gso-soslab / mvp_station

Scalable Robot Dashboard & GroundStation built on MAVLink and QGIS

mvp_station

Scalable Robot Dashboard & GroundStation built on MAVLink and QGIS

Scripts

• vx_script.py : deals with converting ros msgs into mavlink msgs and sends across the desired transport(Both RF and UDP are supported). Runs on the Vehicle.
  
• gcs_script.py : receives MAVLink msgs and sends the necesary parsed messages to its clients via sockets. Runs on the GCS computer.
  
• client.py : is the client-side script. Communicates with the GCS via sockets.
  
• interface.py is the QGIS Interface.

Requirements && Dependencies

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

• QGIS for the Client side. Used to visualize vehicle telematics
  
• Radio Modules for Vehicle side (optional)
  
• Wi-Fi Router (For communication between GCS and Client)

System Architecture

There are 3 components- Vx, GCS, and Client side. GCS distributes Vx data to all the connected clients.

Usage

• Configure the config/[component]_param.yaml to the desired states.
  
• Launch roslaunch vx_comms start_comms_vx.launch on the vehicle side.
  
• Configure and python3 scripts/gcs_script.py on the GCS side.
  
• Configure and python3 scripts/client.py on the Client side.
  
• Download QuickMapServices Plugin from the QGIS plugin store. Get more maps by Web ► QuickMapServices ► Settings
  Go to the More services tab.
  Read carefully the message of this tab and if you agree click on the Get Contributed pack button.
  Click Save.
  Reopen the Web ► QuickMapServices menu you will see that more providers are available.
  
• Open the QGIS project dashboard.qgz and open interface.py in the environment.

mvp_station's Issues

Script executed at run time.

Instead of executing the script each time, let the script run at all times.

Button to `Add Waypoints`.

Store points in Groups.

Add Waypoints button should prompt the user to create Group name, and the points be stored therein.

Notify user of altitude direction.

-value for altitude means down.

`Send waypoints` button prompt.

Send waypoints should prompt the user which group to send.

Make the toolbar vertical.

The chances are the horizontal position would run out of space.
Can it be made vertical and scrollable?

Have user details for each session.

Considering multiple users can send commands from the dashboard, there should be a record of who sent what, and have a priority order among the users.

Switch from MAV messages to ROS messages.

gcs_script.py would be overhauled to accepted ROS messages. This would invalidate the existance of vx_script.py.
The new gcs_script would accept ROS messages and send it to client computers via sockets.