

/* Receving navdata during the event loop */

inline C_RESULT demo_navdata_client_process( const navdata_unpacked_t* const

navdata )

{

const navdata_demo_t* const nd = &navdata->navdata_demo;

printf("Navdata for flight demonstrations\n");

printf("Control state : %s\n",ctrl_state_str(nd->ctrl_state));

printf("Battery level : %i/100\n",nd->vbat_flying_percentage);

printf("Orientation

: [Theta] %f

[Phi] %f

[Psi] %f\n",nd->theta,nd->phi,nd

->psi);

printf("Altitude

: %i\n",nd->altitude);

printf("Speed

: [vX] %f

[vY] %f\n",nd->vx,nd->vy);

printf("\033[6A");

// Ansi escape code to go up 6 lines

return C_OK;

}

5.4

Command line parsing for a particular application

The user can implement functions to add arguments to the default command line. Functions

are defined in <ardrone_tool/ardrone_tool.h> file :

• ardrone_tool_display_cmd_line_custom (Not mandatory): Displays help for particular

commands.

• ardrone_tool_check_argc_custom (Not mandatory) : Checks the number of arguments.

• ardrone_tool_parse_cmd_line_custom (Not mandatory): Checks a particular line com-

mand.

5.5

Thread management in the application

In the preceding section, we showed how the ARDrone application was initialized and how

it manages the Navdata and control events. In addition to those aspects of the application

creation, there are also smaller details that need to be considered before building a final appli-

cation.

It’s the responsibility of the user to manage the threads. To do so, we must declare a thread

table with MACRO defined in vp_api_thread_helper.h file. Listing 5.5 shows how to declare a

threads table.

The threads navdata_update and ardrone_control do not need to be launched and released;

this is done by the ARDroneMain for all other threads, you must use the MACRO named

START_THREAD and JOIN_THREAD.

In the preceding sections, we have seen that the user must declare functions and tables

(ardrone_tool_init_custom, ardrone_tool_update_custom, ardrone_navdata_handler_table and

threads table), other objects can be defined by the user but it is not mandatory :

• adrone_tool_exit function, which should return true to exit the main loop

• ardrone_tool_shutdown function where you can release the resources. These functions

are defined in

• ardrone_tool.h.

Listing 5.5: Declaration of a threads table

BEGIN_THREAD_TABLE //Mandatory

THREAD_TABLE_ENTRY( ihm, 20 ) // For your own application

THREAD_TABLE_ENTRY( navdata_update, 20 ) //Mandatory

THREAD_TABLE_ENTRY( ardrone_control, 20 ) //Mandatory

END_THREAD_TABLE //Mandatory

5.6

Managing the video stream

This SDK includes methods to manage the video stream. The whole process is managed by

a video pipeline, built as a sequence of stages which perform basic steps, such as receiving the

video data from a socket, decoding the frames, and displaying them.

It is strongly recommended to have a look at the video_stage.c file in the code examples to

see how this works, and to modify it to suit your needs. In the examples a fully functionnal

pipeline is already created, and you will probably just want to modify the displaying part.

A stage is embedded in a structure named vp_api_io_stage_t that is defined in the file

<VP_Api/vp_api.h>.

Definition of the structure of a stage:

Listing 5.7 shows how to build a pipeline with stages. In this sample a socket is opened and

the video stream is retrieved.

Listing 5.8 shows how to run the pipeline. This code must be implemented by the user; a

sample is provided in the SDK Demo program. For example, you can use a thread dedicated

to this.

Functions are defined in <VP_Api/vp_api.h> file : vp_api_open : Initialization of all the stages

embedded in the pipeline. vp_api_run : Running of all the stages, in loop. vp_api_close : Close

of all the stages.

Listing 5.6: The video pipeline

typedef struct _vp_api_io_stage_

{

//Enum corresponding to the type of stage available, include in file <VP_Api/

vp_api.h>.

//Only used for Debug.

VP_API_IO_TYPE type;

//Specific data to the current stage. Definitions are given in include files <

VP_Stages/*> .

void *cfg;

//Structure {vp_api_stage_funcs} is included in <VP_Api/vp_api_stage.h> with the

definition of stages.

Stages are included also in the directory Soft/Lib/ardrone_tool/Video.

vp_api_stage_funcs_t funcs;

/ /This structure is included in the file <VP_Api/vp_api.h> and is shared between

all stages. It contains video

buffers and information on decoding the video.

vp_api_io_data_t data;

} vp_api_io_stage_t;

Definition of the structure of a pipeline:

The structure is included in file <VP_Api/vp_api.h> :

typedef struct _vp_api_io_pipeline_

{

//Number of stage to added in the pipeline.

uint32_t nb_stages;

//Address to the first stage.

vp_api_io_stage_t *stages;

//Must equal to NULL

vp_api_handle_msg_t handle_msg;

//Must equal to 0.

uint32_t nb_still_running;

//Must equal to NULL.

vp_api_fifo_t fifo;

} vp_api_io_pipeline_t;

5.7

Adding control devices

The ARDroneTool and demonstration programs come with an example of how to use a gamepad

to pilot the drone.

The gamepad.c[pp] files in the example contain the code necessary to detect the presence of a

gamepad, poll its status and send corresponding commands.

To add a control device and make ARDroneTool consider it, you must write :

• an initialization function, that ARDroneTool will call once when initializing the applica-

tion. The provided example scans the system and searches a known gamepad by looking

for its USB Vendor ID and Product ID.

• an update function, that ARDroneTool will systatically call every 20ms during the appli-

cation lifetime, unless the initialization fails

• acleanupfunction,thatARDroneToolcallsonceattheendoftheapplication

Listing 5.7: Building a video pipeline

#include <VP_Api/vp_api.h>

#include <VP_Api/vp_api_error.h>

#include <VP_Api/vp_api_stage.h>

#include <ardrone_tool/Video/video_com_stage.h>

#include <ardrone_tool/Com/config_com.h>

vp_api_io_pipeline_t pipeline;

vp_api_io_data_t out;

vp_api_io_stage_t stages[NB_STAGES];

video_com_config_t icc;

icc.com = COM_VIDEO();

icc.buffer_size = 100000;

icc.protocol = VP_COM_UDP;

COM_CONFIG_SOCKET_VIDEO(&icc.socket, VP_COM_CLIENT, VIDEO_PORT, wifi_ardrone_ip);

pipeline.nb_stages = 0;

stages[pipeline.nb_stages].type = VP_API_INPUT_SOCKET;

stages[pipeline.nb_stages].cfg = (void *)&icc;

stages[pipeline.nb_stages].funcs = video_com_funcs;

pipeline.nb_stages++;

Listing 5.8: Running a video pipeline

res = vp_api_open(πpeline, πpeline_handle);

if( SUCCEED(res) )

{

int loop = SUCCESS;

out.status = VP_API_STATUS_PROCESSING;

while(loop == SUCCESS)

{

if( SUCCEED(vp_api_run(πpeline, &out)) )

{

if( (out.status == VP_API_STATUS_PROCESSING || out.status ==

VP_API_STATUS_STILL_RUNNING) )

{

loop = SUCCESS;

}

else loop = -1; // Finish this thread

}

vp_api_close(πpeline, πpeline_handle);

}

Once these functions are written, you must register your to ARDroneTool by using ardrone_tool_input_add

function which takes a structure parameter input_device_t defined in <ardrone_tool/UI/ardrone_input.h>.

This structure holds the pointers to the three above-mentioned functions.

Structure input_device_t with fields :

Listing 5.9: Declaring an input device to ARDroneTool

struct _input_device_t {

char name[MAX_NAME_LENGTH];

C_RESULT (*init)(void);

C_RESULT (*update)(void);

C_RESULT (*shutdown)(void);

} input_device_t;

The update function will typically call the following functions depending on the buttons pressed

by the user :

• ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_start : Takeoff / Landing button

• ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_select : emergency reset all button

• ardrone_at_set_progress_cmd : directional buttons or sticks

Note : In SDKs newer than 1.0.4, the following functions are deprecated, and are all replaced

by the ardrone_at_set_progress_cmd command :

• ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_ad : turn right button

• ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_ag : turn left button

• ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_ab : go down button

• ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_ah : go up button

• ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_l1 : go left button

• ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_r1 : go right button

• ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_xy : go forward/backward buttons (2 arguments)

AT Commands

AT commands are text strings sent to the drone to control its actions.

Those strings are generated by the ARDroneLib and ARDroneTool libraries, provided in the

SDK. Most developers should not have to deal with them. Advanced developers who would

like to rewrite their own A.R.Drone middle ware can nevertheless send directly those com-

mands to the drone inside UDP packets on port UDP-5556, from their local UDP-port 5556

(using the same port numbers on both sides of the UDP/IP link is a requirement in the current

SDK).

Note : According to tests, a satisfying control of the AR.Drone is reached by sending the AT-

commands every 30 ms for smooth drone movements. To prevent the drone from considering

the WIFI connection as lost, two consecutive commands must be sent within less than 2 sec-

onds.

6.1

AT Commands syntax

Strings are encoded as 8-bit ASCII characters, with a Line Feed character (byte value 10₍₁₀₎),

noted <LF>hereafter, as a newline delimiter.

One command consists in the three characters AT* (i.e. three 8-bit words with values 41₍₁₆₎,54₍₁₆₎,2a₍₁₆₎)

followed by a command name, and equal sign, a sequence number, and optionally a list of

comma-separated arguments whose meaning depends on the command.

A single UDP packet can contain one or more commands, separated by newlines (byte value

0A₍₁₆₎). An AT command must reside in a single UDP packet. Splitting an AT command in two

or more UDP packets is not possible.

Example :

AT*PCMD=21625,1,0,0,0,0<LF>AT*REF=21626,290717696<LF>

The maximum length of the total command cannot exceed 1024 characters; otherwise the entire

command line is rejected. This limit is hard coded in the drone software.

Note : Incorrect AT commands should be ignored by the drone. Nevertheless, the client should

always make sure it sends correctly formed UDP packets.

Most commands will accept arguments, which can be of three different type :

• A signed integer, stored in the command string with a decimal representation (ex: the

sequence number)

• A string value stored between double quotes (ex: the arguments of AT*CONFIG)

• A single-precision IEEE-754 floating-point value (aka. float). Those are never directly

stored in the command string. Instead, the 32-bit word containing the float will be con-

sidered as a 32-bit signed integer and printed in the AT command (an example is given

below).

6.2

Commands sequencing

In order to avoid the drone from processing old commands, a sequence number is associated

to each sent AT command, and is stored as the first number after the "equal" sign. The drone

will not execute any command whose sequence number is less than the last valid received AT-

Command sequence number. This sequence number is reset to 1 inside the drone every time

a client disconnects from the AT-Command UDP port (currently this disconnection is done by

not sending any command during more than 2 seconds), and when a command is received

with a sequence number set to 1.

A client MUST thus respect the following rule in order to successfully execute commands on

the drone :

• Always send 1 as the sequence number of the first sent command.

• Always send commands with an increasing sequence number. If several software threads

send commands to the drone, generating the sequence number and sending UDP packets

should be done by a single dedicated function protected by a mutual exclusion mecha-

nism.

Note : Drones with SDK version 0.3.1 (prior to May 2010) had a different and incompatible

sequencing system which used the AT*SEQ command. These must be considered deprecated.

6.3

Floating-point parameters

Let’s see an example of using a float argument and consider that a progressive command is to

be sent with an argument of −0.8 for the pitch. The number −0.8 is stored in memory as a 32-

bit word whose value is BF 4CCCCD₍₁₆₎, according to the IEEE-754 format. This 32-bit word

can be considered as holding the 32-bit integer value −1085485875₍₁₀₎. So the command to send

will be AT*PCMD=xx,xx,−1085485875,xx,xx.

Listing 6.1: Example of AT command with floating-point arguments

assert(sizeof(int)==sizeof(float));

sprintf(my_buffer,"AT*PCMD,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d\r",

sequence_number,

*(int*)(&my_floating_point_variable_1),

*(int*)(&my_floating_point_variable_2),

*(int*)(&my_floating_point_variable_3),

*(int*)(&my_floating_point_variable_4)

);

The ARDroneLIB provides a C union to ease this conversion. You can use the _float_or_int_t

to store a float or an int in the same memory space, and use it as any of the two types.

6.4

Deprecated commands

The following commands might have existed in old version of SDKs, and are not supported

any more. They should thus NOT be used.

Deprecated commands: AT*SEQ, AT*RADGP, AT*MTRIM

6.5

AT Commands summary

AT command

Arguments¹

Description

AT*REF

input

Takeoff/Landing/Emergency stop command

AT*PCMD

flag, roll, pitch,

Move the drone

gaz, yaw

AT*FTRIM

Sets the reference for the horizontal plane

AT*CONFIG

key, value

Configuration of the AR.Drone

AT*LED

animation, fre-

Set a led animation on the AR.Drone

quency, duration

AT*ANIM

animation, dura-

Set a flight animation on the AR.Drone

tion

AT*COMWDG

Reset the communication watchdog

¹apart from the sequence number

6.6

Commands description

AT*REF

Summary :

Controls the basic behaviour of the drone (take-off/landing, emergency

stop/reset)

Corresponding API function : ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_start

Corresponding API function : ardrone_tool_set_ui_pad_select

Syntax :

AT*REF=%d,%d<LF>

Argument 1 : the sequence number

Argument 2 : an integer value in [0..2³² − 1], representing a 32 bit-wide bit-field

controlling the drone.

Description :

Send this command to control the basic behaviour of the drone. With SDK version 1.5, only

bits 8 and 9 are used in the control bit-field. Bits 18, 20, 22, 24 and 28 should be set to 1. Other

bits should be set to 0.

Bits

31 .. 10

7 .. 0

Usage

Do not use

Takeoff/Land

Emergency

Do not use

(aka. "start bit")

(aka. "select bit")

Bit 9 usages :

Send a command with this bit set to 1 to make the drone take-off. This command

should be repeated until the drone state in the navdata shows that drone actually

took off. If no other command is supplied, the drone enters a hovering mode and

stays still at approximately 1 meter above ground.

Send a command with this bit set to 0 to make the drone land. This command should

be repeated until the drone state in the navdata shows that drone actually landed,

and should be sent as a safety whenever an abnormal situation is detected.

After the first start AT-Command, the drone is in the taking-Off state, but still accepts

other commands. It means that while the drone is rising in the air to the "1-meter-

high-hovering state", the user can send orders to move or rotate it.

Bit 8 usages :

When the drone is a "normal" state (flying or waiting on the ground), sending a com-

mand with this bit set to 1 (ie. sending an "emergency order") makes the drone enter

an emergency mode. Engines are cut-off no matter the drone state. (ie. the drone

crashes, potentially violently).

When the drone is in an emergency mode (following a previous emergency order

or a crash), sending a command with this bit set to 1 (ie. sending an "emergency

order") makes the drone resume to a normal state (allowing it to take-off again), at

the condition the cause of the emergency was solved.

Send an AT*REF command with this bit set to 0 to make the drone consider following

"emergency orders" commands (this prevents consecutive "emergency orders" from

flip-flopping the drone state between emergency and normal states).

Note :

The names "start" and "select" come from previous versions of the SDK when take-off and

landing were directly managed by pressing the select and start buttons of a game pad.

Example :

The following commands sent in a standalone UDP packet will send an emergency signal :

AT*REF=1,290717696<LF>AT*REF=2,290717952<LF>AT*REF=3,290717696<LF>

AT*PCMD

Summary :

Send progressive commands - makes the drone move (translate/rotate).

Corresponding API function : ardrone_at_set_progress_cmd

Syntax :

AT*PCMD=%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d<LF>

Argument 1 : the sequence number

Argument 2 : flag enabling the use of progressive commands and/or the Com-

bined Yaw mode (bitfield)

Argument 3 : drone left-right tilt - floating-point value in range [−1..1]

Argument 4 : drone front-back tilt - floating-point value in range [−1..1]

Argument 5 : drone vertical speed - floating-point value in range [−1..1]

Argument 6 : drone angular speed - floating-point value in range [−1..1]

Description :

This command controls the drone flight motions.

Always set the flag (argument 2) bit zero to one to make the drone consider the other argu-

ments. Setting it to zero makes the drone enter hovering mode (staying on top of the same point

on the ground).

Bits

31 .. 2

Usage

Do not use

Combined yaw

Progressive commands

enable

The left-right tilt (aka. "drone roll" or phi angle) argument is a percentage of the maximum

inclination as configured here. A negative value makes the drone tilt to its left, thus flying

leftward. A positive value makes the drone tilt to its right, thus flying rightward.

The front-back tilt (aka. "drone pitch" or theta angle) argument is a percentage of the maximum

inclination as configured here. A negative value makes the drone lower its nose, thus flying

frontward. A positive value makes the drone raise its nose, thus flying backward.

The drone translation speed in the horizontal plane depends on the environment and cannot

be determined. With roll or pitch values set to 0, the drone will stay horizontal but continue

sliding in the air because of its inertia. Only the air resistance will then make it stop.

The vertical speed (aka. "gaz") argument is a percentage of the maximum vertical speed as

defined here. A positive value makes the drone rise in the air. A negative value makes it go

down.

The angular speed argument is a percentage of the maximum angular speed as defined here.

A positive value makes the drone spin right; a negative value makes it spin left.

AT*FTRIM

Summary :

Flat trims - Tells the drone it is lying horizontally

Corresponding API function : ardrone_at_set_flat_trim

Syntax :

AT*FTRIM=%d,<LF>

Argument 1 : the sequence number

Description :

This command sets a reference of the horizontal plane for the drone internal control system.

It must be called after each drone start up, while making sure the drone actually sits on a

horizontal ground. Not doing so before taking-off will result in the drone not being able to

stabilize itself when flying, as it would not be able to know its actual tilt.

When receiving this command, the drone will automatically adjust the trim on pitch and roll

controls.

AT*CONFIG

Summary :

Sets an configurable option on the drone

Corresponding API function : ardrone_at_set_toy_configuration

Syntax :

AT*CONFIG=%d,%s,%s<LF>

Argument 1 : the sequence number

Argument 2 : the name of the option to set, between double quotes (byte with

hex.value 22h)

Argument 3 : the option value, between double quotes

Description :

Most options that can be configured are set using this command. The list of configuration

options can be found in chapter 8.

AT*COMWDG

Summary :

reset communication watchdog

AT*LED

Summary :

Sets the drone control loop PID coefficients

Corresponding API function : ardrone_at_set_led_animation

Syntax :

AT*LED=%d,%d,%d,%d<LF>

Argument 1 : the sequence number

Argument 2 : integer - animation to play

Argument 3 : float - frequence in Hz of the animation

Argument 4 : integer - total duration in seconds of the animation (animation is

played (duration×frequence times)

Description :

This command makes the four motors leds blink with a predetermined sequence. The leds

cannot be freely controlled by the user.

See the API function description to get the list of the available animations.

Note : The frequency parameter is a floating point number, as previously explained.

AT*ANIM

Summary :

Makes the drone execute a predefined movement (called animation).

Corresponding API function : ardrone_at_set_anim

Syntax :

AT*ANIM=%d,%d,%d<LF>

Argument 1 : the sequence number

Argument 2 : integer - animation to play

Argument 3 : integer - total duration in seconds of the animation

Description :

Plays an animation, ie. a predetermined sequence of movements. Most of these movements

are small movements (shaking for example) superposed to the user commands.

See the API function description to get the list of the available animations.

Incoming data streams

The drone provides its clients with two main data streams : the navigation data (aka. navdata)

stream, and the video stream.

This chapter explains their format. This is useful for developers writing their own middleware.

Developers using ARDroneTool can skip this part and directly access these data from the

callback function triggered by ARDroneTool when receiving incoming data from the drone

(see 5.3 and ??).

7.1

Navigation data

The navigation data (or navdata) is are a mean given to a client application to receive periodi-

cally (< 5ms) information on the drone status (angles, altitude, camera, velocity, tag detection

results ...).

This section shows how to retrieve them and decode them. Do not hesitate to use network

traffic analysers like Wireshark to see how they look like.

7.1.1

Navigation data stream

The navdata are sent by the drone from and to the UDP port 5554. Information are stored is a

binary format and consist in several sections blocks of data called options.

Each option consists in a header (2 bytes) identifying the kind of information contained in it,

a 16-bit integer storing the size of the block, and several information stored as 32-bit integers,

32-bit single precision floating-point numbers, or arrays. All those data are stored with little-

endianess.

Header

Drone

Sequence

Vision

Option 1

Checksum block

0x55667788

state

number

flag

size

data

cks id

size

cks data

32-bit

16-bit

32-bit

int.

All the blocks share this common structure :

Listing 7.1: Navdata option structure

typedef struct _navdata_option_t {

uint16_t tag; /* Tag for a specific option */

uint16_t size; /* Length of the struct */

uint8_t data[]; /* Structure complete with the special tag */

} navdata_option_t;

The most important options are navdata_demo_t, navdata_cks_t, navdata_host_angles_t and

navdata_vision_detect_t. Their content can be found in the C structure, mainly in the navdata_common.h.

7.1.2

Initiating the reception of Navigation data

To receive Navdata, you must send a packet of some bytes on the port NAVDATA_PORT of host.

Two cases :

• the drone starts in bootstrap mode, only the status and the sequence counter are sent.

• the Drone is always started, Navdata demo are send.

To exit BOOTSTRAP mode, the client must send an AT command in order to modify configura-

tion on the Drone. Send AT command: "AT*CONFIG=\"general:navdata_demo\",\"TRUE\"\\r".

Ack control command, send AT command: "AT*CTRL=0. The drone is now initialized and

sends Navdata demo. This mechanism is summarized by figure 7.1.

How do the client and the drone synchronize ?

The client application can verify that the sequence counter contained in the header structure of

NavData is growing.

There are two cases when the local (client side) sequence counter should be reset :

• the drone does not receive any traffic for more that 50ms; it will then set its ARDRONE_COM_WATCHDOG_MASK

bit in the ardrone_state field (2nd field) of the navdata packet. To exit this mode, the client

must send the AT Command AT*COMWDG.

• The drone does not receive any traffic for more than 2000ms; it will then stop all com-

munication with the client, and internally set the ARDRONE_COM_LOST_MASK bit in its state

variable. The client must then reinitialize the network communication with the drone.

HOST

CLIENT

PROCESS

BOOTSTRAP

Send one packet to NAVDATA_PORT

Init navdata

with ip client

Send at least the status to NAVDATA_PORT

Check status bit

mask is activated:

AR_DRONE_NAVDATA

Send AT command ("AT*CONFIG=\"general:navdata_demo\",\"TRUE\"\r")

_BOOTSTRAP

PROCESS AT

command

Send status to NAVDATA_PORT with

AR_DRONE_COMMAND_MASK = TRUE

Exit BOOTSTRAP mode

and switch in Navdata

demo mode.

Send AT command (ACK_CONTROL_MODE)

Ready to

process next

command

Sending continuous navdata demo

Figure 7.1: Navdata stream initiation

How to check the integrity of NavData ?

Compute a checksum of data and compare them with the value contained in the structure

[navdata_cks_t]. The checksum is always the last option (data block) in the navdata packet.

Note : this checksum is already computed by ARDroneLIB .

7.1.3

Augmented reality data stream

In the previously described NavData, there are informations about vision-detected tags. The

goal is to permit to the host to add some functionalities, like augmented reality features. The

principle is that the AR.Drone sends informations on recognized pre-defined tags, like type

and position.

Listing 7.2: Navdata option for vision detection

typedef struct _navdata_vision_detect_t {

uint16_t tag;

uint16_t size;

uint32_t nb_detected;

uint32_t type[4];

uint32_t xc[4];

uint32_t yc[4];

uint32_t width[4];

uint32_t height[4];

uint32_t dist[4];

} __attribute__ ((packed)) navdata_vision_detect_t;

The drone can detect up to four 2D-tags. The kind of detected tag, and which camera to use,

can be set by using the configuration parameter detect_type.

Let’s detail the values in this block :

• nb_detected: number of detected 2D-tags.

• type[i]: Type of the detected tag #i ; see the CAD_TYPE enumeration.

• xc[i], yc[i]: X and Y coordinates of detected 2D-tag #i inside the picture, with (0, 0) being

the top-left corner, and (1000, 1000) the right-bottom corner regardless the picture resolu-

tion or the source camera.

• width[i], height[i]: Width and height of the detection bounding-box (2D-tag #i), when

applicable.

• dist[i]: Distance from camera to detected 2D-tag #i in centimeters, when applicable.

7.2

The video stream

The embedded system uses a proprietary video stream format, based on a simplified version of

the H.263 UVLC (Universal Variable Length Code) format ( http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/H263). The images are encoded in the YCBCR color space format, 4:2:0 type (http:

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YCbCr ), with 8 bits values. The proprietary format used by

the drone is described in 4.2.2, but here is firstly shown the way to produce it.

7.2.1

Image structure

An image is split in groups of blocks (GOB), which correspond to 16-lines-height parts of the

image, split as shown below :

GOB #0

GOB #1

GOB #2

GOB #3

GOB #4

GOB #5

GOB #6

GOB #7

Figure 7.2: Example image (source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YCbCr )

Each GOB is split in Macroblocks, which represents a 16x16 image.

MBlock #0

Each macroblock contains informations of a 16x16 image, in Y C_B C_R format, type 4:2:0.

(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YCbCr ,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_subsampling ,

http://www.ripp-it.com/glossaire/mot-420-146-lettre-tous-Categorie-toutes.

html )

RGB image

Y image

C_B image

C_R image

The 16x16 image is finally stored in the memory as 6 blocks of 8x8 values:

• 4 blocks (Y0, Y1, Y2 and Y3) to form the 16x16 pixels Y image of the luma component

(corresponding to a greyscale version of the original 16x16 RGB image).

• 2 blocks of down-sampled chroma components (computed from the original 16x16 RGB

image):

- Cb: blue-difference component (8x8 values)

- Cr: red-difference component (8x8 values)

Y₀

Y₁

Y₂

Y₃

7.2.1.1

Layer of images

For each picture, data correspond to an image header followed by data blocks groups and an

ending code (EOS, end of sequence).

The composition of each block-layer is resumed here:

PSC

PFORMAT

PRESOLUTION

PTYPE

PQUANT

PFRAME

Groups of blocks

EOS

(22 bits)

(2 bits)

(3 bits)

(5 bits)

(32 bits)

(XXX bits)

(22 bits)

Each Group of Blocks

(GOB) correspond to a

GBlock 0

GBlock 1

GBlock i

GBlock M

line of Macroblocks

(cf. Erreur !

GOBSC

GOBQUANT

Data for macroblocks

(22 bits)

(5 bits)

(YYY bits)

MBlock 0

MBlock 1

MBlock j

MBlock N

(cf.Erreur !

OPTIONNAL (depends

OPTIONNAL

on MBDESC)

(depends on MBC)

MBC

MBDESC

MBDIFF

Data for block

(1 bit)

(8 bits)

(2 bits)

(ZZZ bits)

Complete description

Block Y0

Block Y1

Block Y2

Block Y3

Block CB

Block CR

of a 16x16 image block.

(cf.Erreur ! Source du

renvoi introuvable.)

7.2.1.2

Picture start code (PSC) (22 bits)

Like H.263 UVLC start with a PSC (Picture start code) which is 22 bits long:

0000 0000 0000 0000 1 00000

A PSC is always byte aligned.

7.2.1.3

Picture format (PFORMAT) (2 bits)

The second information is the picture format which can be one the following : CIF or VGA

• 00 : forbidden

• 01 : CIF

• 10 : VGA

7.2.1.4

Picture resolution (PRESOLUTION) (3 bits)

Picture resolution which is used in combination with the picture format (3 bits)

• 000 : forbidden

• 001 : for CIF it means sub-QCIF

• 010 : for CIF it means QCIF

• 011 : for CIF it means CIF

• 100 : for CIF it means 4-CIF

• 101 : for CIF it means 16-CIF

7.2.1.5

Picture type (PTYPE) (3 bits)

Picture type:

• 000 : INTRA picture

• 001 : INTER picture

7.2.1.6

Picture quantizer (PQUANT) (5 bits)

The PQUANT code is a 5-bits-long word. The quantizer reference for the picture that range

from 1 to 31.

7.2.1.7

Picture frame (PFRAME) (32 bits)

The frame number (32 bits).

7.2.1.8

Layer groups of blocks (GOBs)

Data for each group of blocks (GOB) consists of a header followed by data group corresponding

to the macroblock, according to the structure shown in Figure 10 and Figure 11. Each GOB

corresponds to one or more blockline (cf. Figure 6).

Note : For the first GOB of each picture, the GOB header is always omitted.

7.2.1.9

Group of block start code (GOBSC) (22 bits)

Each GOB starts with a GOBSC (Group of block start code) which is 22 bits long: 0000 0000

0000 0000 1xxx xx

A GOBSC is always a byte aligned. The least significant bytes represent the blockline number.

We can see that PSC means first GOB too. So for the first GOB, GOB header is always omitted.

7.2.1.10

Group of block quantizer (GOBQUANT) (5 bits)

The quantizer reference for the GOB that ranges from 1 to 31 (5 bits).

DEPRECATED

7.2.1.11

Layer of macroblocks

Data for each macroblock corresponding to an header of macroblock followed by data of mac-

roblock. The layer structure shown in Figure 10 and Figure 12:

MBC MBDESC MBDIFF Data for block

(1 bit)

(8 bits)

(2 bits)

(cf. xxx)

Figure 12 - Layer structure of macroblocks

7.2.1.12

Coded macroblock bit (MBC) (1 bit)

Coded macroblock bit: Bit 0 : 1 means there is a macroblock / 0 means macroblock is all zero.

7.2.1.13

Macroblock description code (MBDESC) (8 bits)

Macroblock description code :

• Bit 0 : 1 means there is non dc coefficients for block y0.

• Bit 1 : 1 means there is non dc coefficients for block y1.

• Bit 2 : 1 means there is non dc coefficients for block y2.

• Bit 3 : 1 means there is non dc coefficients for block y3.

• Bit 4 : 1 means there is non dc coefficients for block cb.

• Bit 5 : 1 means there is non dc coefficients for block cr.

• Bit 6 : 1 means there is a quantization value following this code.

• Bit 7 : Always 1 to avoid a zero byte.

7.2.1.14

Macroblock differential (MBDIFF) (2 bits)

Macroblocks differential value for the quantization (2 bits):

• 00 → -1

• 01 → -2

• 10 → 1

• 11 → 2

7.2.1.15

Layer of blocks

As shown in Figure 9, a macroblock corresponds to four luminance ("luma") blocks and two

color ("chroma") blocks. Each of those 8x8 pixels blocks is computed by hardware with the

first steps of JPEG encoding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jpeg ). It concerns steps

"DCT", "Quantization", and "zig-zag ordering", but exclude data compression. This last step is

based on a proprietary format, detailed further below.

Note: The encoding of blocks made by hardware needs 16 bits values, so there is a "8?16 bits

values" conversion before the "pseudo" JPEG encoding.

8x8 image

Forward DCT

8x8 DCT

block to

image block

compute

QUANTIZATION

8x8

quantified

block

ZZ-list of 16 bits

Proprietary

DC value

data, without the

format

last “0” values.

-26; -3: 0; -3; -2;

Final stream

-6; 2; -4; 1; -4; 1;

Entropy

(compressed

1; 5; 1; 2; -1; 1;

encoding

data)

-1; 2; 0; 0; 0; 0;

0; -1; -1; EOB

Zig-zag

ordering

7.2.1.16

Specific block entropy-encoding

The proprietary format used to encode blocks is based on a mix of RLE and Huffman coding (cf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run-length_encoding and http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Huffman_coding ).

To resume, the RLE encoding is used to optimize the many zero values of the list, and the

Huffman encoding is used to optimize the non-zero values.

Below will be shown the pre-defined sets of codewords ("dictionaries"), for RLE and Huffman

coding. Then, the process description and an example.

Note: The first value of the list (the "DC value", cf. Figure 13) is not compressed, but 16

bits encoded.

Coarse

Additionnal

Size

Value of run

Range

Length of run

001

(x) + 2

2:3

0001

(x x) +4

4:7

00001

xxx

(x x x) +8

8 : 15

000001

xxxx

(x x x x) +16

16 : 31

0000001

xxxxx

(x x x x x) +32

32 : 63

Coarse

Additionnal

Size

Value of run

Range

Length of run

EOB

001

(x) + 2

±2 : 3

0001

xxs

(x x) +4

±4 : 7

00001

xxxs

(x x x) +8

±8 : 15

000001

xxxxs

(x x x x) +16

±16 : 31

0000001

xxxxxs

(x x x x x) +32

±32 : 63

0000001

xxxxxs

(x x x x x x) +64

±64 : 127

Note: s is the sign value (0 if datum is positive, 0 otherwise.)

7.2.2

Entropy-encoding process

Encoding principle :

The main principle to compress the values is to form a list of pairs of encoded-data. The first

datum indicates the number of successive zero values (from 0 to 63 times). The second one

corresponds to a non-zero Huffman-encoded value (from 1 to 127), with its sign.

Compression process :

The process to compress the "ZZ-list" (cf. Figure 13) in the output stream could be resumed in

few steps:

• Direct copy of the 10-significant bits of the first 16-bits datum ("DC value")

• Initialize the counter of successive zero-values at zero.

• For each of the remaining 16-bits values of the list:

- If the current value is zero:

* Incrementthezero-counter

- Else:

* Encodethezero-countervalueasexplainedbelow:

· Use the RLE dictionary (cf. Figure 14) to find the corresponding range of the

value (ex: 6 is in the 4 : 7 range).

· Subtract the low value of the range (ex: 6 − 4 = 2)

· Set this temporary value in binary format (ex: 2₍₁₀₎ = 10₍₂₎)

· Get the corresponding "coarse" binary value (ex: 6₍₁₀₎ → 0001₍₂₎)

· Merge it with the temporary previously computed value (ex: 0001₍₂₎ +10₍₂₎ →

000110₍₂₎)

* Addthisvaluetotheoutputstream

* Setthezero-countertozero

* Encodethenon-zerovalueasexplainbelow:

· Separate the value in temporary absolute part a, and sign part s. (s = 0 if

datum is positive, 1 otherwise). Ex: for d = −13 → a = 13 and s = 1.

· Use the Huffman dictionary (cf.Figure 15) to find the corresponding range

of a (ex: 13 is in the 8 : 15 range).

· Subtract the lower bound (ex : 13 − 8 = 5)

· Set this temporary value in binary format (ex : 5₍₁₀₎ = 101₍₂₎)

· Get the corresponding coarse binary value (ex : 5 → 00001₍₂₎)

· Merge it with the temporary previously computed value, and the sign (ex :

00001₍₂₎ + 101₍₂₎ + 1₍₂₎ → 000011011₍₂₎)

* Addthisvaluetotheoutputstream

- Get to the next value of the list

• (End of "For")

7.2.3

Entropy-decoding process

The process to retrieve the "ZZ-list" from the compressed binary data is detailed here :

• Direct copy of the first 10 bits in a 16-bits datum ("DC value"), and add it to the output

list.

• While there remains compressed data (till the "EOB" code):

- Reading of the zero-counter value as explain below:

* ReadthecoarseSpatternpart(bit-per-bit,tillthereis1value).

* Onthecorrespondingline(cf.Figure14),getthenumberofcomplementarybits

to read. (Ex: 000001₍₂₎ → xxxx → 4 more bits to read.)

* Ifthereisno0beforethe1(firstcaseintheRLEtable):⇒Resultingvalue(zero-

counter) is equal to 0.

* Else:⇒Resultingvalue(zero-counter)isequaltothedirectdecimalconversion

of the merged read binary values. Ex: if xxxx = 1101₍₂₎ → 000001₍₂₎ + 1101₍₂₎ =

0000011101₍₂₎ = 29₍₁₀₎

- Add "0" to the output list, as many times indicated by the zero-counter.

- Reading of the non-zero value as explain below:

* Readthecoarsepatternpart(bit-per-bit,tillthereis1value).

* Onthecorrespondingline(cf.Figure15),getthenumberofcomplementarybits

to read. Ex: 0001₍₂₎ → xxs → 2 more bits to read (then the sign bit.)

* Ifthereisno0beforethe1(coarsepatternpart=1,inthefirstcaseoftheHuffman

table): ⇒ Temporary value is equal to 1.

* Elseifthecoarsepatternpart=01(2) (secondcaseoftheHuffmantable):

⇒

Temporary value is equal to End Of Bloc code (EOB).

* Else⇒Temporaryvalueisequaltothedirectdecimalconversionofthemerged

read binary values. Ex: if xx = 11 → 00001₍₂₎ + 11₍₂₎ = 0000111₍₂₎ = 7₍₁₀₎ Read

the next bit, to get the sign (s).

* Ifs=0:⇒Resultingnon-zerovalue=temporaryvalue

* Else(s=1):⇒

* Resultingnon-zerovalue=temporaryvaluex(-1)

- Add the resulting non-zero value to the output list.

• (End of "while")

7.2.4

Example

Encoding :

• Initial data list :

-26; -3; 0; 0; 0; 0; 7; -5; EOB

• Step 1 :

-26; 0x"0"; -3; 4x"0"; 7; 0x"0"; -5; 0x"0"; EOB

• Step 2 (binary form):

1111111111100110; 1; 001 11; 0001 00; 0001 110; 1; 0001 011;

• Final stream :

1111100110100111000100000111010001011101

Decoding :

• Initial bit-data stream :

{11110001110111000110001010010100001010001101}

• Step 1 (first 10 bits split) :

{1111000111}; {0111000110001010010100001010001101}

• Step 2 (16-bits conversion of DC value) :

{1111111111000111}; {0111000110001010010100001010001101}

• Step 3, remaining data (DC value is done) :

{"-57"}; {011100011000101001010001100110101}

• Step 4, first couple of values:

{"-57"}; [{01.}; {1.1}]; {00011000101001010001100110101}

{"-57"}; ["0"; "-1"]; {00011000101001010001100110101}

• Step 5, second couple of values :

{"-57"; "0"; "-1"; [{0001.10}; {001.01}]; {001010001100110101}

{"-57"; "0"; "-1"; ["000000"; "-2"]; {001010001100110101}

• Step 6, third couple of values :

{"-57"; "0"; "-1"; "000000"; "-2"; [{001.0}; {1.0}]; {001100110101}

{"-57"; "0"; "-1"; "000000"; "-2"; [""; "+1"]; {001100110101}

• Step 7, fourth couple of values :

{"-57"; "0"; "-1"; "000000"; "-2"; "+1"; [{001.1}; {001.10}]; {101}

{"-57"; "0"; "-1"; "000000"; "-2"; "+1"; ["000"; "+3"]; {101}

• Step 8, last couple of values (no "0" and "EOB" value):

{"-57"; "0"; "-1"; "000000"; "-2"; "+1"; "000"; "+3"; [{1.}; {01}]

{"-57"; "0"; "-1"; "000000"; "-2"; "+1"; "000"; "+3"; [""; "EOB"]

• Final data list :

{"-57"; "0"; "-1"; "0"; "0"; "0"; "0"; "0"; "0"; "-2"; "+1"; "0"; "0"; "0"; "+3"; "EOB"}

7.2.5

End of sequence (EOS) (22 bits)

The end of sequence (EOS) which is 22 bits long :

0000 0000 0000 0000 1 11111

7.2.6

Intiating the video stream

To start receiving the video stream, a client just needs to send a UDP packet on the drone video

port.

The drone will stop sending data if it cannot detect any network activity from its client.

HOST

CLIENT

Socket

initialization

Send one packet to VideoPort

(to wake-up the Host)

Send picture by blockline

(UDP packets)

Image blocks

decoding

Drone Configuration

The drone behaviour depends on many parameters which can be modified by using the AT*CONFIG

AT command, or by using the appropriate ARDroneLIB function (see chapter 4.1).

This chapter shows how to read/write a configuration parameter, and gives the list of param-

eters you can use in your application.

8.1

Reading the drone configuration

8.1.1

With ARDroneTool

ARDroneTool implements a ’control’ thread which automatically retrieves the drone configu-

ration at startup.

Include the <ardrone_tool/ardrone_tool_configuration.h> file in your C code to access the

ardrone_control_config structure which contains the current drone configuration. Its most in-

teresting fields are described in the next section.

If your application is structured as recommended in chapter 5 or you are modifying one of the

examples, the configuration should be retrieved by ARDroneTool before the threads contain-

ing your code get started by ARDroneTool .

8.1.2

Without ARDroneTool

The drone configuration parameters can be retrieved by sending the AT*CTRL command with

a mode parameter equaling 4 (CFG_GET_CONTROL_MODE).

The drone then sends the content of its configuration file, containing all the available configu-

ration parameters, on the control communication port (TCP port 5559). Parameters are sent as

ASCII strings, with the format Parameter_name = Parameter_value.

Here is an example of the sent configuration :

Listing 8.1: Example of configuration file as sent on the control TCP port

GENERAL:num_version_config = 1

GENERAL:num_version_mb = 17

GENERAL:num_version_soft = 1.1.3

GENERAL:soft_build_date = 2010-08-06 09:48

GENERAL:motor1_soft = 1.8

GENERAL:motor1_hard = 3.0

GENERAL:motor1_supplier = 1.1

GENERAL:motor2_soft = 1.8

GENERAL:motor2_hard = 3.0

GENERAL:motor2_supplier = 1.1

GENERAL:motor3_soft = 1.8

GENERAL:motor3_hard = 3.0

GENERAL:motor3_supplier = 1.1

GENERAL:motor4_soft = 1.8

GENERAL:motor4_hard = 3.0

GENERAL:motor4_supplier = 1.1

GENERAL:ardrone_name = My ARDrone

GENERAL:flying_time = 1810

GENERAL:navdata_demo = TRUE

GENERAL:com_watchdog = 2

GENERAL:video_enable = TRUE

GENERAL:vision_enable = TRUE

GENERAL:vbat_min = 9000

CONTROL:accs_offset = { -2.2696499e+03 1.9345000e+03 1.9331300e+03 }

CONTROL:accs_gains = {

9.6773100e-01 2.3794901e-02 7.7836603e-02

-1.2318300e-02

-9.8853302e-01 3.2103900e-02

7.2116204e-02 -5.6212399e-02 -9.8713100e-01

}

CONTROL:gyros_offset = { 1.6633199e+03 1.6686300e+03 1.7021300e+03 }

CONTROL:gyros_gains = { 6.9026551e-03 -6.9553638e-03 -3.8592720e-03

}

CONTROL:gyros110_offset = { 1.6560601e+03 1.6829399e+03

}

CONTROL:gyros110_gains = { 1.5283586e-03 -1.5365391e-03

}

CONTROL:gyro_offset_thr_x = 4.0000000e+00

CONTROL:gyro_offset_thr_y = 4.0000000e+00

CONTROL:gyro_offset_thr_z = 5.0000000e-01

CONTROL:pwm_ref_gyros = 471

CONTROL:control_level = 1

CONTROL:shield_enable = 1

CONTROL:euler_angle_max = 3.8424200e-01

CONTROL:altitude_max = 3000

CONTROL:altitude_min = 50

CONTROL:control_trim_z = 0.0000000e+00

CONTROL:control_iphone_tilt = 3.4906584e-01

CONTROL:control_vz_max = 1.2744493e+03

CONTROL:control_yaw = 3.1412079e+00

CONTROL:outdoor = TRUE

CONTROL:flight_without_shell = TRUE

CONTROL:brushless = TRUE

CONTROL:autonomous_flight = FALSE

CONTROL:manual_trim = FALSE

NETWORK:ssid_single_player = AR_hw11_sw113_steph

NETWORK:ssid_multi_player = AR_hw11_sw113_steph

NETWORK:infrastructure = TRUE

NETWORK:secure = FALSE

NETWORK:passkey =

NETWORK:navdata_port = 5554

NETWORK:video_port = 5555

NETWORK:at_port = 5556

NETWORK:cmd_port = 0

NETWORK:owner_mac = 04:1E:64:66:21:3F

NETWORK:owner_ip_address = 0

NETWORK:local_ip_address = 0

NETWORK:broadcast_address = 0

PIC:ultrasound_freq = 8

PIC:ultrasound_watchdog = 3

PIC:pic_version = 100925495

VIDEO:camif_fps = 15

VIDEO:camif_buffers = 2

VIDEO:num_trackers = 12

DETECT:enemy_colors = 1

SYSLOG:output = 7

SYSLOG:max_size = 102400

SYSLOG:nb_files = 5

8.2

Setting the drone configuration

8.2.1

With ARDroneTool

Use the ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT macro to set any of the configuration pa-

rameters.

This macro makes ARDroneTool queue the new value in an internal buffer, send it to the

drone, and wait for an acknowledgment from the drone.

It takes as a first parameter the name of the parameter (see next sections to get a list or look at

the config_keys.h file in the SDK). The second parameter is the new value to send to the drone.

The third parameter is a callback function that will be called upon completion.

The callback function type is void (*callBack)(unsigned int success). The configuration tool will

call the callback function after any attempt to set the configuration, with zero as the parameter

in case of failure, and one in case of success. In case of failure, the tool will automatically retry

after an amount of time.

Your program must not launch a new ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT call at each

time the callback function is called with zero as its parameter.

The callback function pointer can be a NULL pointer if your application don’t need any ac-

knowledgment.

Listing 8.2: Example of setting a config. paramter

int enemy_color;

enemy_color = ORANGE_GREEN;

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT(enemy_colors, enemy_color, NULL);

8.2.2

From the Control Engine for iPhone

Using the Control Engine for iPhone, the ARDrone instance of your application can accept

messages to control some parts of the configuration.

The message is -(void) executeCommandIn:(ARDRONE_COMMAND_IN)commandId withParam-

eter:(void *)parameter fromSender:(id)sender.

The first parameter is the ID of the config you want to change. The ID list can be found in the

ARDroneTypes.h.

The second parameter is the parameter of the command.

As 1.6 SDK, parameter types are the following :

- ARDRONE_COMMAND_ISCLIENT : raw integer casted to (void *).

- ARDRONE_COMMAND_DRONE_ANIM : ARDRONE_ANIMATION_PARAM pointer.

- ARDRONE_COMMAND_DRONE_LED_ANIM : ARDRONE_LED_ANIMATION_PARAM

pointer.

- ARDRONE_COMMAND_VIDEO_CHANNEL : raw integer casted to (void *). Values can be

found in ARDroneGeneratedTypes.h file

- ARDRONE_COMMAND_CAMERA_DETECTION : raw integer casted to (void *). Values

can be found in ARDroneGeneratedTypes.h file

- ARDRONE_COMMAND_ENEMY_SET_PARAM : ARDRONE_ENEMY_PARAM pointer.

- ARDRONE_COMMAND_ENABLE_COMBINED_YAW : boolean casted to (void *).

- ARDRONE_COMMAND_SET_FLY_MODE : raw integer casted to (void *). Values can be

found in ardrone_api.h file

The third parameter is currently unused (passing nil is ok).

Listing 8.3: Example of setting detection parameters with Control Engine

ARDRONE_ENEMY_PARAM enemyParam;

enemyParam.color = ARDRONE_ENEMY_COLOR_GREEN;

enemyParam.outdoor_shell = 0;

[ardrone executeCommandIn:ARDRONE_COMMAND_ENEMY_SET_PARAM withParam:(void *)&

enemyParam fromSender:nil];

8.2.3

Without ARDroneTool

Use the AT*CONFIG command to send a configuration value to the drone. The command must

be sent with a correct sequence number, the parameter note between double-quotes, and the

parameter value between double-quotes.

8.3

General configuration

All the configurations are given accordingly to the config_keys.h file order.

In the API examples, the myCallback argument can be a valid pointer to a callback function, or

a NULL pointer if no callback is needed by the application.

GENERAL:num_version_config

Read only

Description :

Version of the configuration subsystem (Currently 1).

GENERAL:num_version_mb

Read only

Description :

Hardware version of the drone motherboard.

GENERAL:num_version_soft

Read only

Description :

Firmware version of the drone.

GENERAL:soft_build_date

Read only

Description :

Date of drone firmware compilation.

GENERAL:motor1_soft

Read only

Description :

Software version of the motor 1 board. Also exists for motor2, motor3 and motor4.

GENERAL:motor1_hard

Read only

Description :

Harware version of the motor 1 board. Also exists for motor2, motor3 and motor4.

GENERAL:motor1_supplier

Read only

Description :

Supplier version of the motor 1 board. Also exists for motor2, motor3 and motor4.

GENERAL:ardrone_name

Read/Write

Description :

Name of the AR.Drone. This name may be used by video games developper to assign a default

name to a player, and is not related to the Wi-Fi SSID name.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"general:ardrone_name","My ARDrone Name"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (ardrone_name, "My ARDrone Name",

myCallback);

GENERAL:flying_time

Read only

Description :

Numbers of seconds spent by the drone in a flying state in its whole lifetime.

GENERAL:navdata_demo

Read/Write

Description :

The drone can either send a reduced set of navigation data (navdata) to its clients, or send

all the available information which contain many debugging information that are useless for

everyday flights.

If this parameter is set to TRUE, the reduced set is sent by the drone (this is the case in the

AR.FreeFlight iPhone application).

If this parameter is set to FALSE, all the available data are sent (this is the cae in the Linux

example ardrone_navigation).

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"general:navdata_demo","TRUE"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (navdata_demo, TRUE, myCallback);

GENERAL:navdata_options

Read/Write

Description :

When using navdata_demo, this configuration allow the application to ask for others navdata

packets. Most common example is the default_navdata_options macro defined in the config_key.h

file. The full list of the possible navdata packets can be found in the navdata_common.h file.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"general:navdata_options","65537"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (navdata_options, (NAVDATA_OPTION_-

MASK (NAVDATA_DEMO_TAG) | NAVDATA_OPTION_MASK (NAVDATA_VISION_DETECT_-

TAG)), myCallback);

GENERAL:com_watchdog

Read/Write

Description :

Time the drone can wait without receiving any command from a client program. Beyond this

delay, the drone will enter in a ’Com Watchdog triggered’ state and hover on top a fixed point.

Note : This setting is currently disabled. The drone uses a fixed delay of 250 ms.

GENERAL:video_enable

Read/Write

Description :

Reserved for future use. The default value is TRUE, setting it to FALSE can lead to unexpected

behaviour.

GENERAL:vision_enable

Read/Write

Description :

Reserved for future use. The default value is TRUE, setting it to FALSE can lead to unexpected

behaviour.

Note : This setting is not related to the tag detection algoritms

GENERAL:vbat_min

Read only

Description :

Reserved for future use. Minimum battery level before shutting down automatically the AR.Drone.

8.4

Control configuration

CONTROL:accs_offset

Read only

Description :

Parrot internal debug informations. AR.Drone accelerometers offsets.

CONTROL:accs_gains

Read only

Description :

Parrot internal debug informations. AR.Drone accelerometers gains.

CONTROL:gyros_offset

Read only

Description :

Parrot internal debug informations. AR.Drone gyrometers offsets.

CONTROL:gyros_gains

Read only

Description :

Parrot internal debug informations. AR.Drone gyrometers gains.

CONTROL:gyros110_offset

Read only

Description :

Parrot internal debug informations.

CONTROL:gyros110_gains

Read only

Description :

Parrot internal debug informations.

CONTROL:gyro_offset_thr_x

Read only

Description :

Parrot internal debug informations.

Note : Also exists for the y and z axis.

CONTROL:pwm_ref_gyros

Read only

Description :

Parrot internal debug informations.

CONTROL:control_level

Read/Write

Description :

This configuration describes how the drone will interprete the progressive commands from the

user.

Bit 0 is a global enable bit, and should be left active.

Bit refers to a combined yaw mode, where the roll commands are used to generates roll+yaw

based turns. This is intended to be an easier control mode for racing games.

Note : This configuration and the flags parameter of the ardrone_at_set_progress_commands func-

tion will be compared on the drone. To activate the combined yaw mode, you must set both

the bit 1 of the control_level configuration, and the bit 1 of the function parameters.

The ardrone_at_set_progress_commands function parameter reflects the current user commands,

and must be set only when the combined_yaw controls are activated (e.g. both buttons pressed)

This configuration should be left active on the AR.Drone if your application makes use of the

combined_yaw functionnality.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:control_level","3"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (control_level, (ardrone_control_-

config.control_level | (1 « CONTROL_LEVEL_COMBINED_YAW)), myCallback);

CONTROL:shield_enable

Read/Write

Description :

Reserved for future use.

CONTROL:euler_angle_max

Read/Write

Description :

Maximum bending angle for the drone in radians, for both pitch and roll angles.

The progressive command function and its associated AT command refer to a percentage of

this value.

This parameter is a positive floating-point value between 0 and 0.52 (ie. 30 deg). Higher values

might be available on a specific drone but are not reliable and might not allow the drone to stay

at the same altitude.

This value will be saved to indoor/outdoor_euler_angle_max, according to the CONFIG:outdoor

setting.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:euler_angle_max","0.25"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (euler_angle_max, 0.25, myCallback);

CONTROL:altitude_max

Read/Write

Description :

Maximum drone altitude in millimeters.

Give an integer value between 500 and 5000 to prevent the drone from flying above this limit,

or set it to 10000 to let the drone fly as high as desired.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:altitude_max","3000"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (altitude_max, 3000, myCallback);

CONTROL:altitude_min

Read/Write

Description :

Minimum drone altitude in millimeters.

Should be left to default value, for control stabilities issues.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:altitude_min","50"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (altitude_min, 50, myCallback);

CONTROL:control_trim_z

Read/Write

Description :

Manual trim function : should not be used.

CONTROL:control_iphone_tilt

Read/Write

Description :

The angle in radians for a full iPhone accelerometer command. This setting is stored and com-

puted on the AR.Drone so an iPhone application can send progressive commands without

taking this in account.

On AR.FreeFlight, the progressive command sent is between 0 and 1 for angles going from 0 to

90. With a control_iphone_tilt of 0.5 (approx 30), the drone will saturate the command at 0.33

Note : This settings corresponds to the iPhone tilt max setting of AR.FreeFlight

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:control_iphone_tilt","0.25"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (control_iphone_tilt, 0.25, myCallback);

CONTROL:control_vz_max

Read/Write

Description :

Maximum vertical speed of the AR.Drone, in milimeters per second.

Recommanded values goes from 200 to 2000. Others values may cause instability.

This value will be saved to indoor/outdoor_control_vz_max, according to the CONFIG:outdoor

setting.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:control_vz_max","1000"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (control_vz_max, 1000, myCallback);

CONTROL:control_yaw

Read/Write

Description :

Maximum yaw speed of the AR.Drone, in radians per second.

Recommanded values goes from 40/s to 350/s (approx 0.7rad/s to 6.11rad/s). Others values

may cause instability.

This value will be saved to indoor/outdoor_control_yaw, according to the CONFIG:outdoor

setting.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:control_yaw","3.0"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (control_yaw, 3.0, myCallback);

CONTROL:outdoor

Read/Write

Description :

This settings tells the control loop that the AR.Drone is flying outside.

Setting the indoor/outdoor flight will load the corresponding indoor/outdoor_control_yaw,

indoor/outdoor_euler_angle_max and indoor/outdoor_control_vz_max.

Note : This settings corresponds to the Outdoor flight setting of AR.FreeFlight

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:outdoor","TRUE"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (outdoor, TRUE, myCallback);

CONTROL:flight_without_shell

Read/Write

Description :

This settings tells the control loop that the AR.Drone is currently using the outdoor hull. Deac-

tivate it when flying with the indoor hull

Note : This settings corresponds to the outdoor hull setting of AR.FreeFlight.

Note : This setting is not linked with the CONTROL:outdoor setting. They have different effects

on the control loop.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:flight_without_shell","TRUE"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (flight_without_shell, TRUE, myCallback);

CONTROL:brushless

Read/Write

Description :

Deprecated.

CONTROL:autonomous_flight

Read/Write

Description :

Deprecated : This setting enables the autonomous flight mode on the AR.Drone. This mode was

developped for 2010 CES and is no longer maintained.

Enabling this can cause unexpected behaviour on commercial AR.Drones.

CONTROL:manual_trim

Read only

Description :

This setting will be active if the drone is using manual trims. Manual trims should not be used

on commercial AR.Drones, and this field should always be FALSE.

CONTROL:indoor_euler_angle_max

Read/Write

Description :

This setting is used when CONTROL:outdoor is false. See the CONTROL:euler_angle_max de-

scription for further informations.

CONTROL:indoor_control_vz_max

Read/Write

Description :

This setting is used when CONTROL:outdoor is false. See the CONTROL:control_vz_max de-

scription for further informations.

CONTROL:indoor_control_yaw

Read/Write

Description :

This setting is used when CONTROL:outdoor is false. See the CONTROL:control_yaw description

for further informations.

CONTROL:outdoor_euler_angle_max

Read/Write

Description :

This setting is used when CONTROL:outdoor is true. See the CONTROL:euler_angle_max de-

scription for further informations.

CONTROL:outdoor_control_vz_max

Read/Write

Description :

This setting is used when CONTROL:outdoor is true. See the CONTROL:control_vz_max descrip-

tion for further informations.

CONTROL:outdoor_control_yaw

Read/Write

Description :

This setting is used when CONTROL:outdoor is true. See the CONTROL:control_yaw description

for further informations.

CONTROL:flying_mode

Read/Write

Description :

Since 1.5.1 firmware, the AR.Drone has two different flight modes. The first is the legacy

FreeFlight mode, where the user controls the drone, an a new semi-autonomous mode, called

"HOVER_ON_TOP_OF_ROUNDEL", where the drones will hover on top of a ground tag, and

won’t respond to the progressive commands. This new flying mode was developped for 2011

CES autonomous demonstration.

Note : This mode is experimental, and should be used with care. The roundel (cocarde) detection and

this flying mode are subject to changes without notice in further firmwares.

Note : Roundel detection must be activated with the DETECT:detect_type setting if you want to

use the "HOVER_ON_TOP_OF_ROUNDEL" mode.

Note : Enum with modes can be found in the ardrone_api.h file.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:flying_mode","0"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (flying_mode, FLYING_MODE_FREE_-

FLIGHT, myCallback);

CONTROL:flight_anim

Read/Write

Description :

Use this setting to launch drone animations.

The parameter is a string containing the animation number and its duration, separated with a

comma. Animation numbers can be found in the config.h file.

Note : The MAYDAY_TIMEOUT array contains defaults durations for each flight animations.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"control:flight_anim","3,2"

API use example :

char param[20];

snprintf (param, sizeof (param), "%d,%d", ARDRONE_ANIMATION_YAW_SHAKE,

MAYDAY_TIMEOUT[ARDRONE_ANIMATION_YAW_SHAKE]);

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (flight_anim, param, myCallback);

8.5

Network configuration

NETWORK:ssid_single_player

Read/Write

Description :

The AR.Drone SSID. Changes are applied on reboot

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"network:ssid_single_player","myArdroneNetwork"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (ssid_single_player, "myArdroneNetwork",

myCallback);

NETWORK:ssid_multi_player

Read/Write

Description :

Currently unused.

NETWORK:infrastructure

Read/Write

Description :

Reserved for future use.

NETWORK:secure

Read/Write

Description :

Reserved for future use.

NETWORK:passkey

Read/Write

Description :

Reserved for future use.

NETWORK:navdata_port

Read only

Description :

The UDP socket port where the navdata are sent. Defaults to 5554.

NETWORK:video_port

Read only

Description :

The UDP socket port where the vido is sent. Defaults to 5555.

NETWORK:at_port

Read only

Description :

The UDP socket port where the AT*commands are sent. Defaults to 5556

NETWORK:cmd_port

Read only

Description :

Unused.

NETWORK:owner_mac

Read/Write

Description :

Mac addres paired with the AR.Drone. Set to "00:00:00:00:00:00" to unpair the AR.Drone.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"network:owner_mac","01:23:45:67:89:ab"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (owner_mac, "cd:ef:01:23:45:67",

myCallback);

NETWORK:owner_ip_address

Read/Write

Description :

Unused.

NETWORK:local_ip_address

Read/Write

Description :

Unused.

NETWORK:broadcast_ip_address

Read/Write

Description :

Unused.

8.6

Nav-board configuration

PIC:ultrasound_freq

Read/Write

Description :

Frequency of the ultrasound measures for altitude. Using two different frequencies can reduce

significantly the ultrasound perturbations between two AR.Drones.

Only two frequencies ar availaible : 22.22 and 25 Hz.

The enum containing the values are found in the ardrone_common_config.h file.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"pic:ultrasound_freq","7"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (ultrasound_freq, ADC_CMD_SELECT_-

ULTRASOUND_22Hz, myCallback);

PIC:ultrasound_watchdog

Read/Write

Description :

Debug configuration that should not be modified.

PIC:pic_version

Read only

Description :

The software version of the Nav-board.

8.7

Video configuration

VIDEO:camif_fps

Read only

Description :

Current FPS of the video interface. This may be different than the actual framerate.

VIDEO:camif_buffers

Read only

Description :

Buffer depth for the video interface.

VIDEO:num_trackers

Read only

Description :

Number of tracking point for the speed estimation.

VIDEO:bitrate

Read/Write

Description :

Reserved for future use.

VIDEO:bitrate_control_mode

Read/Write

Description :

Enables the automatic bitrate control of the video stream. Enabling this configuration will

reduce the bandwith used by the video stream under bad Wi-Fi conditions, reducing the com-

mands latency.

Note : Before enabling this config, make sure that your video decoder is able to handle the

variable bitrate mode !

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"video:bitrate_control_mode","1"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (bitrate_control_mode, 0, myCallback);

VIDEO:codec

Read/Write

Description :

Reserved for future use.

VIDEO:videol_channel

Read/Write

Description :

The video channel that will be sent to the controller.

Current implementation supports 4 different channels :

- ARDRONE_VIDEO_CHANNEL_HORI

- ARDRONE_VIDEO_CHANNEL_VERT

- ARDRONE_VIDEO_CHANNEL_LARGE_HORI_SMALL_VERT

- ARDRONE_VIDEO_CHANNEL_LARGE_VERT_SMALL_HORI

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"video:video_channel","2"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (video_channel, ARDRONE_VIDEO_-

CHANNEL_HORI, myCallback);

8.8

Leds configuration

LEDS:leds_anim

Read/Write

Description :

Use this setting to launch leds animations.

The parameter is a string containing the animation number, its frequency (Hz) and its duration

(s), separated with commas. Animation names can be found in the led_animation.h file.

Note : The frequency parameter is a floating point parameter, but in configuration string it will

be print as the binary equivalent integer.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"leds:leds_anim","3,1073741824,2"

API use example :

char param[20];

float frequency = 2.0;

snprintf (param, sizeof (param), "%d,%d,%d", ARDRONE_LED_ANIMATION_BLINK_-

ORANGE,*(unsigned int*)&frequency, 5);

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (flight_anim, param, myCallback);

8.9

Detection configuration

DETECT:enemy_colors

Read/Write

Description :

The color of the hulls you want to detect. Possible values are green, yellow and blue (respective

integer values as of 1.5.1 firmware : 1, 2, 3).

Note : This config will only be used for standard tags/hulls detection. New detection algo-

rithms (Cocarde, Stripe) have predefined colors.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"detect:enemy_colors","2"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (enemy_colors, ARDRONE_ENEMY_-

COLOR_BLUE, myCallback);

DETECT:enemy_without_shell

Read/Write

Description :

Activate this in order to detect outdoor hulls. Deactivate to detect indoor hulls.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"detect:enemy_without_shell","1"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (enemy_without_shell, 0, myCallback);

DETECT:detect_type

Read/Write

Description :

Select the active tag detection.

Some details about detections can be found in the ardrone_api.h file.

Note : Stripe detection is experimental and should not be used as of 1.5.1 firmware.

Note : Roundel (Cocarde) detection is experimental and may be changed in further firmwares.

Note : The multiple detection mode allow the selection of different detections on each camera.

Note that you should NEVER enable two similar detection on both cameras, as this will cause

failures in the algorithms.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"detect:detect_type","2"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (detect_type, ARDRONE_CAMERA_-

DETECTION_COCARDE, myCallback);

DETECT:detections_select_h

Read/Write

Description :

Bitfields to select detections that should be enabled on horizontal camera.

Detections offsets are defined in the ardrone_api.h file.

Note : Stripe detection is experimental and should not be used as of 1.5.1 firmware.

Note : Roundel (Cocarde) detection is experimental and may be changed in further firmwares.

Note : You should NEVER enable one detection on two different cameras.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"detect:detections_select_h","1"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (detections_select_h, TAG_TYPE_-

MASK (TAG_TYPE_SHELL_TAG), myCallback);

DETECT:detections_select_v_hsync

Read/Write

Description :

Bitfileds to select the detections that should be enabled on vertical camera.

Detection enables in the hsync mode will run synchronously with the horizontal camera pipeline,

a 20fps instead of 60. This can be useful to reduce the CPU load when you don’t need a 60Hz

detection.

Note : You should use either v_hsync or v detections, but not both at the same time. This can

cause unexpected behaviours.

Note : Notes from DETECT:detections_select_h also applies.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"detect:detections_select_v_hsync","2"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (detections_select_v_hsync, TAG_-

TYPE_MASK (TAG_TYPE_ROUNDEL), myCallback);

DETECT:detections_select_v

Read/Write

Description :

Bitfileds to select the detections that should be active on vertical camera.

These detections will be run at 60Hz. If you don’t need that speed, using detections_select_v_-

hsync instead will reduce the CPU load.

Note : See the DETECT:detections_select_h and DETECT:detections_select_v_hsync for further de-

tails.

AT command example :

AT*CONFIG=605,"detect:detections_select_v","2"

API use example :

ARDRONE_TOOL_CONFIGURATION_ADDEVENT (detections_select_v, TAG_TYPE_-

MASK (TAG_TYPE_ROUNDEL), myCallback);

8.10

SYSLOG section

This section is a Parrot internal debug section, and should therefore not be used.

F.A.Q.

Here you will find questions frequently asked on the different forums.

Why is the Android example incomplete ?

The AR.Drone product was designed to work with an ad-hoc Wifi connection, in order to be

controllable anywhere in the wild from a mobile device like the iPhone. Unfortunately Google

does not currently officially allow the use of ad-hoc connections with the Android OS. Though

such connection is technically possible, the Android example application is not a priority until

Google changes its mind. It was successfully run on a Nexus One phone though, and the code

is provided for people who are not afraid of jail breaking their phone and getting their hands

dirty.

Can I add some additional hardware to the drone ?

This is currently not supported. The drone has a USB master port that could be used later to

customize the drone hardware, but it is disbaled on current drones.

Can I replace the embedded drone software with my own ? Can I get the sensors and engines

specifications ?

No. This SDK is meant to allow remote controlling of the drone only.

Part II

Tutorials

Building the iOS

Example

The AR.Drone SDK provides the full source code of AR.FreeFligt iPhone application.

To compile both the Control Engine and the AR.FreeFlight project, you need to use Apple

XCode IDE on an Apple computer.

You also need to have an Apple developper account with associated Developper profiles.

Further informations can be found on Apple website

Building the Linux

Examples

The AR.Drone SDK provides two client application examples for Linux.

The first one, called Linux SDK Demo, shows the minimum software required to control an

AR.Drone with a gamepad. It should be used as a skeleton for all your Linux projects.

The second one, called ARDrone Navigation, is the tool used internally at Parrot to test drones

in flight. It shows all the information sent by the drone during a flight session.

In this section, we are going to show you how to build those example on an Ubuntu 10.04

workstation. We will suppose you are familiar with C programming and you already have a C

compiler installed on your machine.

11.1

Set up your development environment

If you have not done so yet, please download the latest version of the SDK here (you must first

Then unpack the archive ARDrone_API-x.x.x.tar.bz2 in the directory of your choice. In this

document we will note 〈SDK〉the extracted directory name.

$ tar xjf ARDrone_API-«<ARDversion»>.tar.bz2

To build the examples, you will need libraries like IW (for wireless management), gtk (to dis-

play an graphic interface), and SDL (to easily display the video stream) :

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install libsdl-dev libgtk2.0-dev libiw-dev

11.2

Prepare the source code

The demonstration programs allow you to pilot the drone with a gamepad. To keep the code

simple enough, it only works with two models of gamepads : a Logitech Precision gamepad

and a Sony Playstation 3 gamepad. If you own one of these, you can plug it now and skip

this section. Otherwise you must first change a few settings in the code, or the demonstration

programs won’t do much.

Identify your gamepad

Plug the gamepad you want to use, and retrieve its USB identifier with the lsusb command.

Here is an example for the logitech gamepad :

We are interested in the ID 046d:c21a information. It must be copied at the beginning of the

sdk_demo/Sources/UI/gamepad.h file.

Listing 11.1: Changing gamepad.h

// replace this value with the ID of your own gamepad

#define GAMEPAD_LOGITECH_ID 0x046dc21a

This value will be used by the SDK demo program to find which gamepad to query when

flying.

Next step is identifying the buttons on your gamepad, with the jstest utility :

$ sudo apt-get install joystick

$ jstest /dev/input/js0

You will see a list of axes and buttons; play with your gamepads buttons and make a list of

which buttons you want to use to go up/down,left/right,etc.

Once you have done so, edit the sdk_demo/Sources/UI/gamepad.c file, and search the gamepad_update

function. This function is called 20 times per second and reads the gamepad state to send

according commands to the drone. The code should be self-explanatory; have a look at the

update_ps3pad for an example with a analogic pad.

Please do the same to the and Navigation/Sources/UI/gamepad.c file, for the two examples

programs are independant and do not share their gamepad management code, though they

are the same. You can even copy/paste the gamepad files between the two examples.

11.3

Compile the SDK Demo example

First we must build the ARDroneLIB library, by using the makefile provided :

$ cd 〈SDK〉/ARDroneLib/Soft/Build

$ make

Compilation is successful if the last executed action is "ar rcs libpc_ardrone.a ..." and succeeds.

The second step is to compile the example itself :

$ cd 〈SDK〉/Examples/Linux/sdk_demo/Build

$ make

An executable program called linux_sdk_demo is created in the current working directory.

11.4

Run the SDK Demo program

First unpair your drone if you flew with an iPhone before !

Although the demonstration program can configure the WIFI network itself, it is safer for a

first test to manually connect your workstation to the drone WIFI network, and potentially

manually configure its IP address to 192.168.1.xxx and subnet mask to 255.255.255.0, where

xxx>1.

Once this is done, you can test the connection with a ping command :

$ ping 192.168.1.1

If connection is successful, the ping command will return you the time needed for data to go

back and forth to the drone.

You can then launch the demo program :

What to expect ?

Check the printed messages; it should say a gamepad was found and then initialize a bunch of

things :

Now press the button you chose as the select button. Press it several times to make the motors

leds switch between red (emergency mode) and green(ready to fly mode).

Clear the drone surroundings and press the button you chose as the start button. The drone

should start flying.

11.5

Compile the Navigation example

First we must build the ARDroneLIB library (unless you already have for the SDK Demo ex-

ample), by using the makefile provided :

$ cd 〈SDK〉/ARDroneLib/Soft/Build

$ make

Compilation is successful if the last executed action is "ar rcs libpc_ardrone.a ..." and succeeds.

The second step is to compile the example itself :

$ cd 〈SDK〉/Examples/Linux/Navigation/Build

$ make

An executable program called ardrone_navigation is created in the 〈SDK〉/ARDroneLib/Version/Release

directory.

11.6

Run the Navigation program

First unpair your drone if you flew with an iPhone before !

Although the demonstration program can configure the WIFI network itself, it is safer for a

first test to manually connect your workstation to the drone WIFI network, and potentially

manually configure its IP address to 192.168.1.xxx and subnet mask to 255.255.255.0, where

xxx>1.

Once this is done, you can test the connection with a ping command :

$ ping 192.168.1.1

If connection is successful, the ping command will return you the time needed for data to go

back and forth to the drone.

You can then launch the navigation program :

What to expect ?

You should see a GUI showing the current drone state. If connection with the drone is success-

ful, the central graphs entitled theta,phi and psi should change according to the drone angular

position. In the following screenshot the drone is bending backwards.

Now press the button you chose as the select button. Press it several times to make the motors

leds switch between red (emergency mode) and green(ready to fly mode).

Clear the drone surroundings and press the button you chose as the start button. The drone

should start flying.

Check the VISION image checkbox to make a second window appear, which will display the

video stream :

Feel free to click on all the buttons you want to discover all the commands and all the informa-

tion sent by the drone (just be careful with the PID gains) !

Building the Windows

Example

The AR.Drone SDK provides a client application example for Windows.

This example called SDK Demo, shows the minimum software required to control an AR.Drone

with a gamepad or a keyboard. It should be used as a skeleton for all your Windows projects.

In this section, we are going to show you how to build this example on a Windows Seven

workstation. We will suppose you are familiar with C programming and you already have

Visual Studio installed on your machine.

12.1

Set up your development environment

Get some development tools

This demo was tested with Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express edition, on a Windows 7 64Bits

Platform. It should work with any version of Windows XP, Vista, and Seven with minor

changes if any.

The required libraries are :

• The Microsoft Windows SDK (available here ), Windows Headers and Library.

• The Microsoft DirectX SDK (available here ), to use a Gamepad for drone control.

• The SDL Library (available here ) which is used in the example to display the video, but

which can be easily replaced;

• Only for Windows XP and earlier - The Pthread for Win32 library (available here )

Get the development files

You should have downloaded and unpacked the following elements :

• the ARDroneLib directory (with the Soft, VLIB and VP_SDK subdirectories)

• the Examples directory and specifically its Win32 subdirectory, which contains :

- the demonstration source code in sdk_demo

- the Visual C++ 2008 Express solution in VCProjects

Make the project aware of the code location on your computer

• Open the Visual Studio solution ( file \Examples \Win 32\VCProjects \ARDrone \ARDrone .sln).

• Open the Property Manager tab (next to the Solution Explorer and the Class View tabs).

• Double click on any of the ArDrone_properties entry to edit it.

• Go to Common Properties -> User Macros

• Edit the ARDroneLibDir macro so its contains the path to the ARDroneLib directory on

your computer.

• Edit the Win32ClientDir macro so its contains the path to the demonstration source code

directory on your computer.

Note : you can also directly modify those paths by editing the ArDrone_properties.vsprops file

with any text editor.

Make the project aware of the libraries location on your computer

• In Visual Studio up to version 2008, the menu

Tools->Options->Environment->Projects and Solutions->VC++ Directories

must contains the paths to the Include and Libraries files for the above mentioned pre-

requisite libraries.

• In Visual Studio 2010, these directories must be set in the Project settings.

12.2

Required settings in the source code before compiling

Operating System related settings

In the Solution Explorer, search for the vp_os_signal_dep.h in the ARDroneLib project.

In this header file, one of the two following macros must be defined :

• Use #define USE_WINDOWS_CONDITION_VARIABLES to use Microsoft Windows SDK for

thread synchronisation (you must have Windows Vista or later)

• Use #define USE_PTHREAD_FOR_WIN32 to use pthreads for synchronisation (mandatory

if you have Windows XP or earlier, possible with later Windows versions)

Drone related settings

The win32_custom.h file contains the IP address to connect to. It’s 192.168.1.1 by default, but

the drone actual IP address might be different if several drones use the same Wifi network

(drones then pick random addresses to avoid IP address conflicts). Check your drone IP ad-

dress with pings or telnet commands before running the example.

Gamepad related settings

The gamepad.cpp file contains code to pick the first gamepad that can be found on the com-

puter and which is supported by the DirectX subsystem. In the example, buttons are statically

linked to drone actions for three specific gamepads. Other gamepads have no effect. Please

modify this code to enable the drone to move with your own input device (code should be self-

explanatory).

To identify the buttons available on your gamepad, go to the Windows configuration pannel

and go to your gamepad properties pages (there you can calibrate your pad and test the buttons

and sticks). You can also use the Microsoft DirectX SDK \Samples \C ++\DirectInput \Joystick

tool.

12.3

Compiling the example

Simply generate the solution once the above mentioned settings were done.

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battery lipo 6s 16000 mah dji s800 s900 s1000 battery lipo 6s 16000 mah dji s800 s900 s1000
battery lipo 6s 20000 mah dji s900 s1000 battery lipo 6s 20000 mah dji s900 s1000
battery lipo 6s 32000 mah dji s1000 battery lipo 6s 32000 mah dji s1000
dji mavic air dji mavic ai
dji mavic air fly more combo dji mavic air fly more combo

Drone Battery

Buy battery for drones online at the lowest prices. Shop our range of quality batteries for FPV racing drones, multi-rotor drones and more.

battery lipo 6s 8000mah x3 pack battery lipo 6s 8000mah x3 pack
battery lipo 6s 32000 mah x3 pack battery lipo 6s 32000 mah x3 pack
battery lipo 6s 20000 mah x3 pack battery lipo 6s 20000 mah x3 pack
battery lipo 6s 16000 mah x3 pack battery lipo 6s 16000 mah x3 pack
battery lipo 6s 8000 mah pack battery lipo 6s 8000 mah pack
battery lipo 6s 16000 mah battery lipo 6s 16000 ma
battery lipo 6s 20000 mah pack battery lipo 6s 20000 mah pack
battery lipo 6s 32000 mah battery lipo 6s 32000 ma
battery lipo 6s 64000 mah battery lipo 6s 64000 mah
graupner polaron ac dc graupner polaron ac dc
battery charger graupner polaron ex battery charger graupner polaron ex
graupner polaron ex 1400 graupner polaron ex 1400
battery charging stations graupner dual ex 1400 battery charging stations graupner dual ex 1400

Ground station & Radio

Best ground stations controlling unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), see Ground control station. A ground station, earth station, or earth terminal is a terrestrial radio

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ground station drone ground station dron
ground station inspire ground station inspir
ground station inspire 2 ground station inspire 2
ground station inspire dji ground station inspire dj
ground station inspire pro dji ground station inspire pro dj
futaba t18sz r7008sb futaba t18sz r7008sb
flir vue pro 336 flir vue pro 336
flir vue pro 640 flir vue pro 640
flir a35 radiometric flir a35 radiometric
flir lepton drone kit flir lepton drone kit

Gimbal

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zenmuse xt 640 dji v2 zenmuse xt 640 dji v2
zenmuse z3 dji zenmuse z3 dji
zenmuse x5 dji zenmuse x5 dji
dji ronin dji ronin
dji ronin m dji ronin m

zenmuse x5r dji zenmuse x5r dji
zenmuse x5 dji without optics zenmuse x5 dji without optics
zenmuse z15 dji zenmuse z15 dji

Thermal Camera

Powerful thermal imaging camera gives you the power to see in total darkness, find problems around the house, and inspect industrial plant

thermal camera flir a65 radiometric thermal camera flir a65 radiometric
rent tripod manfrotto 190 series rent tripod manfrotto 190 series
sensefly ebee ground station sensefly ebee ground station
dji inspire 1 dual operator dji inspire 1 dual operator
battery lipo drones dji s900 s1000 battery lipo drones dji s900 s1000
charging stations 1000w dji s800 s900 s1000 charging stations 1000w dji s800 s900 s1000
manfrotto 028 triman manfrotto 028 triman
dji s1000 5d mark iii ground station for rent dji s1000 5d mark iii ground station for rent
horus dynamics zero t flir a65 horus dynamics zero t flir a65
battery dji inspire 1 battery dji inspire 1
edelkrone slider plus m edelkrone slider plus m

Rent a drone

Need a drone for a few days or a very specific project? Want to try before you buy? Here are a few sites offering drone rental

dolly 181 manfrotto carrello pieghevole autodolly dolly 181 manfrotto
canon 5d mark iii canon 5d mark iii
sony hdr cx730 sony hdr cx730
sony hdr as30v sony hdr as30v
autopole 210 370cm autopole 210 370cm
video head manfrotto 502 video head manfrotto 502
canon ef 24 70mm f2 8l ii usm canon ef 24 70mm f2 8l ii usm
canon ef 70 200mm f2 8l ii is usm canon ef 70 200mm f2 8l ii is usm
canon ef 24mm f2 8 is usm canon ef 24mm f2 8 is usm
canon extender 2x iii canon extender 2x iii
flash canon speedlite 600ex rt flash canon speedlite 600ex rt
flash studio bowens mono silver 800w flash studio bowens mono silver 800w
kit pro canon kit pro canon
kit ready nikon kit ready nikon
samsung gear 360 samsung gear 360
dji inspire 2 dji inspire 2
dji inspire 2 combo dji inspire 2 combo
dji phantom 4 advanced dji phantom 4 advanced
flir axx video recording module flir axx video recording module
drone advanced consultancy drone advanced consultancy
drone consultancy drone consultancy
ebee sensefly battery ebee sensefly battery

12.4

What to expect when running the example

Before running the example, one of the computer network connections must be connected with

the drone. Pinging the drone or connecting to its telnet port MUST work properly. The drone

MUST NOT be paired with an iPhone (using the drone with an iPhone prevents the drone from

accepting connections from any other device, including a PC, unless the unpair button (below

the drone) is pressed (which is acknowledged by the drone by making the motor leds blink).

If the network is correctly set, running the example will display a console window showing

which commands are being sent to the drone, and a graphic window showing the drone broad-

casted video.

You can then control the drone by using your gamepad, or use the keyboard with the following

jeys :

Key

Action

8 or I

Fly forward

2 or K

Fly backward

4 or J

Fly leftward

6 or L

Fly rightward

A or +

Fly up

Q or -

Fly down

7 or U

Rotate anticlockwise

9 or O

Rotate clockwise

Space

Takeoff/Land

Escape or Tab

Send emergency¹/recover from emergency signal

Send flat trim command

Hover

The example is basic one which simply hangs by saying "Connection timeout" if no connection

is possible. Check the network connectivity and restart the application if such thing happens.

The video window does not respond if no video is received from the drone. Close the console

window to close the application, or deport the SDL window management code from the video

processing thread to an independent thread.

12.5

Quick summary of problems solving

P. The application starts, but no video is displayed, or "Connection timeout" appears.

S. The client was to slow connecting to the drone, or could not connect. Restart the application,

or check your network configuration if the problem remains.

P. I can’t open any source file from the solution explorer

S. Make sure the ARDroneLibDir and Win32ClientDir macros are set in the Properties Man-

ager

P. I get the "Windows.h : no such file or directory" message when compiling.

S. Make sure the Windows SDK was correctly installed. A light version should be installed

along with VC Express.

P. I get the "Cannot open input file ’dxguid.lib’ message when compiling.

S. Make sure the DirectX SDK was correctly installed

P. I get the "Error spawning mt.exe" message when compiling.

S. There is a problem with the Windows SDK installation. Please reinstall.

Other platforms

13.1

Android example

Please refer to the <SDK>/Examples/Android/ardrone directory, and its two files INSTALL and

README to compile the Android example. It was successfully tested (controls and video

display) on a rooted Google/HTC Nexus One phone, using NDK r3.