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README.md

QGroundControl

Open Source Micro Air Vehicle Ground Control Station

Documentation

For generating documentation, refer to /doc/README.

Notes

Please make sure to delete your build folder before re-building. Independent of which build system you use (this is not related to Qt or your OS) the dependency checking and cleaning is based on the current project revision. So if you change the project and don't remove the build folder before your next build, incremental building can leave you with stale object files.

Additional functionality

QGroundcontrol has functionality that is dependent on the operating system and libraries installed by the user. The following sections describe these features, their dependencies, and how to disable/alter them during the build process. These features can be forcibly enabled/disabled by specifying additional values for variables either at the command line when calling qmake or in the user_config.pri. When calling qmake additional variables can be set using the syntax VARIABLE="SPACE_SEPARATED_VALUES", which can be repeated for multiple variables. For example: qmake DEFINES="DISABLE_QUPGRADE DISABLE_SPEECH" MAVLINK_CONF="sensesoar" disables the QUpgrade widget, speech functionality, and sets the MAVLink dialect to sensesoar. These values can be more permanently specified by setting them in the user_config.pri file in the root directly. Copy the user_config.pri.dist file and name the copy user_config.pri, uncommenting the lines with the variables to modify and set their values as you desire.

NOTE: Any variables specified at the command line call to qmake will override those set in user_config.pri.

QUpgrade

QUpgrade is a submodule (a Git feature like a sub-repository) that contains extra functionality. It is compiled in by default if it has initialized and updated. It can be disabled by specifying DISABLE_QUPGRADE in the DEFINES variable.

To include QUpgrade functionality run the following (only needs to be done once after cloning the qggroundcontrol git repository):

  • git submodule init
  • git submodule update

The QUpgrade module relies on libudev on Linux platforms, so be sure to install the development version of that package.

Specifying MAVLink dialects

The MAVLink dialect compiled by default by QGC is for the ardupilotmega. This will happen if no other dialects are specified. Setting the MAVLINK_CONF variable sets the dialects, with more than one specified in a space-separated list. Note that doing this may result in compilation errors as certain dialects may conflict with each other!

MAVLink dialect generator

An add-on is available for QGC that provides a UI for generating MAVLink dialects from within QGC. This feature has been deprecated since identical functionality now exists within the MAVLink project itself. Enable this functionality by specifying the DEFINES variable ENABLE_MAVGEN.

Opal-RT's RT-LAB simulator

Integration with Opal-RT's RT-LAB simulator can be enabled on Windows by installing RT-LAB 7.2.4. This allows vehicles to be simulated in RT-LAB and communicate directly with QGC on the same computer as if the UAS was actually deployed. This support is enabled by default once the requisite RT-LAB software is installed. Disabling this can be done by adding DISABLE_RTLAB to the DEFINES variable.

Speech syntehsis

QGroundcontrol can notify the controller of information via speech synthesis. This requires the flite library on Linux. On Mac and Windows support is built in to the OS as of OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and Windows Vista. This support is enabled by default on all platforms if the dependencies are met. Disabling this functionality can be done by adding DISABLE_SPEECH to the DEFINES variable.

3D view

The OpenSceneGraph libraries provide 3D rendering to the map overlays that QGC can provide.

OpenSceneGraph support is built-in to Mac OS X. On Linux it is commonly available through the libopenscenegraph and libopenscenegraph-qt developer packages. Windows support does not currently exist. This functionality with be automatically built if the proper libraries are installed. Disabling this feature can be done by adding DISABLE_OPEN_SCENE_GRAPH to the DEFINES variable.

3D mouse support

Connexion's 3D mice are supported through the 3DxWARE driver available on Linux and Windows. Download and install the driver from 3DConnexion to enable support. This support is enabled by default with driver installation. To disable add DISABLE_3DMOUSE to the DEFINES variable.

XBee support

QGroundControl can talk to XBee wireless devices using their proprietary protocol directly on Windows and Linux platforms. This support is not necessary if you're not using XBee devices or aren't using their proprietary protocol. On Windows, the necessary dependencies are included in this repository and no additional steps are required. For Linux, change to the libs/thirdParty/libxbee folder and run make;sudo make install to install libxbee on your system (uninstalling can be done with a sudo make uninstall). qmake will automatically detect the library on Linux, so no other work is necessary.

To disable XBee support you may add DISABLE_XBEE to the DEFINES argument.

Build on Mac OSX

To build on Mac OSX (10.6 or later):

Install SDL

  1. Download SDL from: http://www.libsdl.org/release/SDL-1.2.14.dmg
  2. From the SDL disk image, copy the sdl.framework bundle to /Library/Frameworks directory (if you are not an admin copy to ~/Library/Frameworks)

Install QT

  1. Download Qt 4.8+ from <http://download.qt-project.org/official_releases/qt/4.8/4.8.5/qt-mac-opensource-4.8.5.dmg >
  2. Double click the package installer and follow instructions: http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-4.8/install-mac.html

Build QGroundControl

(use clang compiler - not gcc)

  1. From the terminal go to the groundcontrol directory
  2. Run qmake qgroundcontrol.pro -r -spec unsupported/macx-clang CONFIG+=x86_64
  3. Run make -j4

Build on Linux

To build on Linux:

  1. Install base dependencies (QT + phonon/webkit, SDL)
  • For Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install libqt4-dev libphonon-dev libphonon4 phonon-backend-gstreamer qtcreator libsdl1.2-dev build-essential
  • For Fedora: sudo yum install qt qt-creator qt-webkit-devel SDL-devel SDL-static systemd-devel
  1. [OPTIONAL] Install additional libraries
  • For text-to-speech (flite)
    • For Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install libflite1 flite1-dev
    • For Fedora: sudo yum install flite-devel
  • For 3D flight view (openscenegraph)
    • For Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install libopenscenegraph-dev
    • For Fedora: sudo yum install OpenSceneGraph-qt-devel

  1. Clone the repository

  2. cd PROJECTS_DIRECTORY

  3. git clone https://github.com/mavlink/qgroundcontrol.git

  4. [OPTIONAL] For QUpgrade integration: 1. cd qgroundcontrol 2. git submodule init 3. git submodule update

  5. [OPTIONAL] Build and install XBee support:

  6. cd libs/thirdParty/libxbee

  7. make

  8. sudo make install

  9. Build QGroundControl:

  10. Go back to root qgroundcontrol directory

  11. qmake

  12. make * To enable parallel compilation add the -j argument with the number of cores you have. So on a quad-core processor: make -j4

  13. Run qgroundcontrol

  14. ./release/qgroundcontrol

Build on Windows

GNU GCC / MINGW IS UNTESTED, COULD WORK WITH VISUAL STUDIO 2008 / 2010 EXPRESS EDITION (FREE!)

Steps for Visual Studio 2008 / 2010:

Windows XP/7:

  1. Download and install the Qt libraries for Windows from https://qt.nokia.com/downloads/ (the Visual Studio 2008 or 2010 version as appropriate)

  2. Download and install Visual Studio 2008 or 2010 Express Edition (free) from https://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio. If using Visual Studio 2010, make sure you are running at least SP1. There is a linking error you'll encounter otherwise that will prevent compilation.

  3. Go to the QGroundControl folder and then to thirdParty/libxbee and build it following the instructions in win32.README

  4. Open the Qt Command Prompt program (should be in the Start Menu), navigate to the source folder of QGroundControl and create the Visual Studio project by typing qmake -tp vc qgroundcontrol.pro

  5. Now start Visual Studio and load the qgroundcontrol.vcproj if using Visual Studio 2008 or qgroundcontrol.vcxproj if using Visual Studio 2010

  6. Compile and edit in Visual Studio. If you need to add new files, add them to qgroundcontrol.pro and re-run qmake -tp vc qgroundcontrol.pro

Repository Layout

The following describes the directory structure and important files in the QGroundControl repository

Folders:

  • data - Miscellaneous support files.
  • deploy - Contains scripts for packaging QGC for all supported systems.
  • doc - Output directory for generated Doxygen documentation. See README contained within for details.
  • files - Contains miscellaneous data including vehicle models and autopilot-specific data files.
  • images - UI images.
  • libs - Library dependencies for QGC.
  • qupgrade - Source file for the qupgrade, a firmware flashing utility for the APM. Compiled into QGC by default.
  • qml - QML source files for the project.
  • src - Source code for QGroundControl. Split into subfolders for communications, user interface, autopilot-specific files, etc.
  • tools - Additional tools for developers.

Important files:

  • qgroundcontrol.pro - Primary project file for building QGC. Open this in qtcreator or pass this to qmake on the command line to build QGC.
  • qgcvideo.pro - Builds a standalone executable for viewing UDP video streams from a vehicle.